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This issue has an extended Benefits section. Manchester Advice provide a service to 48,000 people a year and for the last three years have been building a dossier of the rules, procedures and practices within the main benefit system which act as barriers to paid work and to activities, such as volunary work, study and training. Jean Betteridge (Welfare Rights Officer for Take Up, Training & Publicity, Manchester Advice) has produced a comprehensive analysis of benefit barriers to work. This article summarises the main points. A full version can be obtained from the author. Judy Scott

The potential impact of employee benefits on individuals and their dependants is significant and growing as new products and solutions come on to the market. The aim of this paper is to investigate how benefits impact on employees and the organization as a whole, and how organizations are choosing to inform their people about the type of benefits on offer.

Research conducted by AIG UK Benefits seeks to provide an insight into the current employee benefits environment and in particular to the areas highlighted above. The research consisted of a two‐stage study undertaken by the AIG UK corporate research and development team between November 2007 and January 2008.

The study highlights the differences between the perceptions of employers/HR professionals and employees when it comes to the awareness and understanding of the benefits on offer and asks whether employees are really to blame if they fail to appreciate the true value of their employers' voluntary employee benefits.

There is an opportunity for HR to improve benefits communications. The study looks at how one UK retailer has successfully implemented a strong communications program and presents steps that employers and reward professionals can take to improve their own benefits communications.

Investigates employee benefits on offer in the USA. Acknowledges that several benefits (such as social security payments) are required by law but focuses on voluntary or discretionary benefits, which may or may not be taxable, such as child care. Explores the purpose of these benefits, particularly from the employ’s point of view, as a tool for offering incentives and increasing motivation. Provides a brief overview of the history of benefits in the USA, the benefits on offer, the cost of benefit packages to employers, and tax consequences. Notes that the traditional benefit package was based on a male worker with a non‐working spouse and two children, which has not kept pace with demographics. Describes a typical household today as a two‐income family with children, with increased life expectancy and more elderly people. Concedes that benefit packages are beginning to change, particularly in relation to elder care and child care. Terms pick and mix benefits packages as cafeteria‐style benefit plans and outlines their advantages and disadvantages. Warns that more and more benefits are likely to be taxable.

Previous research has found that nonprofit organizations pay lower wages than do other organizations. This has been attributed to altruism on the part of workers who are willing to donate some of the value of their time to organizations that support causes in which they believe. This paper extends that analysis to the cost of fringe benefits. Do nonprofit organizations spend less on fringe benefits than do other organizations? Utilizing a data set containing information on wages and fringe benefits in the nonprofit sector we estimate a standard wage equation to test for such a relationship. We find that not only are nonprofit organizations spending less on fringe benefits than are other organizations, but that they are spending significantly less than would be predicted by the previous research on nonprofit wage differentials.

This article aims to review how one organization – Vinci – leveraged a strategic and integrated approach to employee benefits to unify three different businesses, each with their own, different set of T&Cs, employee benefits and benefit providers. This work was undertaken in the midst of economic recession that put significant pressure on the business to retain and reward its people.

The article provides best practice case evidence that outlines how effective employee consultation and buy‐in was generated, employee communication was delivered and understanding of the new employment package was disseminated to staff.

The paper demonstrates the positive and far‐reaching impact of the work to unify employee benefits provision across these merging organizations. With over 99 percent of employees signing their revised T&Cs and employees making savings of over £500,000 in tax and NICs (National Insurance Contributions), the work undertaken at the organization has, understandably, had a positive effect on employee turnover and overall levels of engagement.

The article presents a first‐hand account of the work carried out to bring the businesses together and ensure the company could offer a strong and engaging employment and benefits package.

The purpose of this research paper is to provide practitioners and researchers with guidance and ideas for benchmarking employee benefits in companies providing professional services. The research addressed employee benefits in multi‐owner accounting firms.

