Frequently Asked Questions

  • How do I change employee data?

    Log in as administrator.  Go to employee data screen. Edit and save the data.  If an event is set, clear the event and reset to get the changed data reflected in the new benefit set.

  • I have changed employee data (e.g. salary) but its not showing on the benefit table?

    If you have an event set:

    You need to clear the event and re-set it. What happens is that the Redbourne Platform reads employee data at the time the event is set and makes a copy so that the benefit rules do not get "confused" if employee data subsequently changes.

    If you don't have an event set:

    The benefit table reflects the current, active benefit set applicable to the employee. Any changes to employee data will not be reflected in the benefit table until an event is set.

  • How you deal with New Benefit Years that occur between Starter and New Employment events?

    Some companies have a two-stage enrolment into benefits, whereby employees are entitled to certain benefits from day 1 of employment ("core" benefits such as Life Assurance typically), but are not eligible for "flexible" benefits or pension funding etc. until after completion of probation period.

    The way we capture this is to set up a "Starter" event which enrols employees in core benefits and then set a "New Employment" event which opens up the choices and/or funding for the remaining benefits.

    However, what happens if there is a New Benefit Year in the interim? And why is this potentially an issue? For example an employee starts 1st March, is not due to get pension until 1st May but renewal (New Benefit year) is 1st April.

    • Usually a New Benefit Year involves benefit pricing changes or provider changes and the chance for all eligible employees to re-select benefits.
    • For an employee to appear on benefit reports in any benefit year a benefit record needs to have been created by the employee submitting or the administrator triggering an event.
    • A New Benefit Year event cannot be set for a starter in their probationary period as they are not eligible to select all their benefits

    Therefore, an employee in their probation period needs to have a benefit record, in this example for 1st April, to be included on the benefit reports for the core benefits.  However, setting a New Benefit Year event would allow access to flexible/funded options.

    The solution:

    • Set a Starter event for 1st March and trigger - in order to enrol employee in core benefits
    • Set a Starter Event for 1st April and trigger -  in order to create a record for the new year including the appropriately updated rates on the core benefits
    • Set a New Employment event for 1st May - in order to open up the flexible/funded options as per entitlement
  • Why are the dates showing in US format (e.g. month/day/year)?

    Dates are displayed by the browser based on its "locale" setting. This in turn comes from the PC's locale setting so if you are seeing dates, say, in US format (M/D/Y) then you need to check your PC's settings.

    On a Windows PC you can check on the Control Panel under Regional and Language Options. Here you should be able to change the settings to display dates in the required format based on your region.

  • Can the system handle special characters in names such as c acute (ć)?

    As long as the character is in the ISO-8859-1 ("Latin") character set then a version 3 system should be able to display them. Unfortunately c acute is not in the currently supported character set but this and other "unicode" characters will be supported in version 4 onwards.

  • We are still not sure about leaving and joining dates. How does this work in practice?

    The "termination date" field in the employee data section holds the actual date of leaving employment. This date is on the benefit reports under a column headed "leave date".  The Redbourne Platform works in whole months.  Therefore, all events can be set for the 1st of the month (usually the 1st of the month following joining or following leaving). e.g. if someone joins on 15th October, benefits will commence from 1st November.  An administrator will set a New Employment event with an Active date of 1st November. Equally, if someone leaves on 15th October, this date will be entered as the termination date and an administrator will set an End of Employment event for 1st November.  Therefore, benefits will cease at the end of October as the "leave" description will show on the November reports.

    The Effective date is the cut off day in any month after which any benefit changes take effect from the start of the following month. It is usually approximately 4 days before any payroll cutoff to allow for any checks or last-minute changes to be processed.  E.g. if the client's Effective date is 5th of the month any changes to benefits need to be triggered/submitted by this date so that the Administrator can then export the benefit reports with accurate information. 

