Prudent Chancellor turns ‘family friendly’ with CTC
Vowing to give ‘Every child the best possible chance in life’ Brown produced some sugar-coated offerings in the form of Child Tax Credits and Child Benefits.As announced in December’s Pre-Budget Report, from 6 April 2005, the child element of Child Tax Credit will be increased by £65 per year to £1,690 per year, in line […]
Personal allowances confirmed as child credits rise
In his Budget speech, Chancellor Gordon Brown confirmed the rates he indexed increases for personal income tax allowances announced in December’s Pre-Budget Report.The basic personal allowance will be £4,895 – a £150 increase to allow for inflation. The age-related personal allowances have been increased in line with earnings to £7,090 for those aged 65 to […]
Half a million employers will ‘do it online’
A “whopping” 500,000 employers have already registered to use the Inland Revenue’s online services for 2004/05, the Revenue has announced.Fourteen thousand agents and payroll bureaux have also registered for the service, which the Revenue claimed is simple, secure and convenient.It also claimed that “our new system means that this year we will be accepting more […]
Staff critical of managers’ skills
More than half of British workers think their manager does not have the skills required to do their job, according to a new survey.The poll of 200 workers found that: 25% said their managers needed to brush up on their communication skills 10% felt that their manager’s language skills could be improved. Nearly 20% felt […]
Leadership: Visionary, popular or sledgehammer?
Years of working with companies in a variety of industries has demonstrated to me that leaders come in three guises. All the various psychometrics examining leadership styles and behavioural preferences suggest that leaders should lead and be less like managers. However, this approach has always begged the question – whose doing the managing while everyone […]
CSR and beyond: What’s all the fuss about?
Leo Martin is a director and founder of GoodCorporation, the corporate responsibility standard and is the principal character in the BBC’s series, Good Company, Bad Company and author of the BBC Learning Book: From Principles to Profits; in this the first of a new series ‘CSR and beyond’ Martin dispels the myths and sets out […]
Member wire #90 – It pays to see Red
================================================================ HR Zone Members Newswire Issue 90 15 March 2005 http://www.hrzone.co.uk ================================================================ SITE HIGHLIGHTS **** SITE HIGHLIGHTS **** SITE HIGHLIGHTS **** 1. Editor’s Comment: The Vox Pop of Volunteerism 2. What does HR leadership offer you? 3. Colborn’s Corner: The 2005 Election 4. The Couch?! It pays to see Red 5. Any Answers: car allowances, […]
HR Tip: Excessive home-to-work travel
These questions are being answered by Learn HR, a market leader in the provision of HR and payroll training and nationally-recognised professional qualifications. Q: One of our employees intends to move to a cottage in the country. It sounds all very nice but is 40 miles away from work. Do we have grounds for dismissing him? […]
Refugee and asylum seeker talent ignored
Britain’s skills gap prevails despite a wealth of highly qualified refugees and asylum seekers.The Council for Assisting Refugee Academics (CARA) revealed the position on Monday.According to CARA the cost of getting a refugee doctor up to scratch and ready for practise in the UK is as little as £1000 compared to £250,000, the cost of […]
HR fail to cope with life’s ‘milestones’
Thirty per cent of HR respondents have taken anti-depressants or sleeping pills compared with the national average of 22%.These are the findings from a report Milestone or Millstone? by health and well-being consultancy PPC Worldwide.The report suggests that the outcome of looking after the welfare of other people results in HR professionals feeling rock-bottom themselves.Twenty-nine […]
£300m equal pay award, biggest ever
Women who worked for North Cumbria NHS Trust fought their case for equal pay for eight years and finally reaped the rewards of their efforts yesterday scooping £300m, the biggest ever equal pay settlement on record.The claims were lodged in August 1997 for 14 different jobs, using five different male comparators. The women range from […]
Public sector re-focuses training efforts
There is a move towards motivational training in the public sector, according to training materials provider Video Arts. The company says that many organisations are re-focusing their training resources in the wake of two recent reports on the health of the public sector – the Gershon review of efficiency and Lyons review of re-location. Having […]
Holiday hangover accepted
Bosses are more generous about letting staff carry over unused leave into the next holiday period then is commonly thought.Research conducted by analysts IRS Employment Review found that almost half or 49% of the sample allowed staff to carry over unused holiday. Five days is the allowance adopted by most organisations although the researchers reveal […]
HR leadership elite series: what does HR leadership offer you?
In his second series for HR Zone, Paul Kearns an outspoken critic of HR practices that cannot clearly demonstrate the value they add to organisations, looks at leadership and asks why do we need HR leaders and what’s in it for professionals in the field? The best leaders have a vision of a future that […]
Anti-bullying policies fail UK plc
Professional body the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has released statistics which show that bullying is still rife in the workplace.The news comes despite revelations that a huge 83% of bosses have an anti-bullying policy in place.In spite of this, the CIPD say that managing conflict at work costs the average employer nearly […]
VAT on fuel ruling angers UK Government
Tax advisers claimed that the European Court of Justice “brushed aside” years of UK practice in declaring on Thursday that businesses can no longer reclaim VAT on business fuel using a mileage rate.The ECJ has ruled that allowing employers to deduct VAT input tax on sums reimbursed to employees for the motor fuel they buy […]
Prentis triumphs at ballot box
Dave Prentis has been re-elected as general secretary of Britain’s biggest union, UNISON, having polled 75% of the votes.Rival candidates Roger Bannister and Jon Rogers received 16.9% and 7.5% respectively.Of the win, Prentis who has been general secretary of the union since January 2001 said:“The membership has endorsed that agenda and the direction in which […]
Scrap NIC increase, says business group
A group representing 25,000 small to medium-sized firms has called for a one per cent increase in national insurance contributions to be reversed.The Forum of Private Business (FPB) called on the Chancellor to relieve the taxation burden on smaller businesses in the Budget on 16 March.Chief executive Nick Goulding said the FPB has told the […]
Editor’s Comment: The Vox Pop of Volunteerism
YV05 or the year of the ‘volunteer’ has been designed to give fresh impetus to the importance and benefits of encouraging employers and individuals to take an active part in the local community; Editor’s Comment seeks out popular opinion about the scheme. In an ideal world, I’m sure that we’d all pledge to be model […]
Staff recognise training and performance link
Nearly all workers believe that training is helping them do their jobs better, according to a new survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). The poll, of 750 workers, found that almost four in five feel their employer offers enough training opportunities and 94% of respondents who have undertaken training in the […]
