This page contains information that has appeared on Sandy Adirondack's legal update website for voluntary organisations at www.sandy-a.co.uk/legal.htm. For current updates, including potential changes that are in the pipeline, see the legal update website.

These websites for each chapter update the 3rd edition of The Russell-Cooke Voluntary Sector Legal Handbook by James Sinclair Taylor and the Charity Team at Russell-Cooke Solicitors, edited by Sandy Adirondack (Directory of Social Change, 2009). The websites are not intended as a comprehensive update and should not be treated as such.

To order a copy of The Russell-Cooke Voluntary Sector Legal Handbook, print out the order form at www.sandy-a.co.uk/bookserv.htm or send an email order by clicking . It costs £60 for voluntary organisations or £90 for others, plus 10% p&p.

Chapter 30
PAY AND PENSIONS

MINIMUM WAGE

Updated 23/9/11. This information updates s.30.2 in The Russell-Cooke Voluntary Sector Legal Handbook (VSLH3).
From 1 October 2011 the national minimum wage went up from £5.93 per hour to £6.08 for workers aged 21 and over, from £4.92 to £4.98 for 18-20 year olds, and from £3.64 to £3.68 for 16 and 17 year olds who are above school leaving age and are not apprentices.

The accommodation offset rate (the amount that can be taken into account for living accommodation) was increased from £4.61 per day (£32.27 per week) to £4.73 per day (£33.11 per week). From 1 October 2011, the accommodation offset does not apply to students in full-time higher education and further education who are employed by the institution at which they are students.

The apprentice minimum wage of £2.50 per hour went up to £2.60 for apprentices aged under 19, or over 19 and in the first year of their apprenticeship. This applies to apprentices on traditional contracts of apprenticeship, and employed apprentices on government-supported level 2 and 3 schemes. The apprentice minimum wage came into effect on 1 October 2010, replacing the £95 per week minimum rate of pay for apprentices.

From 1 January 2011, payments made by employers into travel and subsistence tax relief schemes no longer count towards minimum wage. Also from 1 January 2011 the names of employers who do not comply with minimum wage legislation are being made public.

Information for employees and employers about all aspects of minimum wage, including an interactive website for workers and employers to find out how the minimum wage applies to them, is available from Business Link via tinyurl.com/yzrcx3a. Information is also available from HM Revenue & Customs at www.hmrc.gov.uk/paye/payroll/day-to-day/nmw.htm, and from the pay and work rights helpline at 0800 917 2368, covering minimum wage, working time rights and agency workers' rights.

The National Minimum Wage Act 1998, setting out the basic legislation, is at www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/39/contents.
The National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Regulations 2011 are at www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2011/2345/made,
and the National Minimum Wage (Amendment)(No.2) Regulations 2011 are at www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2011/2347/made.

PAYE FORMS AND FILING

Updated 2/4/10. This information updates s.30.4 in The Russell-Cooke Voluntary Sector Legal Handbook (VSLH3).
Almost all employers had to file their 2009-10 employer annual return (P35 and P14s) online. There is no longer an option for employers with fewer than 50 employees to submit their return and P14s on paper. All employers with 50 or more employees, and from 6 April 2011 employers with fewer than 50 employees, must file certain other PAYE forms online. These are P45(1) when an employee leaves, P45(3) when an employee starts work, and P46 when an employee starts work and does not have a P45. When an employee of any age starts to receive a pension, a new form P46(Pen) or a P45(3) has to be submitted. P46(Pen) replaces the current pension notification forms P160 and PENNOT.

If forms are filed on paper, the old A5-sized P45 is no longer valid. Only the new A4 form, which includes the employee's date of birth and gender, may be used.

REIMBURSEMENT OF OVERSEAS EXPENSES

Added 30/1/11. This information updates s.30.4.9 in The Russell-Cooke Voluntary Sector Legal Handbook (VSLH3).
Travel and subsistence expenses incurred by employees within the UK can be reimbursed without deduction of tax either on the basis of receipts provided by the employee, or by using a scale rate agreed by HM Revenue & Customs. Such reimbursements must be reported to HMRC at the end of the tax year on form P11D unless the employer has a dispensation from filing this.

Because most employers do not have many employees who travel abroad, the sampling techniques that are used to establish scale rates for UK travel are usually not appropriate for overseas travel. To overcome this, HMRC published benchmark rates for overseas travel in October 2010, and intends to update them annually.

Details and the benchmark rates are at www.hmrc.gov.uk/employers/emp-income-scale-rates.htm.

OCCUPATIONAL PENSIONS

Updated 2/4/10. This information updates s.30.6 in The Russell-Cooke Voluntary Sector Legal Handbook (VSLH3).
From 6 April 2010, the minimum age at which a person can receive an occupational or personal pension goes up from 50 to 55, although this increase does not apply to early retirement due to ill health, or to pension scheme members who have a protected pension age. Organisations which run their own pension schemes should ensure the scheme rules are amended, if necessary, to reflect this change, and should ensure they do not make unauthorised payments to scheme members aged under 55.

TLT solicitors has a useful short briefing for pension scheme trustees and employers, via tinyurl.com/ya3xac3.

SANDY ADIRONDACK
Governance and legal training and consultancy
for the voluntary sector
39 Gabriel House, 10 Odessa Street, London SE16 7HQ
Tel 020 7232 0726; fax 020 7237 8117
Email:
Web: www.sandy-a.co.uk