The English language is almost certainly unavoidable. 
One billion people use it: 80% of the Internet and 75% of the world’s mail is written in it.
200 million Chinese at any one time are learning it.
India has more native English speakers than England has.
Voyager 1 – is the spacecraft in deep space beyond the solar system carries a message from the United Nations on behalf of 147 countries – in…you’ve guessed it, English!
The introduction of this will benefit overseas companies in the UK as well as UK based employers by making the reporting requirements simpler along with the abolition of the annual tax return at year end.
Designed to modernise the PAYE process and to support the new Universal Credit welfare system, RTI will require UK companies with employees to tell HMRC about PAYE payments in real-time when they are made, and not at the end of the tax year. Some tax forms will change or be discontinued completely.
This will not only reduce the costs for overseas companies who have an payroll scheme already in place, but also reduce the administration for the business.
The English view bureaucracy – and its associated red tape – as a necessary evil.
Like many other things English however, it is perceived as being the best of its kind in the world!
Definitely ahead of anything the rest of Europe has to offer…!
Public holidays in the UK and UK bank holidays tend to be the same each year. This year there are no additional public holidays unlike 2012 with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
| New Year’s Day | Tuesday 1 January |
| Good Friday | Friday 29 March |
| Easter Monday | Monday 1 April |
| Early May Bank Holiday | Monday 6 May |
| Spring Bank Holiday | Monday 27 May |
| Summer Bank Holiday | Monday 26 August |
| Christmas Day | Wednesday 25 December |
| Boxing Day | Thursday 26 December |
As from 1 April 2009, full-time workers in the UK are entitled to a statutory minimum of 5.6 weeks’ holiday in a leave year. For someone on a five-day week, that’s 28 days paid holiday annually. Those 28 days can include bank holidays. For part-time workers, holiday is calculated on a pro-rata basis. Of course, an employer can offer more than 28 days.
For UK statutory purposes, paid holiday is capped at 28 days: even if someone works a six-day week, they are entitled to no more than 28 days of paid leave. Employees are entitled to holiday leave from the first day of their employment.
Paid holiday entitlements need to be included in workers’ contracts of employment.
For every week of holiday they take, employees must be paid a week’s earnings. This is worked out according to the sort of work they do: fixed hours and pay; variable hours and pay; and shift work, for example. UK employees are entitled to their holiday pay at the time they actually take their holiday. (more…)
