PIXIE PAYROLL Blog

An employee facing the death of someone close to them is sadly something that many employers have to experience from time to time. It’s a situation that can affect people in many different ways and in some cases can severely affect a person’s ability to work. So it’s important that employers are prepared for the situation so they can adequately and compassionately support their staff member.

What is the law around compassionate leave?

Anyone who is classed as an employee has the right to time off from work if a dependent dies or they suffer the loss of a child to stillbirth or when they are under 18.

A dependent is defined as a husband, wife, civil partner or partner, child, parent, someone who lives in their household (but not employees, lodgers or tenants) or someone who relies on the employee such as an elderly neighbour.

But whilst employees have the right to take leave, there is no law around that leave being paid or how long the leave should be (unless it is in the case of the death or stillbirth of a child) so that’s why it is important employers consider the matter in their policies and contracts.

Should compassionate leave be paid?

In an ideal world, all compassionate leave should be paid, in the same way parental and sick leave is. But that’s not always possible and as there is no legal direction, it is important to give consideration as to where an employer stands before a situation arises.

One option would be to agree that employees can take paid time off after a bereavement and specify how long that can be for. That could be just a few days, a couple of weeks or longer. At a minimum, the employee should be able to have time to deal with the arrangements that follow a death and to attend the funeral, which might involve some long-distance travelling.

Then the employer can consider whether a longer period of leave might be allowed if it’s combined with annual leave or unpaid leave. In some circumstances, the leave might be considered as sick leave in which case, the standard sick leave policy should be enacted including the need for fit notes and consultation with the GP.

Having a discussion with the employee about leave and pay at the point of bereavement is not ideal and so employers are encouraged to develop a policy for all their employees as a matter of course, so it is in place for when it is required.

Death of non-dependents

If the person who has passed away is not a dependent of the employee, they can still request leave but there is no legal obligation to grant it. As mentioned above, a ready policy will help with these situations with consideration at least given to allowing paid time off for the funeral. As always, sensitivity and compassion are needed when discussing the circumstances so that the employee feels supported.

If you need help developing a compassionate leave policy, a specialist HR consultant will be able to help you. If any of your employees need compassionate leave and there needs to be adjustments to your payroll, just get in touch.

September is the month of back to school. For many young (and even some not-so-young) people, their higher education journey will begin which means becoming acquainted with student loans. Student loans are connected to payroll so here’s a look at what they are and how they can impact take home pay.

What is a student loan?

Put simply, a student loan is money a student borrows to pay for tuition fees and living expenses whilst they are studying. No repayments on the loan are made while the student is still studying and then after graduation, there is a salary threshold below which no repayments need to be made. Student loans are available for undergraduate and postgraduate study and may be supplemented by grants or bursaries which do not have to be repaid.

How much can be borrowed?

The amount that can be borrowed depends on a number of factors including household income but also where the student lives and studies. Tuition fees loans are capped at £9,250 and maintenance loans to cover living expenses go up to £13,022 for those students living away from home and studying in London or £9,978 for those studying outside of London.

The maintenance loan is intended to cover accommodation costs, transport and general living expenses so the maximum loan for those students who stay living at home is reduced to a maximum of £8,400.

The rates are different for part time or continuing full time students.

Any part-time work a student does during their studies has no impact on the amount of student loan that can be borrowed.

Paying back a student loan

No repayments on a student loan are due until after graduation. But then it all becomes quite complicated depending on what plan the loan is under and the income threshold that applies to that plan. For example, students who have borrowed under Plan 4 can earn £27,660 before they need to begin making repayments but those under Plan 5 will need to make repayments when they reach £25,000.

The repayment rate is 9% of income above the threshold. So for example, if a graduate is earning £30,000 and they are on Plan 4, they will need to pay 9% of £2,340 or £210.60.

Interest is charged on the student loan and again, this rate depends on the plan.

Full information on replaying a student loan and all the different plans can be found here.

Repayments are calculated as part of the payroll and are deducted from salary in the same way as tax and national insurance is. When we run payroll, we are notified of the details so we can make the calculation but employees should always check that the amounts are correct. Self-employed people make their repayments via their tax return.

Additional payments can be made at any time to bring down the balanced owed without any penalties.

Under certain circumstances, the loan will be written off. Again, this depends on what plan the loan is under and the details on that can be found here.

The new Plan 5

A new plan has been introduced for this year called Plan 5 so any new students starting this September will be on that plan. The thresholds for Plan 5 are earnings of over £480 a week, £2,083 a month or £25,000 a year before repayments need to be made and the repayment rate is 9%. The interest rate is 7.3%. A Plan 5 loan will be written off 40 years after the April when the first repayment was due.

