Is there anything that I can do to prevent my premium from increasing?
There are many actions with little or no cost that can be done.

Tip 21 Inspections – Are You Ready?
This week I have sought the help of Dermot Duignan of D&G Prevent who I know many of you will be familiar, to provide some highly valuable advice on this important subject.
Inspections in the workplace can take the form of health and safety inspections, regulatory inspections or employment compliance inspections. While NERA now forms part of the Workplace Relations forum, its inspectorate function will continue under the new legislation. The most recent report showed that NERA carried out 5,546 inspections and visits in 2013 of which almost 9% were jointly undertaken with officials from Revenue, the Department of Social Protection and the Garda. The report states that many of these visits were unannounced and undertaken outside normal office hours at night and at weekends. Therefore it pays to be as prepared as possible for potential visits and to ensure you have a protocol in place that your staff are aware of.
Here is a general checklist that you can use so you are prepared.
Employer registration number with the Revenue Commissioners
Full Name, Address and PPS Number for each employee (full-time and part-time)
Written terms of employment for each employee
Payroll details (Gross to Net, Rate per hour, Overtime, Deductions, Shift and other Premiums and Allowances, Commissions and Bonuses, Service Charges)
Copies of Payslips
Employees’ job classification, Dates of commencement and where relevant, termination of employment
Hours of work for each employee, (including starting and finishing times, meal breaks and rest periods.) These may be in the form of Form OWT1.
Register of employees under 18 years of age
Holidays and Public Holiday entitlements received and taken by each employee
Employment permits or sufficient evidence that permits are not required for relevant employees
Ensure that you have relevant employee records available for the last 3 years – the inspector will generally look at the last 12 months records but can request to see 3 years.
Ask the inspector to explain the reasons for the inspection and the scope of the inspection and keep a note of these for your records .The inspector is not obliged to give you a reason but they may advise you on whether it is a routine random inspection of whether it is following on from a specific complaint received by the inspectorate.
The inspector will usually advise the contact person whether they are satisfied that the employer is compliant. If they feel there has been any breach of employment laws they may require further detailed information. The inspector will generally follow up their on site inspection with a letter confirming the inspection is complete or highlighting issues to be addressed.
The main areas that the NERA inspectors are hot on, the non payment of wages (holiday entitlements, Sunday supplement, bank holiday entitlements) and the foreign workers having the relevant permits in place.

Always remember – call us to discuss any/every incident. We will advise and guide you.