Salary Sacrifice – The Ultimate Guide for SMEs
The Fundamentals What is salary sacrifice? It’s a contract change made before the pay is earned: an employee gives up part of their gross cash pay in exchange for a non-cash benefit. PAYE tax and Class 1 NICs are then calculated on the lower cash amount. HMRC classifies these deals as “Optional Remuneration Arrangements” (OpRA). GOV.UK Which […]
Tech Schemes Explained & Salary‑Sacrifice Made Simple
What are tech schemes? Tech schemes are a salary-sacrifice arrangement that helps your employees to purchase technology and selected homeware through gross-pay deductions (typically over 12 months) whilst creating National Insurance (NI) savings for both the employee and the employer. Post‑2017 Optional Remuneration rules removed most income‑tax relief, so the hard saving is NI only. […]
Supporting Neurodiversity in the Workplace
This Autism Awareness Day, business owners and HR leaders must move beyond token gestures and take proactive action to create meaningful change.
Neonatal Care Act 2023: A Practical Guide for HR Teams
Effective 6 April 2025, eligible employees will be entitled to take up to 12 weeks of neonatal care leave. Statutory Neonatal Care Pay is expected to become available from April 2026, subject to further regulations.
Which Employee Benefits are Mandatory in the UK?
There are several mandatory employee benefits in UK employment law that businesses must make available to their workers, but understanding what they are, how they work and how different levels of employment affect them can be challenging—particularly for smaller organisations without dedicated HR departments.
However, as an employer, you are legally responsible for offering certain benefits and ensuring employees are free to take advantage of them.