benefits administration, systems and software

Employers will be able to file employee share scheme data online with HM Revenue and Customs from 6 April.

The government has confirmed it will be "taking forward" almost all of the recommendations made by the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) addressing the taxation of employee benefits and expenses.

The government is to consult on four of the main simplifications outlined in the Office of Tax Simplification's (OTS) review of employee benefits and expenses, including the payrolling of P11Ds.

The government will undertake a call for evidence on remuneration practices to inform future policy changes, as it believes current rules can lead to "unfair outcomes".

Working mothers are not entitled to paid maternity leave if they are receiving a baby through surrogacy under European law, however individual states may go further, a court rules.

The trustee of the Santander UK Group Pension Scheme has hired JLT Employee Benefits (JLT EB) for administration services across its defined contribution (DC) and defined benefit (DB) schemes.

Take-up of the government's new shared parental leave scheme is likely to be between just 1% and 4% it has estimated.

The number of employees on zero-hours contracts has increased from 183,000 in 2010 to 583,000, newly revised figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) reveal.

Employers could be administering benefits through their payroll and eradicating up to 99% of P11Ds if a proposal by the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) is implemented.

The government has published its long-awaited consultation on zero-hours contracts. Hannah Uttley looks at what issues the report addresses and how this will affect employers and their staff.