Data from a survey of a large number of multi‐owner accounting firms (CPA firms) were analyzed to examine professional employee benefits and to look at the relationship between firm size and benefits offered.

An analysis of survey results suggested that larger firms offer better benefits than smaller firms. Larger firms tend also to be more profitable. Various employee benefit metrics were examined.

The survey was limited to accounting firms in the United States, so the findings may have limited value for researchers and practitioners in other countries.

The better benefits offered by larger accounting firms may allow them to attract better personnel, possibly accounting for their greater profitability. If this is indeed true, then a good benefit package may well be a key success factor for accounting firms, and possibly for other professional services. Firms seeking to improve their competitive position may, therefore, find it advantageous to benchmark their professional employee benefits against the benefit packages of larger more profitable competitors.

This paper examines professional employee benefits in multi‐owner accounting firms and identifies metrics that could be useful to practitioners in benchmarking those benefits. The metrics identified and other findings may provide practitioners with ideas for benchmarking benefits in other professional service organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the main elements of the existing framework of the UK welfare benefit system and the key changes that will be implemented under the Welfare Reform Act 2012 and its socio‐economic effects.

This paper outlines the structure of the key welfare benefits likely to be encountered by those with a neurological disability, the broad qualifying criteria and the interaction between various types of benefit. By comparison, it examines the elements of key significance that will take effect under Welfare Reform and the resulting impact on the various demographics of benefit claimants.

Since the merging of the UK's social security system with unemployment services, welfare legislation has seen countless changes, although the core underlying principles have remained largely the same along the way. The Government has committed to overhauling a complex benefit regime whilst counterbalancing the task of addressing the issues of budget deficit. In principle, the Government aims to deliver a more streamlined, cost‐effective benefit system, which will focus the greatest attention on the most vulnerable elements of our society. The most detrimental affect will be on unemployed, working‐age families; those that are perceived to have a greater advantage in the labour market.

The objective of this paper to raise awareness amongst professionals as to the benefits available to their clients to improve their financial and social position and to go some way to prepare for the potential impact of Welfare Reform.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a benefits realisation road‐map for ERP usage in the context of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs).

Direct interviews were used to collect data from a random sample of 48 MBA students and 87 business managers (CIO/IT directors and CFO roles).

The ERP benefits road‐map suggests that a long‐term vision is required in order to obtain a successful realisation of the potential benefits that ERP could bring. Thus, this analysis suggests that ERP benefits realisation dimensions are interconnected, and that managers should perceive ERP benefits realisation as a continuum cycle along the ERP post‐implementation. Furthermore, new ERP updates and maintenance projects must take into account the results of ERP benefits realisation auditing to review ERP configuration, correct possible mistakes, and improve the efficiency of some expected ERP benefits.

Although the study focuses on the factors that influence ERP benefits realisation, it fails to differentiate between some factors that may influence the realisation of these benefits, such as size and type of company, ERP system implemented, and organisational context.

The results may help to improve the understanding of ERP success and satisfaction levels, both expected and perceived, from ERP stakeholders. The findings also suggest that auditing the realisation of ERP benefits is a crucial stage in ERP usage phase.

The paper contributes to the current literature in the benefits of ERP systems by defining a benefits realisation road‐map to achieve the ERP benefits identified in the literature.

Because of the dramatic increase in health care costs and the fact that more people are retiring earlier and living longer, the issue of post retirement benefit costs other than pensions has become a topic of great interest to issuers and users of financial statements.The Financial Accounting Standards Board is in the process of requiring corporations to report these expected future post retirement costs as liabilities. This paper examines the proposed treatment of post retirement benefits costs and discusses alternative strategies a company may adopt to prepare for implementation of the standard.

The National Insurance Joint Authority, in conjunction with the Treasury so far as relates to matters with regard to which the Treasury have so directed, in exercise of powers conferred by sections 50 and 51 of the National Insurance Act 1965 and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, and for the purpose only of consolidating the regulations hereby revoked, hereby make the following regulations:—