18/01/2012 Employment Law Time Line 2012

January 2012 Changes to VAT on salary-sacrifice arrangements come into force.
For salary-sacrifice arrangements made on or after 28 July 2011, output tax is due on the amount of the employee’s salary waived in return for taxable benefits.  For salary-sacrifice arrangements made before 28 July 2011 and continuing after 31 December 2011, output tax is due only on the occurrence of a specified event.

February 2012 Maximum statutory Redundancy Pay Review

8 March 2012 Parental Leave increases from three to four months
The minimum parental leave following the birth or adoption of a child increases from three to four months. At least one of the four months will not be transferable between parents.  Member states have until 8 March 2012 to bring this into force.

April 2012 Unfair dismissal qualifying period expected to increase from one year to two years

April 2012 Maternity, Paternity & Adoption Statutory Pay Review
The Government has confirmed that the standard rate of statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay will increase from £128.73 to £135.45 per week from 1 April 2012.

April 2012 The income tax personal allowance increases
The income tax personal allowance increases by £630, bringing it to £8,105. The threshold at which employees pay the higher income tax rate of 40% is reduced to £34,370.

6 April 2012 Start of the new tax year

6 April 2012 Statutory Sick Pay Review
Statutory sick pay will increase from £81.60 to £85.85 per week

6 April 2012 Contracting out of state additional pension abolished

19 May 2012 Last date for your end of year P14 and P35 to reach HMRC. All employers must file these online

31 May 2012 Last date for giving a 2010-2011 P60 for each employee working for you at 5 April 2012

5 June 2012 Additional public holiday for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Holiday

1 October 2012 National Minimum Wage Review

October 2012 Pension Reform
It will be compulsory for employers to contribute to the new personal account pension scheme, which employees will automatically join when they start a new job, unless the employer provides an alternative which is as good or better.

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