    Setting an event means that any employee data is captured so that rules can run and based on the permissions of the event, the grade of the employee and their personal information, the benefits, rates and options applicable are displayed on the benefit table.   If the employee submits their choices or an administrator triggers the record on their behalf, a benefit record is created which holds the benefit selection based on the rules and data. If the event is cleared, the changes evaporate! The benefit table reverts to the previously held record.  It is important to ensure the events are either submitted or cleared in the relevant month so that the changes are captured. i.e. if an event is set for 1st October, the changes will show in October, regardless of when the event is actually submitted  e.g. if it is actually submitted in November it will not show on the November reports (as it will show on October's which may have already been run!).

  • How do defaults on benefits work?

    Some benefits have default settings so that a new employee will be presented with the choice to actively opt out of (as opposed to opting in to ) benefits.

    If an employee already has a benefit record e.g. at renewal, most benefits offer the option to "continue" . If the benefit has a specific term e.g. a bike or holiday then these usually start afresh at renewal. If an employee has a particular level of benefit on a unit or simple benefit e.g. Family PMI cover, 200 childcare vouchers, this is the new "default".

    e.g. the default setting may be that Employee only PMI is selected. When the employee joins s/he decided to opt for Family cover. At renewal, the employee will be presented with the option to"continue" and the default option will be Family cover.

    For subscription based benefits there are two types, monetary amounts and % based. If the client has a %based pension, if the employee has selected 5% contributions this is the new "default". If the salary has changed the site recalulates to show 5% of the new salary, therefore the monetary amount will change. If a subscription based benefit works on monetary amounts the monetary amount will be the default.

    e.g.

    Annual Salary is £20000 and the employee is new and the rule states 5% pension is the default starting position. The employee can "change" or opt out of ("leave") the benefit completely. The default will be £83.33 per month if expressed as a monetary amount.

    At renewal the employee's salary has increased to £25000.

    a) If based on a monetary amount the default at renewal will be to "continue" at £83.33 per month.

    b) If based on a % the default will be to "continue" contributing 5% which has been recalcuated as £104.17.

  • What happens if an event is not submitted or cleared before reports are run?

    The event remains on the site. If it is submitted later (e.g. after reports for that month have been run) then the "change" flag will not show on the next months' reports. Best practise is to submit/trigger or clear outstanding events for a particular month before running the reports, so that all changes for that month are captured.

  • The salary will only update benefits if an event is set? The employer can’t just update the salary and save it without setting an event?

    If there are changes to the employee data, such as a pay change, the employee data should be updated and saved. Then an event needs to be set and submitted to capture these changes.

    Setting an event means that any employee data is captured so that rules can run and based on the permissions of the event, the grade of the employee and their personal information, the benefits, rates and options applicable are displayed on the benefit table.  

    If the employee submits their choices or an administrator triggers the record on their behalf, a benefit record is created which holds the benefit selection based on the rules and data. In this case the new salary appears on the employee benefit table and once the benefits are submitted the new salary is captured in the benefit and payroll report.

    If the event is cleared, the changes evaporate! The benefit table reverts to the previously held record. i.e. the salary change is not reflected in the benefit record because a new one has not been created.

  • If someone has a salary increase we want the pension contribution to be updated. Do they have to complete a further salary sacrifice agreement?

    This isn't really a system issue. If an employee funds their pension through a salary sacrifice based on a % of pay, then if the pay increases, the amount of sacrifice will need to increase and therefore a new sacrifice would be needed. If an employee's funds are based on an actual amount which doesn't change with pay variations, then the amount sacrifice stays the same and no new agreement would be needed. It may be possible to write a revised salary sacrifice agreement that could cope with future % changes but this is not what the current text says. Pay change events can be used to change certain benefits but it is important to define exactly when a change would happen and when it wouldn't - this is something that would be agreed with the client.

  • What is the position with maternity leave and salary sacrifice?

    This isn't really a system issue. If someone is off on a long term absence then there are rules for the protection of the employee and their benefit entitlements and this will depend on the approach by the client. Our understanding is that employees off on maternity leave should still be covered by contractual employer provided benefits and that pensions have their own specific set of rules for dealing with this. This is a complex area with no simple answers and employers use a wide range of approaches to deal with it. The system should be able to cope with any approach adopted by the employer.

  • How do group risk workflows work?