If you need more information on student loans then head to the Student Finance website https://www.gov.uk/student-finance. If you’d like information on your own payroll scheme that might include employees repaying student loans then just get in touch.

Not everyone can be happy all the time at work but as we see regularly in the news headlines, bad behaviour in the workplace is not unknown. People’s mental and even physical health can be affected if they experience or witness such behaviour and it is the employer’s responsibility to take action if a situation arises. There can be serious ramifications, including employment tribunals, if complaints aren’t resolved.

Process and procedures

Companies that foster an open and accessible culture can often avoid formal grievance procedures if employees know they can talk over a problem before it becomes too big. In-house HR, a freelance HR consultant or an approachable line manager should be the employee’s first point of contact and all efforts should be made to resolve an issue at this point.

In addition, it is a legal requirement that all companies should have a written grievance procedure so employees know the steps that will be taken and the likely outcomes. ACAS has a grievance process template here that is free to use. 

Formal grievance procedure

If after an initial complaint, the employee feels the situation hasn’t been resolved or if the issue is very serious such as sexual harassment, they may want to make a formal complaint. That complaint should be in writing to their manager and after that, a meeting should be arranged to discuss the matter, at which the employee has the right to be accompanied.

The meeting will be followed up soon after with a response detailing a decision or to let them know that more investigation is required.

Dealing with the person the grievance is against

As well as the employee making the complaint, the employer also has a duty of care for the person against whom the complaint is being made, especially before the outcome of any investigation is known.

Particularly for very serious allegations, suspending that employee might be a suitable course of action if it will help the investigation and prevent further harm.

For lesser complaints, a suspension might still be desirable but it may be possible for both parties to remain in the workplace while the process is going through.

Grievance resolution

Sometimes, the outcome of a grievance complaint is clear, especially if the complaint is upheld. But it will also be important to take into account the wishes of the employee with the grievance as they may welcome mediation or training to resolve the issue.

If the employee isn’t happy with the outcome, they can make an appeal. The process will include that for appeals but is essentially a similar series of actions but may include a more senior staff member overseeing the complaint and making the investigation.

Conflict in the workplace is never pleasant but it can have serious implications for all parties involved – including the employer – if complaints aren’t dealt with in a timely, fair and open way. ACAS (www.acas.org.uk) has information about handling complaints and individual employees may get support from their union. HR specialists can also offer help and advice if required.

A new bill was recently given Royal Assent which will change the way employers and employees work. Its official title is Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 but is known more usually as the Flexible Working Bill and will come into force next year.

The Bill gives employees greater access to flexibility over where, when and how they work. It also asks employers to make decisions quicker and give reasons why a request might be declined.

Requesting flexible working

Currently, an employee has to be working for an employer for six months before they can make a request for flexible working. In the short term that won’t change as the new law isn’t explicit about this, but it is expected that secondary legislation next year will make it a ‘day one’ right to request flexible working. An employee can also only make one flexible working request in a year and that will increase to two.

Once the request has been made, employers now must make a decision on that request within two months, reduced from three. Should an employer want to decline a request, they must consult with the employee first and must give their reasons for declining.

Up to now, employees had to explain the effects on the employer if their request for flexible working was granted and suggest mitigations for those effects but this requirement has been removed in the new legislation.

Types of flexible working

There are a number of grounds for requesting flexible working including:

• Reducing working hours to work part-time
• Making a change to the start and finish time
• Flexitime – which means having flexibility to start and finish times as long as the set hours are worked over an agreed time i.e. a week or month
• Compressed hours – where more hours are worked on some days to lead to shorter hours or even a day off at another time
• Flexibility over location i.e. if some days of the week are done at home
• Job share

Why might flexible working be a good thing for everyone

As we have seen with the 4 Day Week campaign, new and innovative ways of working are becoming more popular as employees seek a better work/life balance and switch from a ‘live to work’ to a ‘work to live’ mentality.

Employers who offer options for flexible working or make it clear that they are open to a discussion about flexible working often find they are able to recruit more easily and have a more productive and happier workforce.

Flexible working that enables parents, carers or people with disabilities to work also means a workforce that is more diverse and fairer and will enable employers to recruit from a wider talent pool, which will be good for everyone.

It’s going to be a little while yet until the legislation comes into force but employers might want to start thinking about their flexible working policies now and how they might handle requests from employees. As always, if you need any advice regarding the payroll impact of any changes, just get in touch.