From 6 April 2014, employers will no longer be able to claim reimbursement for Statutory Sick Pay following the abolition of the Percentage Threshold Scheme (PTS).
This will affect ‘care and support employers’ – those who take on a personal assistant (PA) to help them with their care needs.
Your PA is entitled to receive Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) for up to 28 weeks of sickness absence. Currently, if you have a PA, you can claim reimbursement of SSP through the PTS to the extent it exceeds 13% of combined employer/employee National Insurance contributions (NIC) in that tax month.
The Government has decided that the PTS was an incentive to employers to allow longer periods of sickness from employees.
The Low Income Tax Reform Group (LITRG) is very concerned about this. They say:
“We are disappointed and very surprised that there appears to have been no public consultation on this substantial change. We have also been unable to find an equality impact assessment something which in our view ought to have been produced to justify such a material financial change for many vulnerable people.
Many of the justifications given for the abolition do not apply to those who are employers only because they have taken on a personal assistant. In addition, this announcement comes at a time when employers of personal assistants have been specifically excluded from the new £2,000 employment allowance that is being introduced from April 2014 to help small business.
We would encourage there to be a complete rethink of the abolition of the PTS scheme for care and support employers or at the very least granting eligibility to the £2,000 employer allowance. It would be extremely unfair if this category of employers were made to suffer twice and is something which feels uncomfortable to those least able to cope.”
You can view more information at http://www.litrg.org.uk/News/2014/140326_double_blow_cands_employers
Disability Rights UK have been contacted by people who upon hearing of the proposed abolition of the percentage threshold scheme have questioned their wisdom in employing people with a fluctuating or degenerating health condition; yet these employees are amongst the very people the Government says it wants employers to take on. The new health and well being advice service is welcome and could be expected to be of benefit to many small and medium sized employers but there is a clear business case for this happening from new money and not from recycling money from the abolition of the scheme. At present we have been unable to ascertain whether there was an equalities impact assessment carried out but believe that any assessment would in all likelihood have forecast a net loss of jobs. The Government needs to know the results of such an assessment. If our forecast is correct it will need to reassess this new policy.
Disability Rights UK are working, together with the Low Income Tax Reform Group (LITRG) to run a series of half day events exploring the tax implications of employing a personal assistant to meet health or social needs.
These free events - aimed at disabled people employing PA’s, health and/ or social care professionals and independent living support services - are a must to attend to get the latest information on employer obligations, employed/self-employed, real time information, and helpful information and advice.
To find one in your area go to http://disabilityrightsuk.org/news/2014/february/free-employing-pa-events