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Insight Online – November 2022

Welcome to the latest issue of Insight Online. This month, read about how we can support you when your employer changes and our response to Commission on Professional Leadership. Also, learn about an exclusive PDA Plus benefit for PDA members.

Tue 22nd November 2022 The PDA

In this issue:

  • Community pharmacy employers should consider how their behaviour influences HMRC decision on tax status of locums
  • PDA can support members when their employer changes
  • PDA responds to Commission on Professional Leadership
  • Being involved in your union is good for your professional development
  • Government perform double U-turn on IR35
  • PDA helped launch ‘Achieving Equal Pay in your Workplace’ website
  • Latest news
  • Enjoy a range of PDA Plus benefits!

Community pharmacy employers should consider how their behaviour influences HMRC decision on tax status of locums

Since before the pandemic, HMRC has been examining the engagement of locums in community pharmacy and are moving towards a decision on their tax status.

His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is moving towards a conclusion of its lengthy review of the tax arrangements for locums in community pharmacy. If HMRC decides that locums should be treated as self-employed for tax purposes, nothing major should change. However, if a decision is announced that locums should be taxed as if they were employed, it could present community pharmacy businesses with a backdated claim for tax. This could amount to possibly half a billion pounds and add a tax obligation of many millions of pounds more per year going forward.

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PDA can support members when their employer changes

We have been made aware that a number of LloydsPharmacy stores are currently going through the divestiture process, and we know that such changes of ownership will be of significant concern to individuals who are employed at the pharmacies.

The LloydsPharmacy Reps Network would take this opportunity to remind members that a key benefit of PDA membership is having access to expert guidance from the PDA Service Centre and the support of trained union representatives. This is in addition to the employee representative that might have been nominated by your store.

In cases where an existing business is acquired and absorbed into another, employees will usually find that through no act or decision of their own, they will have a new employer. The company transfers will often also mean new people, processes, and other changes impacting their working lives.

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PDA responds to Commission on Professional Leadership

We have submitted a 17-page contribution to the commission on the future of pharmacy professional leadership and we encourage pharmacists to engage in the overall discussion.

The future of the pharmacy profession’s leadership should be decided by pharmacists. We are ensuring that the voice of our members is heard in the discussions about the future of professional leadership, which has been initiated by the four government Chief Pharmaceutical Officers.

We have published our first formal contribution to the commission, which can be reviewed here.

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Being involved in your union is good for your professional development

Getting more involved in your trade union is good for your professional life, providing opportunities to learn new skills, widen your experience, and progress your career.

All pharmacists, other than those who are owners of businesses that employ other pharmacists, are invited to join the PDA. Joining an independent trade union provides you with many elements of individual support at work, should you need it, and it strengthens the reach and resources of the union to do more good work for the entire profession.

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Government perform double U-turn on IR35

Locum pharmacists were briefly hopeful that issues arising from IR35 may have been overcome but instead, they continue to face certain barriers created by some employers.

Many locum members had hoped that the Truss government reversal of the IR35 tax regulations could help bring an end to the difficulties they face with obtaining shifts. However, this policy was part of the infamous Kwasi Kwarteng ‘mini-budget’ and subsequent Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, quickly performed a U-turn on the U-turn, taking the situation back to where it was previously.

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PDA helped launch ‘Achieving Equal Pay in your Workplace’ website

Recently, The Equality Trust launched the ‘Achieving Equal Pay in your Workplace’ website, the result of over a year of collaborative work with academics and 12 unions including ourselves. The website brings together the expertise of those with lived and learned experiences of tackling equal pay issues in their workplaces to be used by workers across the UK.

The website launch came a week before Equal Pay Day, this year calculated by The Fawcett Society to fall on 20 November 2022. It marks the day when women effectively on average, stop earning relative to men because of the gender pay gap.

Learn more

Below is a summary of some of the other key news stories that have been published on our website recently:

20/11/22 – PDA concerned about unequal pay for pharmacists

18/11/22 – Transgender Day of Remembrance 2022

16/11/22 – PDA Boots member vaccination services evening meeting

11/11/22 – Taking the Stress out of Exams

9/11/22 – Preventing and tackling sexual harassment at work webinar

7/11/22 – PDA Delegates join the 26th Scottish Trade Unions Congress Black Workers Conference

1/11/22 – Celebrating the history of NAWP

LEARN MORE

Enjoy a range of PDA Plus benefits!

Did you know that as a PDA member, you can take advantage of exclusive PDA Plus offers and discounts? Whether it’s getting a special gift for a family member or friend or treating yourself to a new car, PDA Plus has exclusive offers for you.

Fancy a relaxing day at a spa or a beauty treatment? Fabyouless, the UK’s largest beauty, hair, spa, and fitness discount card is offering a 25% discount. The discount can be used as often as you like for hairdressers, barbers, beauty salons, gyms, spas, and more. On PDA Plus, you can join on a 90-day membership for only £1 – the normal price is £59.99 per year!

LOG IN TO YOUR PDA PLUS ACCOUNT TODAY

 

 

 

 

 

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