Back before Grunge and Britpop, I was a proud member of my local Brownie troupe. I promised to do my best, to do my duty to God, to serve my Queen and help other people, and to keep the Brownie Guide Law. A few years have passed since then, but I still remember the Brownie motto where we were all encouraged to: “Lend a hand”. The idea of helping others and giving something back has followed me through to adult life and is at the forefront of my mind as we face the ongoing cost of living crisis and the colder, winter months.

Giving to charities and donating to food banks is a great way to help those less fortunate but what about those people a bit closer to home? As employers, you are responsible for not only your own livelihood but the livelihood of all your employees. They rely on their wages to pay their rent or mortgage, warm their homes, and feed their families. How are they handling the cost of living crisis? Utility and food bills are on the rise for us all so what can you, as an employer, do to “Lend a Hand”?

Below are some examples of ways you can help your employees:

Pay Increases
This is probably the most obvious solution but also the costliest. Although cost of living is a major factor when considering pay rates, there are many other variables to consider – length of service; experience; qualifications; performance; competitors pay rates; etc.; etc. Giving the entire workforce an above inflation pay increase may sound like an easy option but with inflation currently above 10%, it would also see your staff costs skyrocket. Taking the time to implement staff performance reviews with a set pay structure could better serve both the practice and your pocket!

Bonuses
Giving your staff a one-off bonus could help in the short term. These payments must go through the payroll system as HMRC consider them employment income and so tax and national insurance would be due. Assuming the employee is a basic rate taxpayer, they would receive 66.75% of any bonus payment after tax and NI.

One-off gifts
Small gifts to employees with a value of less than £50 each would be seen by HMRC as “trivial benefits” provided they are not given for the performance of normal duties and are not regular or frequent. Such gifts would be treated as tax-free on both the employee and the employer. A good example in these circumstances might be a supermarket or shopping voucher.

Staff entertainment
Treating your employees to a staff outing may help boost team morale as well as giving them a treat that they may not currently be able to afford. Again, this would be tax-free provided the overall cost is less than £150 per head.

Loans to staff
It’s also possible to make a loan to an employee without it being taxable. The loan amount cannot exceed £10,000 and interest must be charged on the loan at HMRC’s official rate of interest (currently 2%). It’s advisable to have a written loan agreement for such loans and that a regular repayment plan is put in place (i.e., repayments deducted from net pay and shown on the payslip).

Looking at the other side of the coin, if practice costs are increasing, how are you going to cover those increased costs? When was the last time you reviewed and increased your patient fees? With prices increasing on everything else, why wouldn’t the price of dental treatment also increase? If you’d like some assistance in predicting your practice’s future finances, please call us on 01872 300232 or email hello@hivebusiness.co.uk. Alternatively, if you’d like some further advice about helping your staff or our payroll services in general, please feel free to get in contact.