Rules temporarily relaxed to help businesses through the coronavirus crisis
23 April 2020
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has published a list of the rules that have been temporarily relaxed to help businesses continue to operate, despite the disruption caused by COVID-19.
The list can be found here and includes discussion of temporary changes to:
Annual leave – Workers who have not taken all of their statutory annual leave entitlement as a result of coronavirus will be able to carry up to four weeks of unused leave into the next two leave years.
Gender pay gap reporting suspended – The Government Equalities Office and the Equality and Human Rights Commission made the decision to suspend enforcement of the gender pay gap deadlines for 2019-20 as a result of coronavirus.
Off-payroll working rules (IR35) – The reforms to off-payroll working rules due to come into effect on 6 April 2020 have been delayed for 12 months until 6 April 2021.
Right-to-work checks – Temporary amendments to right-to-work checks will make it easier for employers to carry them out during the coronavirus outbreak.
Taxable expenses – HMRC has confirmed which equipment, services and supplies are taxable for employees who are working from home to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Further rules have been relaxed, and more information can be found here.
The information in this article is accurate at the time of publication. For all the latest information, news and resources on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting payroll professions, visit our Coronavirus hub.