Shutterstock – Kit Leong Southampton City Council is to reduce its rate of redundancy pay in order to improve the affordability of restructuring. The council had offered both voluntary and compulsory redundancy pay levels above the statutory minimum. It previously calculated voluntary redundancy payments at 1.25 the rate for compulsory redundancy, which was also above the statutory minimum. Going forward, staff will receive statutory minimum payment levels, regardless of the type of redundancy. These are based on an employee’s age and length of service, to a maximum of 20 years. Statutory redu ..read more

An employment tribunal has ruled that four female BBC presenters who have taken legal action against the broadcaster cannot include equal pay as part of their claim. Martine Croxall, Karin Giannone, Kasia Madera and Annita McVeigh have accused the organisation of conducting a “sham recruitment exercise” after they lost their jobs when it merged its domestic and global news channels last year. They claim that they were discriminated against because of their age, sex, and union membership during the recruitment for chief presenters after the merger. The tribunal has concluded a two-day prelimin ..read more

Credit: Pavel Sneznyj/shutterstock Something for the weekend: A Star Wars newbie in the United States could be paid $1,000 (approximately £795) to watch all nine movies in the Skywalker saga. In celebration of Star Wars day, or May the 4th, personal finance site FinanceBuzz is looking for an official Wookiee Rookie to rate and evaluate the films from a true outsider’s perspective. The analysis will be included in an article published on FinanceBuzz, and will ultimately answer the question: is Star Wars worth it? The applicant must be based in the United States, aged over 18 and be a complete n ..read more

The top 10 most read articles between 25 April – 1 May 2024 on employeebenefits.co.uk were: Tribunal finds woman who worked unpaid for 20 years was constructively unfairly dismissed. Department for Education to offer teachers up to £6,000 incentive. Central Co-op and Ikea UK shortlisted for Best benefits to support work-life balance. Unum UK receives Great Place to Work accreditation. Jaguar Land Rover rolls out menopause support policy. Fire fighters and fire control staff to receive on-call and maternity pay rises. 48% have poor benefits uptake as staff are not interested in provision. Cen ..read more

Supermarkets Tesco and Lidl GB have been shortlisted in the category Best healthcare and wellbeing benefits at the Employee Benefits Awards 2024. This award was created to celebrate a successful health and wellbeing strategy that helps boost productivity or engagement through employee wellbeing. The full category shortlist is: Bank of America Barratt Developments Cadent Gas Centrica Citi Experian Lidl GB Sanofi South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board Tui UK Tesco Stores Last year, water management firm Wave scooped the award due to its culture that promotes employee wellbeing, taking steps to ..read more

One of the things I most like about our voluntary benefits platform is the education that comes with it. Every month one of our providers runs a webinar on their specialism. As well as providing information, these webinars remind employees of all the benefits we offer, increasing enrolment and improving engagement with the platform in general. This month’s webinar is an introduction from Boring and Stutter, our will writing advisors. I will admit it is not top of the list of ‘fun’ voluntary benefits we promote, nor does it have a very high take-up, but it certainly helps to tick the box ..read more

The government has published statutory guidance setting out the staged timetable by which it expects pension schemes to connect to the Pensions Dashboards. Although the deadline for connecting is 31 October 2026, trustees and pension scheme providers are expected to aim to connect by the timetable outlined in the guidance rather than waiting until the strict legal deadline. The timetable is based on scheme size and type and will start with the largest schemes, which will be encouraged to connect by 30 April 2025. Jonathan Watts-Lay, Director, WEALTH at work, comments; “The upcoming Pensions D ..read more

Last week, the world celebrated Global Intergenerational Week, a campaign that encourages us to view the relationships between older and younger people as essential. There’s much to learn from each generation, especially in the workplace, with the older generations acknowledging that the younger generations have just as much to offer them, seeing a rise in reverse mentoring. While connection and relationships are essential, employers must also recognise the differences between generational needs, ensuring their employee rewards and recognition strategy is inclusive. In April 2023, we explored ..read more

Three Nordic countries, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, have been ranked as the best countries for a parental work-life balance according to research by Remote. Its survey assessed conditions in 20 countries and analysed factors that impact working parents including parental leave, annual leave entitlement, childcare costs and access to healthcare. The study found that Norway performed very well and achieved the top spot for parental work-life balance, followed by Sweden and Denmark. The three countries have high expenditure on family benefits and education, which contributed to their high rankin ..read more

Copyright © 2023 Viatris Inc. All rights reserved Pharmaceutical organisation Viatris has launched a mental wellbeing platform for its 300 employees globally. Through the platform, which is provided by Unmind, Viatris’ employees along with up to five family members or friends can take steps to proactively manage their mental health and help them to achieve personal goals, such as managing stress, sleeping better or improving happiness. Overall, Viatris is seeking to destigmatise conversations around mental health. The employer will integrate the platform into its global wellbeing programme Ele ..read more