The introduction of a government-approved secondary pension scheme for Guernsey and Alderney has been delayed.

The scheme was due to be established in 2022 after being approved by deputies, but Brexit and Covid-19 have caused a delay.

No alternative start date has yet been proposed. A delay was not unexpected given the challenges of the past year, and that it could help businesses already hit by the pandemic prepare for the scheme’s implementation.

Local employers will be obliged to offer a pension scheme for staff if they do not do so already, and to make contributions of up to 3.5% of salary.

The default scheme is to be administered by a UK auto-enrolment pension provider specialist, but many businesses are setting up new schemes with local providers.

Details of the delay are set out in Employment & Social Security’s Social Security Contributory Fund Accounts 2020, due to be discussed by the States on 16 June.

Source: Guernsey press Website (Secondary pensions held up by Covid and Brexit | Guernsey Press)

Statistics Jersey have today published the December 2020 Labour Market report. Jersey’s labour market report is published every six months and covers key aspects of the job market for both the private and public sector.

In December 2020:

• the total number of jobs was 60,000. There was an annual decrease of 1,380 jobs (2.2%) since December 2019, the largest December decrease since at least 1998

• there were 51,470 jobs in the private sector. This was an annual decrease of 1,790 jobs (3.4%), its largest recorded decrease in December

• there were 8,530 jobs in the public sector. This was an annual increase of 400 jobs (4.9%)

At a sectoral level:

• seven sectors saw annual decreases in jobs; the largest decrease was of 1,040 jobs in hotels, restaurants and bars, which was the second-largest change recorded in any sector to date (with the largest being the annual decrease of 1,700 recorded by this sector in June 2020)

• the annual increase of 400 jobs in the public sector was driven by an increase of 330 in the number of Government of Jersey (GOJ) core employees (permanent and fixed term employees), which includes staff employed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Source: Government Jersey website (December Labour Market Report Published (gov.je))

Businesses using the global accounting platform Xero as their accounting system, can now benefit from a two-way interface with the cloud payroll application, Offshore Payroll.

Jeralie Pallot, director of Offshore Payroll, commented on the news “ We are delighted that Offshore Payroll has been accepted as a member of the Xero family; this brings exciting benefits to businesses operating in unique offshore environments. Our integration with Xero will improve accuracy and offer significant time savings by further automating the payroll process; allowing businesses to focus on other essential processes and achieving better outcomes.

Since the launch of the cloud based Offshore Payroll, our emphasis has always been on ease of use, efficiency, and automation of the payroll process for our users, which is what makes this software such a popular choice.  Becoming a certified partner of Xero is another step forward in the ongoing development of our application.

The Xero certification caps off an exciting 12 months of growth for Offshore Payroll, which is now used by more than 800 organisations and provides payslips for more than 11,000 employees across the Channel Islands and Isle of Man.

To learn more about how Offshore Payroll can help your business click here.