When Does Regular Overtime Become Contractual? 2026
The question ‘When does regular overtime become contractual?’ is one that commonly arises within a number of different employment contexts, from whether an employer has the right to insist on an employee working additional hours to when the employee has the right to be paid extra for this. It can also arise when calculating an […]
What Is PAYE? 2026: How Pay As You Earn Works Explained
Pay As You Earn (PAYE) is HMRC’s statutory system for collecting Income Tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs) from employment income through payroll. For employers, PAYE is not optional administration. It is a legal obligation that sits at the centre of payroll governance, HR risk management and financial compliance under UK employment law. When PAYE […]
Payment in Lieu of Notice 2026 | Meaning & When It’s Used
Payment in Lieu of Notice (PILON) is an operationally attractive option for employers because it allows an exit to be executed quickly. It is also a legally sensitive decision, because PILON interacts with contract rights, tax treatment and litigation risk. Used correctly, it supports clean exits and risk control. Used casually, it can trigger avoidable […]
UK Minimum Wage 2026: Current Rates & Employer Duties
Section A: Overview of Minimum Wage 2026 By law, employers are required to meet specific obligations in relation to workers’ pay under the National Minimum Wage provisions. 1. What is the National Minimum Wage? The UK National Minimum Wage (NMW) is the legally mandated hourly wage that employers should pay their […]
SSP Rate 2026: Guide for Employers
Section A: SSP Rate in 2026 Statutory Sick Pay is the legal baseline for sick pay in the UK, but for employers it is rarely just a payroll figure. SSP sits at the point where pay, absence management and legal risk meet. Errors tend to surface not because the rules are unknown, but […]
UK National Minimum Wage 2026: Current Rates & Legal Rules
The National Minimum Wage is one of the most actively enforced areas of UK employment law. For employers, it is not simply a question of paying the correct headline hourly rate. Compliance depends on correct classification of workers, accurate calculation of working time, lawful treatment of deductions and charges and robust payroll controls that can […]
Pro Rata UK: Meaning, Examples & How It Works 2026
Pro rata calculations sit at the intersection of pay, working time and discrimination law. For UK employers, they are not a mathematical exercise but a compliance obligation that directly affects payroll accuracy, statutory holiday entitlement, employee relations and tribunal exposure. Errors commonly arise when employees work part-time, join or leave mid-year, change hours, or work […]
Employee Rights Working Away From Home 2026
Employees working away from home is no longer an occasional operational issue. For many UK employers, it is a routine feature of business travel, site-based work, client-facing roles, project delivery and geographically dispersed operations. Despite this, the legal rules governing employee rights when working away from home remain widely misunderstood and inconsistently applied. Errors in […]
Employer Record Keeping Working Time Law 2026
Working time compliance is often discussed in terms of limits, rest and opt-outs. In practice, enforcement action and tribunal liability are far more likely to turn on evidence. For UK employers, record keeping is not an administrative afterthought under the Working Time Regulations 1998. It is the mechanism by which compliance is proved or, more […]
Night Workers: An Employers Guide 2026
Night work remains one of the most consistently misapplied areas of UK employment law. Despite clear statutory rules under the Working Time Regulations 1998, many employers continue to rely on assumptions, informal practices or legacy rotas that do not withstand regulatory or tribunal scrutiny. The legal risks associated with night workers are not theoretical. They […]