    As standard, group risk benefits have workflows within the benefit rules. There are two types of work flows, firstly the standard underwriting workflow which prompts an employee to complete a health declaration if over the free cover level. The employee would show as "deferred" until the workflow was completed. Secondly, the expression of wish/nomination form for life assurance.

  • How does tax on retail vouchers work?

    Redbourne is not authorised to provide tax advice but here is a summary. If you have concerns about how your payroll is processing the tax and National Insurance then please consult your tax advisers.

    If an employee receives payment from an employer in the form of cash, this is subject to tax and National Insurance through the PAYE mechanism.  A retail voucher is treated like cash as far as taxation is concerned.  Therefore, tax and NI must be paid if the employer buys the retail voucher and gives it to the employee as part of their salary package. 

    What about using an employer allowance e.g. flexible benefit allowance?

    Some employers offer a benefit allowance which may be spent on a range of benefts such as pensions, dental insurance and retail vouchers.  Each of these benefits has different tax treatment but retail vouchers are treated like cash and subject to income tax and National Insurance. It may be worth looking at the scenarios below:

    e.g. Basic monthly salary £1000, basic rate tax payer.

    • If the employer pays an employee £100 as a bonus /extra salary/allowance as cash then tax of £20 and NI of £11 is due (assuming basic rate etc.) so the employee sees an extra £69 in their net pay. (e.g.Salary £1000 subject to tax and NI as normal, plus £100 extra salary)
    • Whereas if the employer pays an employee £100 of retail vouchers (as bonus/extra salary/allowance as cash) then tax of £20 and NI of £11 is due but this is deducted from salary rather than the voucher. (e.g. Salary £1000 tax and NI in normal way but also tax and NI on retail voucher, plus £100 retail vouchers)
    • If the employee opts to pay £100 in order to purchase some retail vouchers and the employer deducts £100 from net (i.e. taxed) pay no further tax is due. (e.g. £1000 salary with tax and NI paid in the normal way minus £100 for retail vouchers).  i.e. the employer has only paid the employee £1000 gross not £1100 as in the first two examples.

    Some employees may be in the position where some of the funds are employer (e.g. flex allowance) whilst the balance is employee (net pay) so both systems apply i.e. the employer portion is subject to tax whilst the net pay deduction means tax has been paid.

  • Once a starter event is completed is there a reminder to set a New Employment event so employee can join pension or other benefits on completing probation?

    Some companies have a two-stage enrolment into benefits, whereby employees are entitled to certain benefits from day 1 of employment ("core" benefits such as Life Assurance typically), but are not eligble for "flexible" benefits or pension funding etc. until after completion of probation period.

    The way we capture this is to set up a "Starter" event which enrols employess in core benefits and then set a "New Employment" event which opens up the choices and/or funding for the remaining benefits.

    Is there a reminder? No, the usual process is for the administrator to set and trigger a Starter event for the given month e.g. 1st March and then immediately set a New Employment event for the appropriate date e.g. 1st June, so that the employee can log in upon completion of probation and choose benefits.

    If the employee does not compete probation:

    • Clear the New Employment event
    • Update the "termination date"
    • Set an End of Employment event for the appropriate date and trigger
  • Can reports be customised?

    Any data which is held in the site, such as employee data or benefit data or information held in workflows can potentially be exported. 

    We have standard fields which are often exported, e.g. Salary is required by most pension providers but is not relevant for PMI.  We can customise reports, such as adding columns to display the split of pension contributions (Employer, Employee, NI uplift, Percentage etc) or start dates.

    The headings on the report can also be customised so rather than state the technical heading e.g. "FlexAdj" the heading can read "gross adjustment" or "salary sacrifice".

    As these columns and heading names are programmed in, it is best to agree these in advance of the site going live.

  • There is a warning saying an employee cannot submit because s/he is below National Minimum Wage but s/he is an apprentice at a special rate. How do you deal with this?

    There are different levels of NMW, depending on age and whether the employee is an apprentice. The apprentice rate was introduced on 1st October 2010.

