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Now In: Pay and benefits > Basic pay and benefits
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What payment details should be included in a contract of employment?

Should any benefits available to an employee be listed in the contract of employment?

Is it ever permissible for an employer to withhold bonus payments?

How should an employer go about setting up an employee share scheme?

When may an employer withdraw the use of a company car?

Are employee benefits taxable or non-taxable?

Is the company Christmas party a taxable benefit?

If an employer provides an employee's accommodation is it permissible to require the employee to leave the accommodation at the termination of employment?

What are an employer's duties regarding employee expenses?

If an employee abroad on a work-related trip is unable to return to the UK due to travel disruption, is the employer responsible for paying for his or her accommodation and food?

If an employee abroad on a work-related trip is affected by travel disruption, is the employer responsible for the cost of alternative travel arrangements for the employee to return home?

Are long-service awards incompatible with the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006?

Is it still permissible to award greater holiday entitlement to employees who have, for example, 10 years' service?

Where it is a company's policy to give a small gift to employees who have completed periods of service of multiples of 10 years could this be discriminatory under the age discrimination regulations?

Is it permissible for a salary sacrifice arrangement to reduce an employee's pay to below the level of the national minimum wage?

No. A salary sacrifice occurs when an employee gives up the right to receive part of the wages due under his or her contract of employment. Usually, the sacrifice is made in return for the employer's agreement to provide the employee with some form of non-cash benefit in kind, such as childcare vouchers, an employer-provided nursery place or permanent health insurance. The sacrifice is achieved by varying the employee's terms and conditions of employment relating to pay. A salary sacrifice arrangement must not, however, reduce an employee's wages to below the level of the national minimum wage. This is because, apart from living accommodation (for which there is a daily offset), non-cash benefits in kind that are provided instead of wages do not count towards the minimum wage (National Minimum Wage Regulations 1999, regulation 9). It makes no difference whether or not the benefit is taxable.

Thus, the value or notional value of benefits such as meals, luncheon vouchers, medical insurance, permanent health insurance, childcare vouchers and other childcare benefits cannot be counted towards minimum wage pay even where the benefit has been provided under a salary sacrifice arrangement.

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