My final Autumn Budget Statement post of the day may well be the most significant.
Tucked away in the supporting document text were two items that could each be hugely important for the future of employee benefits.
The first relates to Salary Sacrifice - a mechanism used by a huge number of employers to provide a wide-variety of employee benefits. The document* said that;
“the government remains concerned about the growth of salary sacrifice arrangements and is considering what action, if any, is necessary. The government will gather further evidence. including from employers, on salary sacrifice arrangements to inform it’s approach.”
Immediately below this comment was another - not unrelated - point;
“At Summer Budget 2015, the government launched a consultation on the system of pensions tax relief. The government is considering the responses received and will publish its response at Budget 2016.”
My feeling is that the Salary Sacrifice issue will be addressed after the pensions one - and may even become redundant depending on the solutions proposed for the pension tax relief system. Yet both these points above suggest another year(s) of major change lies ahead for employers and the benefits industry.
Best regards
Steve
* HM Treasury; Spending review and autumn statement
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