    The Redbourne Platform currently looks at age, hours and salary to prevent employees submitting benefits if it would take them below National Minimum Wage. (The system looks up the applicable hourly minimum wage based on the employee's age at the active date for the set event. It then calculates the average monthly equivalent based on the hours worked per week and checks that the employee's payroll salary is above it).

    An administrator can "override this error and force a trigger" when the site prompts with the warning screen.  This will generate an email to the employee so agreements can be signed.

    A function to include the apprenctice rate has been added to the list of system developments and improvements.

  • What browsers and plugins do I need for the Redbourne Platform?

    The Redbourne Platform is broadly compatible with any modern (so called "A" grade) browser. This includes:

    • Internet Explorer 7+
    • Firefox 3.5+
    • Safari 4+
    • Chrome 9+

    Older versions of these browsers may work but with degraded visual appearance and some degraded functionality.

    The Redbourne Platform in most configurations also requires PDF and Flash support. In some benefit schemes supplier documents are provided in PDF format and in others PDF forms with pre-filled data fields are used - these will require the browser to have an Adobe Acrobat Reader browser plugin installed. Charts and graphs are drawn as Flash objects and so support for these requires an Adobe Flash plugin.

    Note that a local IT policy might be in place that prevents access to PDF and Flash files - contact your local IT support if you are having difficulties.

    PDF

    There are numerous versions of the Adobe Acrobat Reader plugin for PDF support and when using the more recent version you may be presented with a security warning when accessing a PDF form with pre-filled data as shown below.

    Picture of Acrobat waring bar

    To see the form with the data click on the options button and select "Trust this document one time only" or "Add host to Privileged Locations" to prevent the message from appearing next time you access the site.

    Google Chrome has an inbuilt PDF viewer that does not work with PDF forms. To turn it off and use the Acrobat Reader type chrome://plugins/ into the address bar and disable the Chrome PDF Viewer plugin and enable the Adobe Acrobat plugin

    Flash

    Note that many Apple products do not support Flash (such as the iPad) and so graphical output will not show on these devices.

     

     

  • Can I salary sacrifice below the higher rate tax threshold and not lose my child benefit payments in 2013?

    Yes, possibly but it will depend on the details and these haven't been published yet.  Subject to the details, we can see no reason why a salary sacrifice can't reduce pay to a level where higher tax is not paid and therefore Child Benefit would continue to be received.  If the method of calculating earnings is defined differently (like including employer pension payments) then this may not be the case.

    Also, please note that variable earnings and taxable benefit values will also need to be considered.

  • If I agree to a salary sacrifice, won't other parts of my pay package be linked to a lower level of salary?

    No.  Salary sacrifice earnings are used to calculate tax and NI contributions but any occupational benefits (life cover, overtime rates, bonuses, etc) will use a Reference Salary figure.  This is the salary level before your sacrifice so you will see no change in these benefits.

    However, for state benefits which rely on actual earnings (e.g. state pension, maternity pay, etc.), the reduced figure will be used.
     

     

  • Can I set a "must be submitted" date that is different to the event active date?

    No, The Redbourne Platform, to keep things simple and avoid confusion, works on one date and that is the active date set for an event. Say on a site the New Benefit Year active dates have been set for 1st April. The "countdown" on the benefit table is based on this date e.g. "please submit immediately..." if the date has passed.

    Based on our experience across all the schemes we operate there are always a number of people that do nothing until after a deadline! So even if you can tolerate changes up to, say, the 8th of the month we would recommend that you set the active date at the start of the month to encourage people to submit their choices before the real deadline. Otherwise there is a real risk of late submissions delaying reports which in turn delay payroll etc.

  • Childcare Voucher - no units allowed, Why?

    I want to apply for Childcare Vouchers but I am getting the message "No units of this benefit are allowed. Please check that you have supplied the correct information." What does this mean?

    There are two reasons why you might get this message:

    1. You have not entered any eligible children under Dependants.
    2. You Employer has not entered a value in the Earnings Assessment or the Pre 2011 Eligible boxes on the employee data form. These are needed to work out the maximum number of vouchers that you are allowed.
  • Can I change flexed holiday in the middle of the year?

