Tax (General)

NI, tax avoidance and relief

Ongoing

If you employ seasonal or temporary staff you must assess them individually every time you pay them. This includes staff who work for you for a few days, a few weeks or several months.

Your assessment of who to put into a pension scheme may take more time and effort, as you will need to take into account:

That they may only work for you for short periods of time
That they may join and leave your employment in the middle of pay periods
That their earnings and hours vary

Who do you need to put into a pension scheme?

You must assess your staff to work out who to put into a scheme based on their ages and how much they earn. If you employ family members they will need to be assessed too.

Any staff that are aged between 22 to State Pension Age and earn over £192 a week, or £833 a month, must be put into a pension scheme which you must pay into.

How to check if your seasonal or temporary staff are eligible for auto-enrolment into a pension scheme

Effective now

Individuals with an Apple iPhone can now store their National Insurance (NI) number in their Apple Wallet either online or through the HMRC App.

This means employees can now provide proof of their NI number using their Apple Wallet rather than through the HMRC NI number confirmation letter. HMRC wants to reassure employers that this is genuine and should be accepted in the same way a letter would be.

HMRC reported that issuing NI number confirmation letters by post, can take up to 15 days. With this new feature employees’ NI numbers can be viewed, shared and printed in the HMRC App within minutes and saved for future use. However, employers must ensure that the employee’s name matches what is shown in the Apple Wallet. If a record of it is needed for internal processes, a request for a screenshot can be made to the employee.

HMRC are currently working to give Android phone users the ability to save their NI number to their Google Wallet. A further update will be provided when this is released.

National Insurance numbers can now be saved to the Apple Wallet

Effective 1 August 2023

The apprenticeship care leavers bursary payment will increase from £1,000 to £3000 for new starters. This increase is intended to keep up with the rising costs of living and incentivise apprenticeship take up among young care leavers who are currently eligible for the bursary. It will be paid in instalments across the first year of their apprenticeship.

The bursary is available to individuals who have been in the care of a local authority anywhere in the UK, providing the apprenticeship they enter into is based in England.

The Department for Education (DfE) stated that it recognises care leavers face higher living costs than their peers as they live independently at a younger age and may not have a wider family network for support. The increased rate will help those in care and care leavers access and complete apprenticeships, providing them with a great route into sustainable employment. The payment will not affect the care leaver’s entitlement to claim tax credits.

Employers and training providers will continue to receive an additional £1,000 in funding for every apprentice who is a care leaver aged 16 to 24.

Payment increase to the apprenticeships care leavers' bursary

Effective now

If you have employees who are about to become parents, they may be interested to know there is a new, easier way to claim Child Benefit online or by using the HMRC app.

Parents can claim as much as £1,248 a year for one child, which could add up to almost £20,000 by the time they are 16. They could also receive nearly £827 a year for any other children they have. Sharing this information with your employees will help them to make the most of the financial support on offer to help with the costs of raising their children.

There is more to Child Benefit than just payments, by claiming they will also:

Receive National Insurance credits which count towards their State Pension
Make sure their child automatically gets a National Insurance number when they are 16 years old

If your employee or their partner earns over £50,000 a year, they will have to pay the High Income Child Benefit Charge on some or all of the money they receive, but it’s still worth claiming, and they can even opt out of receiving payments.

The new, improved online service means many parents can now claim Child Benefit or add an additional child at a time that suits them. A straightforward claim, for example (where a child is under 6 months old) submitted online will be processed much quicker and first payments could reach customers’ bank accounts in as little as three working days.

You can encourage your staff to download the HMRC App or visit GOV.UK to make a child benefit claim and get the support they are entitled to.

Making Child Benefit claims quicker and easier for new parents

Effective 6 April 2023For the 2022 to 2023 reporting year, HMRC will no longer accept paper P11D and P11D(b) forms including lists. This means that any P11D or P11D(b) for the 2022/23 tax year will need to be submitted online through HMRC’s PAYE online service or through using commercial payroll software (if you’re not currently a Moorepay customer you can find out more here). Paper forms sent to HMRC on or after 6 April 2023 will be rejected as they will not be in the prescribed format. 