Human Resources FAQ

Self Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs) allow you direct control over the investments in your pension scheme. They provide maximum flexibility in the timing of contributions into, and benefit payments from, the scheme.

An example of such flexibility is that a SIPP allows you to withdraw up to 25 per cent of the fund tax free between the ages of 55 and 75. You can then use the balance to provide income for the rest of your life.

Self Invested Personal Pensions also provide an attraction for Inheritance Tax purposes because if you die before retirement, the whole of the value of the SIPP is excluded from your estate.

There are many assets that can be included in a SIPP, but some are specifically excluded (e.g. residential property, works of art, fine wines and vintage cars).

One advantage of a Self Invested Personal Pension is the opportunity it provides for investing in smaller companies. Another is that a SIPP can borrow up to 50 per cent of its value.

Find out more about pensions in our book Tax Answers at a Glance.

Stakeholder Pensions are low-cost private pensions, available from 6 April 2001. They are meant for people who currently don't have a good range of pension options available, so they can save for their retirement.

If you earn more than £30,000 per year and are in a company pension scheme, you cannot take out a Stakeholder Pension as well. However, everyone else can have a Stakeholder Pension, even non-taxpayers, non-earners and children.

Contribution limits are based on earnings, but even if you don't have any earnings, you can pay up to £2,808 into a Stakeholder Pension and this will be topped up to £3,600 by the Government.

Employers with more than five employees have to provide access to Stakeholder Pensions with effect from 6 October 2001.

No, you can try conciliation through ACAS or formally agree to compromise.

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Constructive dismissal is when an employee resigns because their employer's conduct fundamentally breaches your contract.

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If an employee is made redundant and they have two years' service, they are entitled to Statutory Redundancy Payment from their employer as a minimum.

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A basic unfair dismissal award of up to £9,300 plus a compensatory award of up to £63,000, depending on the circumstances.

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Yes, three months from the last incident.

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There are certain procedures that must be followed when an employee has a grievance with the company or an employer wishes to discipline or dimiss an employee and these are called 'statutory dispute resolution procedures'. These are outlined in more detail in Employment Law Made Easy.

Before you can take your grievance to an employment tribunal, you must first take certain steps to try to resolve the situation with your employer by initiating the statutory grievance procedure. If your employer is also unhappy with your actions and is contemplating dismissing you or taking disciplinary action other than giving a warning (e.g. demotion or transferring you to work in a different department) it must follow the standard dismissal and disciplinary procedure.

If your employer dismisses you without following the procedure, it will be automatically unfair and you may get compensation.

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Yes, from October 2004 they have applied to all employers.

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As a first step, contact employment tribunal central enquiries.

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Subject to certain conditions, both parents can take up to a total of 13 weeks off, unpaid, to look after a child under the age of five. If you have a disabled child under the age of 18, you are also entitled to 18 weeks off.

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Not always. A woman who is the long-term partner of a child's mother can also qualify.

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If you have worked continuously for your employer for 26 weeks ending with the 15th week before the baby is due, you can take either one week or two consecutive weeks' paternity leave (not odd days). During this period, your employer is required to pay statutory paternity pay at the current rate of £117.18 per week (from 6 April 2008), even if you don't intend to work after the child is born. To be eligible for statutory paternity pay, you must: be earning an average of at least £90 a week (before tax).

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No, statutory adoption leave is only available to one of you. The other member of the couple, or the partner of the adopter, may be able to take paid paternity leave.

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It's no longer lawful to discriminate on the grounds of age. From 1 October 2006 there is legal protection against age discrimination.

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The Working Time Regulations provide that:

1. Workers don't work more than 48 hours a week;
2. Night workers don't work more than eight hours a night and are offered regular health assessments;
3. Workers have a rest period of 11 consecutive hours between each working day;
4. Workers have an in-work rest break of 20 minutes when working more than six hours;
5. Workers have at least four weeks' paid leave each year.

Only in the case of the 48-hour week may individual workers choose to agree to ignore the regulations and work more than 48 hours. If they do, the agreement must be in writing and must allow the worker to bring the agreement to an end.

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Generally, no they don't, as they agreed to your working hours in their employment contract. However, if your employment contract or staff handbook says that your employees hours of work may be changed, then they would have to start an hour earlier.

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Yes, they can be counted as part of the statutory 24 days' holiday.

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The terms of an employment contract can be written or verbal. 

The difficulty with relying on verbal promises as contractual terms is that they are very much more difficult to prove; it will often be your word against your employee's. This can be particularly difficult if a period of time has passed, or if the relevant manager who made the verbal promise has left. Therefore, if a verbal promise has been made and you wish to rely on this as a contractual term, it's wise to incorporate it into your employment contract.

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Written terms and conditions (employment contracts) must be provided if you employ people for more than a month.

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You must undertake a risk assessment of your business premises and identify any significant health and safety risks which may arise. These may include, for example, the potential for a major escalating fire, explosion, building collapse, pollution incident and/or bomb threat. Once these major risks which may result in serious and or imminent danger have been identified, a formal emergency procedure must be produced.

The emergency procedure should set out the role, identity and responsibilities of the competent persons nominated to implement the action. The emergency procedure should normally be written down, clearly setting out the limits of action to be taken by all employees. In particular, work shouldn't be resumed after an emergency if serious danger remains.

Find out more about Health and Safety and your business in Lawpack’s Health & Safety at Work Essentials.

In order to comply with the law, you should provide the following:

1. The Health and Safety Law poster/leaflet
2. The location of first aiders and the first aid box
3. The location of the accident book
4. The health and safety policy document

Find out more about Health and Safety and your business in our Health & Safety at Work Essentials.

The rates of the National Minimum Wage depend on the worker's age and they are as follows:

• 16-17 year olds: £3.40 (rising to £3.53 in October 2008)
• 18-21 year olds: £4.60 (rising to £4.77 in October 2008)
• Over 21s: £5.52 (rising to £5.73 in October 2008)

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