MP Dr Liam Fox provided his support to a draft bill recently placed before parliament focusing on individuals with Down’s Syndrome. He has been working on the bill with a Down’s Syndrome Association in Portsmouth. If the draft bill passes through parliament and receives royal assent, the Down’s Syndrome Act will come into force. Its focus is on improving provision for those with Down’s Syndrome which includes education, health, social care and employment ...
The term «næringsdrivende» (business activity) in the Norwegian Foundation Act shall be understood as activity with taxable profit («erverv til formål») The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries’ work on amending the Norwegian Foundation Act has been going on for several years, cf. proposals for a new Foundation Act in the NOU 2016: 21. Further law amendment proposals have now been proposed in a public hearing ...
Whilst divorce rates for younger couples seems to be on a decline, the rate of later life divorce is on the rise with the divorce rates for those 65 years and older having tripled since 1990. There are various reasons for later life divorces such as growing apart, children having left home, retirement or age-related illnesses, but a common factor is because they do not want to start the last chapter of their life unhappy ...
In a case concerning the validity and effect of certain deeds relating to pension increases, the High Court has handed down its judgement. The case also considers the application of scheme forfeiture clauses to arrears of underpayments. The case, concerning the Axminster pension scheme (‘Scheme’), was brought by the Scheme’s independent trustee. Many of the original issues were compromised by the parties, meaning that the court was asked to approve the compromise ...
A primer on burgeoning crypto-asset regulation in Cyprus In Cyprus, the Prevention and Suppression of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law, L188(I)/2007 (the “AML Law”) was amended earlier this year through L13(I)/2021 (the “Amending Law”), in order to harmonise domestic legislation with the provisions of the 4th and 5th AML Directives (Directives (EU) 2015/849 and 2018/843) ...
Birmingham - the nation’s second city and one that has changed greatly over the last twenty years. One thing that has not changed, however, is that Birmingham is a big polluter. Continuing growth, both in terms of the population and economy, has left the air quality in such a poor state that Birmingham City Council estimates up to 900 people per year die from diseases associated with air quality ...
The draft Occupational Pension Schemes (Climate Change Governance and Reporting) Regulations 2021 (‘Regulations’) have been laid before parliament and are due to come into effect on 1 October this year. The Pensions Minister announced on June 8 the final version of the Regulations which are designed to regulate how trustees of certain trust-based occupational schemes must engage with, and report on, climate change risk as part of their duties ...
The starting point on divorce is that the assets acquired during the marriage fall into the ‘matrimonial pot’ and will be divided equally between the parties. This is called the sharing principle. However, in certain circumstances an inheritance will be a relevant contribution and a good reason to depart from an equal division ...
Deadlines loom, as changes to rules on the rights of EEA and Swiss citizens to live and work in the UK are fast approaching. With many developments to keep apace of, we have highlighted the key dates and points which employers need to mark in the diary. 1 ...
On 2 June 2021, four months after the UK’s formal application, it was announced the UK can start the process of joining the 11-country Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (“CPTPP”) ...
As many of us continue to work from home and/or have opportunities for travel and meeting up restricted, we are continuing to run our essential webinar series for employers to ensure that our clients and contacts remain up to date and equipped to deal with all eventualities! Our latest seminar focused on diversity and inclusion in the workplace ...
Shoosmiths latest SAMBA aviation webinar on 20 May attracted around 50 delegates to listen to our panel guests share their views on how recent events, including COVID, Brexit and climate change, have shaped the aviation sector today and how they might influence its future. Hosted by Elliot Bishop (Head of Shoosmiths Luxury Asset Group) and Sarah Fairweather (Joint Head of Marine and Aviation) ...
The IVAucher programme was set up to stimulate private consumption in the sectors worst affected by the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic (catering, accommodation and culture). With regard to these sectors, “catering” is used in the broad sense to cover restaurants, cafés, bars and catering companies providing food and beverage services, and “accommodation” refers to hotels and other short-stay accommodation for holidays and business travel ...
Matter in question Inclusion of royalties in the customs’ value of imported goods, which is one of the most disputable matters of recent years, is receiving new and rapid development in Russia ...
The Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021 is being expedited through the legislative process. It will provide for extensions to a number of time limits, including for the passing of development plans. Importantly however it will also allow for extensions, or additional extensions, to existing planning permissions to allow projects be completed. Planning permissions have a fixed duration, usually five years ...
Free movement of workers from the European Economic Area (EEA) was ended by Brexit and the UK Government introduced the EU Settlement Scheme to bridge the gap between the UK’s two immigrations systems of those coming from the EEA, and those coming to the UK from outwith the EEEA. The EU Settlement Scheme is a mechanism for any EEA citizen who lived in the UK before 31 December 2020 to remain lawfully in the UK ...
Agricultural rent reviews have been a source of controversy within the industry for many years. After a period of 15 years or so where there was little rent review activity in the agricultural tenanted sector between the early 1990s and the mid-2000s, a sharp spike in commodity prices during the course of 2007 led to a large number of rent review notices being served ...
The Alan Turing Institute has published a new report: "AI in Financial Services", looking to the use of artificial intelligence in the FS sector. We will watch with interest how the report’s findings evolve into more specific regulatory rules or guidance ...
In one of the most highly anticipated decisions in the employment law arena, the Employment Appeal Tribunal has found that Maya Forstater’s ‘gender-critical’ belief is a philosophical belief worthy of protection under s10 of the Equality Act 2010 (“EqA”). Ms Forstater complained to the employment tribunal that she was discriminated against because of her gender-critical belief that sex is biologically immutable and that ‘transwomen are men’ ...
There are a plethora of issues that parties need to work through to make a strategic land project viable; not least, the UK tax system which has a number of potential pitfalls that can materially impact returns. At present, there is no single tax efficient model catered for in UK legislation to enable parties to come together ...
According to the most recent Crime Survey for England and Wales, the police recorded over 1,288,000 domestic abuse-related incidents in the year ending March 2020. Against this backdrop, another startling statistic is that on average two women a week are killed by a current or former partner in England and Wales alone ...
In the latest article for our Tricky Issues series, we explore what employers need to consider when seeking to change contracts of employment and the legal risks which may arise when those changes are not agreed by the employees concerned. A contract is a binding agreement between its parties and cannot normally be amended without the express consent of all signatories ...
The court has to have regard to the “income, earning capacity, property and other financial resources that each party to the marriage has or is likely to have in the foreseeable future” (Section 25(2)(a) Matrimonial Causes Act 1973). Property and other financial resources can include expectations under a will and beneficial interests under a trust. Expectations under a will It is rare for a future entitlement under a will to be treated as a financial resource ...
The Government has published its first statement setting out its vision for legal migration and border control as part of the new plan for immigration. This article summarises the key goals that form part of the vision. The statement sets out key delivery priorities for 2021 – 22 ...
More recently, many more people are using fertility treatment to conceive; particularly same sex couples, single women and surrogates (Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority data). This echoes a societal shift in so far as relationships, the formation of families and lifestyles are concerned. As such, there needs to be more emphasis on the development and evolution of the law and sector generally ...
