Unemployment falls to a 50-year low but long-term sickness reaches record high
According to the Office for National Statistics unemployment in the UK fell from 3.8% to 3.5% in the three months to August, dropping to the lowest level since February 1974.
But there’s been a sharp rise in the number of working-age adults who are neither employed or looking for work. Almost nine million people are inactive, with the biggest increases in the 50-64 and 16-24 age groups. Around 2.5 million people are inactive because of long-term health problems. These include people with long COVID and those who are waiting for treatment on the NHS.
Update: progress of carer’s Bill
The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has announced that the government is backing a Private Members’ Bill sponsored by Liberal Democrat MP, Wendy Chamberlain. Once it has passed, the government will make regulations to give unpaid carers at least one week of unpaid leave each year from day one of their employment.
New online service to help employers support disabled people
The government has set up a new online service, Support with Employee Health and Disability, to help employers support disabled people and those with health conditions in the workplace.
It’s aimed at smaller businesses, but any employer can access the service. It provides free advice on how to support and manage staff who may be in or out of work with a disability or long-term health condition. Users are taken through a series of questions and given basic, practical legal advice.
The site is currently in test mode. Businesses and disability groups are invited to have their say through a short online survey. These responses will help to help shape the future of the service.
New draft guidance on workplace monitoring
The Information Commissioner’s Office has launched a consultation on draft guidance on monitoring at work to help employers understand the law and adopt good practice. It’s asking for feedback on this document, and any other insights from stakeholders, until Wednesday 11 January 2023.
Menopause: new report urges NHS to provide health checks for women
The all-party Parliamentary Group on menopause has published a report which concludes that the support available to menopausal women is 'completely inadequate.' It recommends that:
- The NHS must implement a health check for all women at the age of 45 to ensure they are engaged with the health system ahead of, or in the early stages of, perimenopause. It would help diagnose menopause at an earlier stage, and make sure women are better prepared to manage the menopause transition with the right information and treatment
- The Government must co-ordinate and support an employer-led campaign to raise awareness of menopause in the workplace and promote the business case for investing in employee support
- The Government must update and promote guidance for employers on best practice menopause at work policies and supporting interventions.
Government U-turns on cancelling IR35 off payroll rules
Less than a month ago, the government announced that it would repeal the IR35 off payroll rules from the start of the new tax year in April 2023. Those plans have now been scrapped by the new chancellor, Jeremy Hunt.
This means that most organisations will need to continue carrying out status determination statements when engaging individual consultants via intermediaries, such as personal service companies, and to pay any tax required.
If your organisation gets the status determination wrong, it will be liable for the tax and national insurance contributions. The 12-month grace period (which provided some leniency for organisations making genuine mistakes) ended in April. This means that if you make a mistake, you'll also have to pay penalties and interest.
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Read more – November 2022
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