In today's (23 September 2022) mini-budget what are the key announcements for HR and employment law?
Off-payroll working
The off-payroll working rules (introduced in the private sector in 2021) will be repealed from 6 April 2023. This means that employers will no longer have to assess whether their contractors working through a personal services company (PSC) are within the IR35 rules, and the liability for tax and NI will remain with the PSC. However, the Chancellor said that compliance will be kept under review so it could be that PSCs fall under greater scrutiny.
Industrial action
Trade unions will be required to put pay offers to a vote of members before they can ballot for strike action. The intention is that a strike could only been called once pay negotiation have broken down. This may be helpful to employers where they would like to be able to put the pay offers directly to employees but doing so risks liability for unlawful inducement to sidestep collective bargaining.
Financial Services bonuses
The cap on bonuses for certain financial services executives, limiting the bonus to 100% of salary, is to be removed. It has been argued that the cap did not limit overall remuneration, it just meant that fixed salary was a higher proportion of overall pay, so banks would now have more flexibility over the proportions of fixed and variable pay (subject always to other existing remuneration rules and policies).
National insurance rise
The NI increase to fund health and social care, which came into effect in April this year, will be reversed from 6 November.
We will report further as we receive more detail on these measures.
