news from workSMART

Tax Credit changes are taking effect from today that will affect people’s entitlements in different ways. The changes could leave families thousands of pounds out of pocket. Along with Touchstone blog and Mumsnet, we’ve put together a quick online Tax Credit changes calculator to help you find out how your household will be affected.

It lets you add your details, such as income level and number of children, and it’ll estimate how your household’s tax credit entitlement will change between the last financial year (2010/11) and 2012/13.

Try the calculator now

posted 06/04/2011

Most of us will be getting an extra Bank Holiday this year, but double check your contract before booking a trip away. Read more…

posted 04/04/2011

A record 5.26 million people worked unpaid overtime last year – the highest since records began in 1992. Today, on Work Your Proper Hours Day (WYPHD), the TUC’s analysis of official figures shows that over one in five workers regularly worked unpaid overtime last year, the highest proportion since 1997.

WYPHD is marked this year on 25 February – it’s the day when the average person who does unpaid overtime would start to get paid if they did all the unpaid work at the start of the year. The nearly two months free work highlight just how much many workers are putting into their organisations and companies, often picking up the slack from redundancies and recruitment freezes.

Last year those 5.26 million people across the UK clocked up an average seven hours 12 minutes unpaid overtime a week, worth £5,485 per person and a record £28.9 billion to the economy. Read more…

posted 25/02/2011

If you’re self-employed, you’re one of millions in the UK. But how many of those millions are really benefiting from the chance to be their own boss?

It’s supposed to be straightforward – if you run your own business, price your own jobs and provide your own equipment and materials, then you’re self-employed. If someone else decides what you do, and how much you will be paid, then you’re a worker.

As well as having no job security, if you’re self-employed then you’re not entitled to the Minimum Wage, and you don’t qualify for rights such as holiday pay, sick pay, redundancy rights or employee pension benefits.

Many people are happy to be self-employed. The ‘payoff’ is meant to be the chance to take control of your work – choosing what you do and what you will be paid for it. And there’s a general assumption that freelancers or subcontractors will get paid more, to make up for the lack of benefits.

But by defining workers as self-employed, bosses can duck out of a whole range of responsibilities, including paying their fair share of taxes. Read more…

posted 07/02/2011

As more snow, ice and freezing weather rolls in, you may be wondering again whether you’ll be able to make it into work.

Clearly early workers should make every effort to make it in, and not simply give up at the sight of a few snowflakes. But setting out on a journey which could put yourself or the emergency services in danger is not a sensible move either, particularly if you live in an isolated, rural area. Read more…

posted 20/12/2010