▶ What are the changes to Box 4: Staff Costs for 2020/2021?

What are the changes to Box 4: Staff Costs for 2020/2021?

For the Year End 2020/21 what can be included in Box 4 (Staff Costs) is changing.

The Practitioners' Guide has clarified what items are not staff costs for the purpose of Line 4. These exclude mileage and other travelling and subsistence allowances, "Homeworking allowance" (i.e., an allowance paid to cover the extra costs of working from home), provision of work-related training, reimbursement of childcare or other carers costs, reimbursement of a staff member's subscription to the Society of Local Council Clerks, the provision of office supplies like a laptop, scanner or stationery, and consultants and agency staff.

If any of these items are currently feeding into Box 4 on your Scribe account, you will need to make changes. You can do this now in preparation for Year-End. Here's how:

• Navigate to Setup → Cost Codes
• Click into the code that should no longer be linked to Box 4, e.g., mileage.
• Under 'Type', select 'Default' (instead of 'Staff') and click 'Save' to update.
• Repeat for any other codes.

If any of these items were included in Box 4 in your 2019/20 Annual Return, you will need to restate the year when completing the 2020/21 Year-End.

• To do this, log into the 2019/20 and open the year (click on the red icon on the home screen and follow the instructions).
• Update the cost codes as mentioned above and rerun the Annual Return in the 'Year End' menu.
• The Box 4 (Staff Costs) figure should update, with the difference moving to Box 6 (Other Payments) while all other box values remain unaffected.
• Then, navigate to 'Setup' → 'Close Accounts' and choose not only to close the year but also to copy over the Annual Return data.

This will update the previous year when viewing the annual return in 2020/21. Please note that once done, Scribe will display the restated figures and not the figures as originally submitted.