Our latest article provides a useful checklist to help in-house legal teams consider potential implications when dealing with employment claims arising from the pandemic, which are linked to civil and/or criminal claims and the COVID-19 public inquiry. Companies have been receiving Employment Tribunal claims arising from the pandemic – ranging from unfair dismissal (no jab, no job) to whistleblowing and bullying claims relating to alleged employer breaches during the multiple lockdowns ...
Pensions dashboards have been a long time in the making, but we can be certain now that they are coming, and soon. Trustees of schemes with more than 100 members (excluding pensioner members) will need to ensure that they connect to the dashboard by their statutory connection date - but there’s a lot of preparatory work needed to make that possible ...
The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 (the Act) came into force on 30 June 2022. Headlined as one of the ‘most significant changes to property law in a generation’, the Act restricts ground rents on newly created long residential leases. Ground rents have been replaced by a token one peppercorn per year – effectively zero in monetary value. By restricting ground rent, the government is aiming to make leasehold ownership more affordable ...
With the next August public holiday on the horizon, we look at what can be a complicated area in calculating bank holiday entitlement for individuals who work part-time and/or on compressed hours. Under the Working Time Directive (WTD), which is now retained EU law, a worker has the right to a minimum of 4 weeks’ annual leave (or 20 days for a full-time worker). The Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR), which implement the WTD into UK law, provide an additional 1 ...
ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) has become a familiar phrase and, in practice, the component parts of it are developing at different rates. ESG in leasing models: focus on the ‘social’ ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) has become a familiar phrase and, in practice, the component parts of it are developing at different rates ...
On 21st July 2022, the COVID-19 Inquiry was opened. Module 1 will consider the extent to which the risk of a Coronavirus pandemic was properly identified and planned for and whether the UK was ready for that eventuality. In broad terms, the module will look at the UK’s preparedness for whole-system civil emergencies, including resourcing, the system of risk management and pandemic readiness ...
This article explores the importance of protecting your cryptocurrency investment by having access to the ‘private key’. Without it, you are not really in control of that cryptocurrency and can’t prove you are the true ‘owner’ of it. Crypto, cryptocurrencies, NFTs, blockchain – exciting, enticing, and quickly becoming a favoured source of investment ...
A summary of the key takeaways from a recent webinar on reducing scope 3 emissions: Fuel and Energy-Related Activities. Shoosmiths is delighted to be sponsoring United Nation Global Compact Network (UNGC) UK’s series of webinars on ‘Reducing Scope 3 Emissions’ ...
The recent Argos decision has partially overturned the Bakers of Nailsea decision in relation to summary only offences and the requirements of Criminal Procedure Rules. Public prosecutions begin after an authorised body applies to the magistrates’ court for a summons alleging an offence. The rules underpinning this process are in the Criminal Procedure Rules (CrimPR) Part 7 (and associated Practice Direction). One such rule, CrimPR 7 ...
A year after Ms Maya Forstater succeeded in establishing in the Employment Appeal Tribunal that gender-critical beliefs are a protected philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010, she has won two of her claims for direct discrimination and one claim for victimisation. Employers need to tread very carefully both to balance individual employees' rights to hold sometimes conflicting protected beliefs and to foster a culture that is truly inclusive ...
The Supreme Court has handed down its decision in the claim of Harpur Trust v Brazel, which may have a significant impact on employers of part-year workers. Background Under the Working Time Regulations (“WTR”), workers are entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks’ annual leave and to be paid holiday pay at a rate of a week’s pay ...
Does the recent High Court decision in Butler-Sloss and Others -v- The Charity Commission and the Attorney General change the law on how charity trustees should approach investing their funds? The short answer is “no”. The decision is a reinterpretation of the 30-year-old decision in the Bishop of Oxford case for our modern world and a reinstatement of the fundamental duty of charity trustees to act in the best interests of their charities’ purposes ...
On 21 July 2022, Baroness Heather Hallett issued an opening statement in respect of the COVID-19 Inquiry ('the Inquiry'). As Chair, Baroness Hallett expressed her determination to “run the Inquiry as thoroughly and as efficiently as possible” and “to undertake and conclude the work of this Inquiry as speedily as possible so that lessons are learned before another pandemic strikes ...
The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by commercial tenants against the High Court’s summary judgment rulings ordering them to pay rent arrears notwithstanding the COVID-19 pandemic ...
Fostering diversity and inclusion at the recruitment stage has a beneficial impact, not least in terms of increased applications and a greater likelihood of attracting the right talent to your organisation. Here are our top tips for getting it right. Consider alternative talent pools It is well publicised that vacancies are at record highs, with currently more vacancies than people in work ...
Chloe, the assistance cat, has hit the headlines of several newspapers over the past few weeks, following her owner (Mr Fenn) bringing a claim under the Equality Act 2010 against Sainsbury’s supermarkets after they refused Chloe’s entry to the store. Mr Fenn has autism; a consequence of his autism is that he experiences sensory overload in busy places such as the supermarket and he states that Chloe helps him to focus ...
The Government has announced the dates for implementation of the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022. Overseas entities with prospective or existing land holdings in the UK must plan for the impact of the Act. The Act implements plans to address hidden foreign investment in the UK as part of the government’s strategy to crack down on overseas criminals using UK property for money-laundering ...
Houst’s Restructuring Plan was sanctioned last week. It was notable because of its size, that is, the company is very small compared with the financial giants which have used the process so far - and because it used the cram-down facility to overrule HMRC in its status as a secondary preferential creditor ...
The government has published a consultation on implementing the new building control regime for higher-risk buildings under Part 3 of the Building Safety Act 2022. The consultation predominantly focuses on the changes that will be made to the building regulations to implement the new building safety reforms ...
A summary of the key takeaways from a recent webinar on reducing scope 3 Purchased Goods & Services and Capital Goods emissions. Shoosmiths is delighted to be sponsoring United Nation Global Compact Network (UNGC) UK’s series of webinars on ‘Reducing Scope 3 Emissions’ ...
Shock to UK employment world The UK employment model was turned on its head by COVID-19 and the restrictions brought in by the Government. The seismic effects of the restrictions and the speed with which they were introduced tested the adaptability and resilience of employers and employees in a way not seen previously in the UK ...
Switch2 Energy, Shoosmiths and HermeticaBlack came together to discuss procurement and delivery of new, low cost, low carbon heat networks ...
In conversation with... Our panel of experts - Nina Pindham of No.5 Chamber, Sam Grange and Will Thomas from Shoosmiths and Rhys Bradshaw from DLP Planning took a fresh look at the new "Planning" Bill and gave us their thoughts. There are many questions that many have about the new ‘Planning’ bill... Is this the final Act for s ...
Further in their specialist series Chambers and Partners have launched this year’s guide for professional advisers to wealthy individuals and organisations, providing objective guidance on an international scale. The in-depth analysis covers trends within the private client market and has ranked the leading lawyers and law firms for international private wealth ...
Lauren Bowkett is a principal associate in the financial crime team at Shoosmiths. She has experience in providing financial crime compliance advice, including advice in relation to the Modern Slavery Act (“MSA 2015”). In this article Lauren takes us through the key features of the Modern Slavery Bill and gives her comment on the potential amendments. The new Modern Slavery Bill will seek to strengthen the Modern Slavery Act 2015 ...
