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Mid-year 'cost of living' payment

Sophie

Hi everyone, 

I was wondering what others thoughts were on paying a one off payment mid-year to help with the rise in the cost of living.

Also if and what other companies were doing to help with the rise of cost of living.

Thanks

  • This was discussed yesterday as one of our funders have asked if they can help both our beneficiaries and our staff. This will mean we can provide more subsidised places for our beneficiaries and 2 payments to our staff - one in October, one in December; potentially £500 in total (obviously subject to tax/NI). In April we gave a 4% pay rise to all our staff so hopefully if approved this will be a welcome "bonus".
  • in reply to Louise Andrews
    The CIPD’s summer 2022 Labour Market Outlook finds that 15% of organisations have paid, or plan to pay, such a payment to some or all their workers, while a further 15% are actively considering it. Private sector firms are most likely to have paid this bonus (18%) - especially those in the primary and utilities (30%), financial service (26%), and construction (25%) sectors. In the voluntary sector, 11% of charities have paid, or plan to pay, this to some or all their workers, while a further 19% are actively considering it.
  • in reply to Charles
    We are looking at longer term measures for our staff to help them with household bills and I would love to see these as a salary sacrifice (similar to the 'home technology' schemes years ago), so helping people update their homes with things like solar panels which will help them with household bills long into the future.
  • in reply to Liane
    Similarly to help people with travel costs we wanted people to move towards electric cars, one of the obstacles we needed to overcome was the cost of installing car charging points at their home, we implemented a scheme to give them £500 towards it and the ability to split the rest of the cost over a number of months to help finance it.
  • in reply to Liane
    Yes, Liane. Anything that helps staff to insulate their homes would be a great employee benefit. Perhaps, the government will discover the advantages of allowing salary sacrifice on energy efficient products.
  • in reply to Charles
    I think it would be really successful if it worked like the home technology or bike to work scheme.

  • As a relatively small business we have very strong communication lines with all employees, and currently we are getting a sense that many colleagues are feeling anxious about the winter ahead and potential financial difficulties, especially with the new way of working, meaning many people are largely at home for the majority of the week. We have (very briefly) discussed the potential of setting up a hardship fund, which could be accessible for those employees that are struggling, however, I just wondered if anyone else had done this before or are also considering this, and how this would potentially work? I realise there is probably some tax rules etc. but I'm particularly interested in how we'd qualify who could access the fund, how we make employees aware of it, and above all that its fair and equitable throughout the business. Any advice much appreciated. 

  • in reply to Emma
    Hi Emma - I hope you don't mind but I've moved your 'hardship fund' post to this exisiting .cost of living' thread.
  • surely we should be putting pressure in the government to take off VAT from Electric Gas and Oil for Heating taking VAT and Fuel Duty off Petrol and diesel and this would reduce fuel to £1 a litre and take £800 off the average heating bills and this is way better than any one off payment and the fuel would reverse inflation everywhere as it affects everything we buy and do !?
  • in reply to Stephen Jarrett
    Ah well... now we're getting into the realm of politics, which is all about choices about who bears the pain.

    I'd personally prefer a windfall tax on the suppliers vs a VAT cut, which will only cut the amount of money in the public purse.