New Laws for 2008

NEW LAWS for 2008
The Queen’s speech was announced on 6 November 2007. This includes a new Employment Bill, National Insurance Contributions Bill and Pensions Bill, and in total comprises 22 new Bills.Ian Robinson says:“Of the 22 new bills, some are more likely to be relevant to business clients than others. Of particular interest are:
1. Employment Bill
This bill will repeal rules dating from 2004, including statutory dismissal and grievance procedures. This will be part of a wider range of measures that will encourage early, informal dispute resolution in the workplace and improve the workings of employment tribunals. This will save employers £180m per year, the Government says. The Bill would also strengthen the enforcement and penalties framework for the National Minimum Wage and employment agency standards.
2. National Insurance Contributions Bill
The National Insurance Contributions Bill will simplify taxation by aligning National Insurance contributions with a higher rate of income tax, in other words a personal tax increase. The Bill will enable Ministers to align the Upper Earnings Limit (UEL) with the point at which higher rate tax becomes payable from 2009/10. It intends to remove the restrictions to the current maximum level of UEL, which stipulate that it can be no more than seven-and- a-half times the Primary Threshold.
3. Pensions Bill
The Pensions Bill will establish personal account pensions for low earners and compulsory employer pension contributions from 2012 to improve incentives to save. This will affect some of our employer business clients. The legislation intends automatically to enrol eligible individuals into personal accounts, although individuals will have the right to opt-out. The sums to be paid into the pensions are fairly small.
4. Other measures
Planning legislation will be reformed and, as regards health, the Government plans to establish a Health & Social Care regulator to ensure "clean and safe services". Following the recent publication of the Climate Change Bill the Government will bring forward further legislation on the provision of clean, affordable energy, and look to make the UK the first country in the world with a legally binding framework for reducing CO2 emissions. Other key areas under review include security, citizenship and democracy. The Government will "seek consensus" on changes to anti-terror legislation and also "renew the constitutional settlement" - the PM has already made clear his desire to see a Bill of Rights drawn up as part of a written constitution.
If any clients would like advice on how any of the new measures might affect them call Ian on 023 9286 2424