London South Bank University chooses Keystone Talent Bank

Keystone Talent Bank has announced it has been successful in its bid to supply London South Bank University with an internal employment agency solution.

Following a competitive tender process, Keystone Talent Bank was selected as the preferred supplier, with a proven model of using software as a service combined with operational support.

The contract will run for 5 years, with an initial term of 2 years.

Keystone Talent Bank is already servicing a range of other educational institutions including Brunel University London, Natural History Museum, Canterbury Christ Church University, London Metropolitan University and King’s College London.

By allowing a university and its business partners to engage with students 24/7 on any device, Talent Bank makes student employability more convenient and accessible and enables organisations to reduce their reliance on recruitment agencies.

Malcolm Paice, Chief Operating Officer for Keystone Talent Bank commented: “We are delighted to have been selected by London South Bank University to provide them with an internal agency model that has innovative technology at its centre.”

“Keystone’s continuing growth in the higher education sector is evidence that the software as a service model, when backed up with solid human experience and operational expertise, is the way forward to reduce costs and make the engagement of students and other contingent workers more efficient, compliant and frictionless.”

Keystone at the Higher Education Conference

Keystone Talent Bank recently attended the successful Higher Education Conference at the University of Salford. The theme was ‘The Future of Universities’ and focussed on innovation, growth and skills against an ever changing backdrop in higher education.

The post-Brexit future for universities was a popular topic on the day and the future of the 120,000 students who are EU nationals was discussed by a number of the keynote speakers.

The need to focus on outcomes and delivering value for money was also a clear objective and Keystone took the opportunity to remind delegates how offering work opportunities directly to students in a frictionless and accessible manner was vital.

Employability of students is seen as increasingly important to provide students with value for money whilst studying.

Compliance – are YOU audit ready?

With so many universities reliant on disparate and often disjointed systems for managing compliance and UKVI requirements, it is perhaps no surprise that many institutions find audits a concern.

Reliance on spreadsheets, manual checks and paper based processes all add to a university’s vulnerability in ensuring it has a handle on compliant workers.

Talent Bank automates the onboarding and compliance of student workers, with hard controls for handling the expiration of visas, passports and other supporting documents.

With the ability to directly upload scanned documents to the students online profile, auditors can access a students entire work history, compliance and control information in one place.

Find out if your institution is audit ready with our handy guide, available FREE from our website here or email us at info@keystone-jobs.com

The Talent Bank solution to new IR35 Rules

New rules, confirmed in the Government’s autumn statement, state that if that contractor is operating under similar circumstances to that of a PAYE employee, they will fall within IR35 rules and whichever organisation was previously paying into the contractors’ Limited Company (either an agency or the public sector organisation directly) will be responsible for deducting the workers Tax and National Insurance Contributions at source.

These new rules apply from 7th April 2017.

Clearly these new rules will increase the liabilities for public sector organisations as they will have to ensure their HR and payroll can take on what are often contingent workers and pay their NIC and Tax the same as if they were PAYE employees.

These changes mean there is no financial benefit for a contractor to continue to use their Limited Company over being directly employed or operating via a compliant umbrella company. This change also places the onus for tax and National Insurance Contributions onto the organisation or agency who engages the contractor and who previously paid the contractors Limited Company.

Thankfully Keystone Talent Bank enables contractors to still work for the public sector body and record all working hours in a simple and compliant online portal. Contractors can simply register with Keystone’s umbrella company partner, i4 Group UK who deduct all tax, NIC and other contributions at source, as well as making it easy and convenient for the contractor to keep working.

This removes the burden for PAYE from the organisation who is engaging the worker, and allows the contractor to continue working in the public sector under one umbrella employer to handle all of the compliance and deductions.

Benefits for the organisation:

• Use Talent Bank for all temp, perm & contractor workers

• Fully compliant with IR35, NMW, SDC and AWR legislation

• No need to increase headcount or employ the contractor

Benefits for the worker:

• Easy to continue working on a compliant contract basis

• No joining or termination costs/no min employment period

• All Tax, NIC and pension contributions deducted at source

• Manage all expenses, invoices and payroll information online

To find out more about our IR35 solutions email us at: info@keystone-jobs.com