The power of internal communications and its impact on employee engagement

The world of internal communications has come a long way in a very short space of time and a generic approach to communicating with your employees simply won’t do. The aim of any internal communication is to leave the person informed, educated, motivated and above all engaged. Figures show that companies with engaged employees outperform those without by a staggering 202% (Source: Dale Carnegie). So it begs the question, is it time to rethink your internal communications strategy?

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Have you carried out a Basic Earnings Assessment?

For those employees who joined your childcare voucher scheme on or after 6 April 2011, you must carry out a Basic Earnings Assessment each year. It’s your responsibility to make sure an estimate of your employees' relevant earnings amount is completed for the 2018-19 tax year.

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Tax-Free Childcare - your latest update

​Childcare voucher scheme closing date extended for 6 months

In case you missed our blog, the childcare voucher scheme closing date has been delayed by six months, to October 2018. 

This reprieve is only temporary though, so now’s the perfect time to seize the momentum the original April deadline generated, and get as many of your working parents onto the childcare voucher scheme before it’s too late.

Remember, parents registered for childcare vouchers by the October deadline (and have received a voucher in the last 12-month rolling period), will always have the option to switch to Tax-Free Childcare at a later date (if that ends up being the better scheme for them).

But if they do nothing, Tax-Free Childcare will be their only option after October (and that’s assuming they’ll be eligible for the scheme).

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What parents need to do before joining Tax-Free Childcare

The grass isn't always greener on the other side, but if some of your working parents do decide that Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) is better for their family, here's a mini health check of the things they should consider before applying…​

  • Don't apply for TFC until they've gone through our Decision Tree​, there are lot of TFC eligibility criteria to be aware of
  • Don't apply for TFC until they've checked that their preferred childcare provider is registered for TFC
  • Don't cancel their childcare voucher order until they've successfully applied for TFC
  • They can continue ordering childcare vouchers for up to 3 months after being accepted onto the TFC scheme
  • They need to cancel their childcare voucher order in writing, using a Childcare Account Notice (CAN) – parents can contact us for a form

If a parent decides to leave the childcare voucher scheme for good, you will also need to remove the salary sacrifice agreement and update their terms and conditions of employment too.​

Our new flexible and user-friendly benefits platform

Wouldn’t it be great if all your employees could access all your company and employee benefits information in one place, and on a fully responsive, flexible, user-friendly platform? Well now you can! Our refreshed Salary Extras platform is now easier to use and comes with a host of new features, including self-service staff engagement tools and the ability to quickly view your company savings. We’ve also bundled together a number of employee benefits that your employees will love - a discount scheme with a huge range of high street shopper offers, and a health and wellbeing resource centre. You can also take advantage of the optional extras, by upgrading the discounts offering, and adding additional schemes such as bikes, cars, holiday trading, commuting and travel loans, and technology. Download our brochure or get in touch with us to find out more.

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