What employers need to know about the Budget 2012
It is in the Budget where many of the year’s key changes to the employment law and recruitment landscape are first announced, and the situation was no different as far as the 2012 Budget was concerned. In today’s blog, the HR specialists at Employee Management Ltd (http://www.employeemanagement.co.uk) run the rule over the latest developments from George Osborne’s Budget Box to affect businesses across the UK.
With the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) having forecast unemployment levels to hit their peak – at 8.7% – later this year, before declining on a year-by-year basis to 6.3% by 2016-17, there was also a prediction that one million more jobs would be created in the economy over the next five years. It came alongside a prediction that the UK economy would grow at a quicker rate than previously forecast – or more specifically, by 0.8% in 2012, up from the OBR’s 0.7% autumn estimate.
Osborne also announced that Sunday trading laws would be relaxed on eight Sundays during the Olympics and Paralympics that start in July, with the plan entailing the passing of emergency legislation that would allow large shops in England and Wales to trade for more than six hours during the Games. The Chancellor told BBC One’s Andrew Marr show of the “great shame” that would result for a Britain that bore a “closed for business” sign during the Games, although opposition came from his Labour shadow counterpart Ed Balls, who urged proper consultation first.
Also of potentially great interest to users of EML’s HR consultancy and employment law services were the following significant developments:
i. The reduction of the 50% higher tax rate to 45% from April 6, 2013, which was founded on the Government’s belief that the previous rate had not yielded the amount of tax that it had been expected to at the time of its introduction. It was also thought that the 50% rate may have had a negative effect on the economy and the UK’s image as a place to do business. The new rate applies to employees that have an income of more than £150,000.
ii. The pledge to “scrap or improve 84% of health and safety legislation”. The aim of this change will be to ensure that employers are no longer in breach of their duties in civil law in the event that they have done everything that is reasonably practicable and foreseeable to ensure the protection of their employees. Part of the aforementioned plan will include handing the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) the authority to direct all activities relating to local authority health and safety inspection and enforcement.
As always, firms can always turn to the human resource consultants at Employee Management Ltd (http://www.employeemanagement.co.uk) for advice on adapting to such legislative changes.
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