    We would not recommend it. There are three things to think about:

    • HMRC rules surrounding salary sacrifice do not allow for changes on an employee's discretion. The tax status of the whole scheme can be compromised if this rule is broke.
    • How do you calculate what an employee should pay? They could have changed salary during the year; they could have used more or less holiday than they were entitled to.
    • The Redbourne Platform does not support changing term benefits within a term.

    If you still want to do it

    Annual benefit costs are calculated based on the total value of the benefit divided by the number of months left in the benefit year. For example buying 10 day's holiday at the start of the benefit year would cost 10 times the price of a day divided by 12, per month. For example buying 10 day's holiday mid way through the benefit year would cost 10 times the price of a day divided by 6, per month.

    It is important to note that in the latter case the cost per month would be double the former as the same number of days are being bought but they are being paid for over half the time. So if an annual benefit is changed mid way through a year it is treated by the system as if it were starting from scratch again. This means complications!

    We would suggest setting an Administration event and changing the number of days to the number of days required. The calculated value will be wrong as the system will not take account of the amounts already paid - an override will be needed to correct this.

    To calculate the override

    You could do it like this.

    The amount paid so far is n1c1e/morig where n1 is the original number of days requested, c1 is the original cost per day, e is the number of months that have elapsed at the original rates, morig is the original term over which the days were purchased (usually 12).

    The new total amount left to pay is n1c1 + n2c2 - n1c1e/morig where n2 is the extra number of days requested, c2 is the new cost per day (which could be same as the old cost!).

    However the system works by dividing the amounts by the term (which is morig) but there are only (morig - e) months left to pay the amount in. Therefore the amount to enter in the contribution override is the amount left to pay * (morig - e) / morig/ (n1+ n2).

     

  • What is the difference between Flex Fund and Flex Allowance

    If an employee is allocated an amount to spend on behalf of their employer they are receiving a Flex Allowance.

    An employee's Flex Fund is the total amount they have to spend (or have spent) on benefits on the gross pay side. It is the sum of any Flex Allowance, any credit they receive for "selling" or downgrading core benefits on the system, and  any Salary Sacrifice they make.

    The terms are typically used in different parts of the online agreements. For example an employee may have to agree to an overall Salary Sacrifice of £x but agree to an allocation of spend on benefits from a Flex Fund of £y.

  • What is an overspend?

    An “overspend” is where an employee is spending more than either:
    • The maximum benefit spend OR
    • Spending enough to take them below either:
    o National Minimum Wage
    o Lower Earnings Limit
    The first you may wish to “Force a trigger...” the other two, normally you would not.

    If an employee spends more than their flex allowance, the funding for the benefits can either be from net pay or via salary sacrifice/exchange.

    For example.

    Employee earning £24,000 per annum, with a flex allowance of £2000. Maximum benefit spend is set to £6800 (20% of salary plus additions account).
    • If the minimum benefit spend is £0. If the employee spends £1500 on benefits, he/she is able to take £500 as cash. *
    • If the minimum benefit spend is £2000 (the flex allowance) the employee must spend £2000 on benefits. Therefore there will be an error message when triggering/submitting a benefit record saying the employee has not spent enough (and will lose the £500). *
    • If the employee spends £3000 on benefits, £2000 comes from the flex allowance, £1000 from salary exchange/sacrifice (or net pay)
    • If the employee spends £7000 on benefits, £2000 comes from the flex allowance, £5000 from salary sacrifice/exchange – however, he/she has “overspent” by £200. This could be overridden to allow the employee to spend that much as the 20% is a fairly arbitrary amount.
    • If the employee wanted to spend £20,000 on benefits, then £2000 would be from the flex allowance and £18,000 by salary sacrifice/exchange. The overspend would be £13200, however, he/she would almost certainly take himself/herself below the National Minimum Wage and/or the Lower Earnings Limit. Therefore, you would not want to force the overspend.

    *Note: Some employers treat "cash" as a benefit rather than the result of not spending all the flex allowance, in this case cash may be "soaked up" by a benefit, e.g. "unused allowance".