Wed, 1 Jun 2011

CIPP worry over RTI data for HMRC

Proposals to include deductions from net pay in Real-Time Information (RTI) data sent to HM Revenue & Customs raise concerns over data protection, the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP) has said.

Karen Thomson, head of policy at CIPP, drew attention to the requirement, which was included in the technical specifications for software developers on RTI, published last month.

‘We need to have it justified as to why,’ she said. ‘I suspect it is a system constraint. But would employers be in breach of data protection rules [by giving personal information without permission to a government department]?

Attachment of earnings orders come off net pay; these could be repayments of debt. It could be that the individual has been declared bankrupt. This information is very personal.’

Other examples of deductions from net pay are trade union levies, which have been regarded as personal in data protection terms.

A spokeswoman for HMRC said the requirement helped accurate matching of payments to tax and National Insurance information, and that privacy would be respected: ‘The specification deliberately asks for global figures to enable matching without identifying what the other deductions or additions are.’