Private healthcare provider Bupa has been ordered to pay a purported record £1.04 million penalty (fine and costs combined) after admitting fire safety failings. London Fire Brigade, prosecuting, said it was the "highest ever fine for fire safety breaches in the UK, [highlighting] the seriousness of Bupa's failure to protect a vulnerable resident in its care ...
This is the second article in 'Back to Basics', a series of articles looking at insolvency processes in Scotland. This article will examine the court process for sequestration, focusing on petitions by creditors. Sequestration is the Scottish legal term for personal bankruptcy ...
The unquantifiable part of subjecting a dispute to the arbitration of a court is the litigation risk. We explore what those risks are and why it is essential that they should never be ignored. The cornerstones of any case should be clear, solid and documented evidence, a series of strong witnesses and in the ideal world and a juicy piece of case law (precedent) that ties it all together and gives the judge/panel a map to direct them to their decision ...
In the second part of this article, we look at the problems that can arise through the interpretation of evidence by the tribunal and look at ways to mitigate litigation risk by ensuring that the story of the case is presented as clearly as possible ...
The Land Registry is the gatekeeper of legal ownership of land in England and Wales. A prompt and successful application for registration is an essential step at the end of most property transactions. In this article we will look at why registration of property transactions is important and the consequences of delays in the process. We will highlight common difficulties and barriers to registration and provide practical advice to overcome them ...
A question that is often asked about the parental status of female same-sex parents is: do they both have the same legal rights in relation to their child? The law changed on 6 April 2009 by virtue of sections 42 and 43 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008, so that both the birth mother and her partner (referred to here for ease as the ‘non-birth mother’) can be recognised as legal parents for conceptions that took place after that date ...
A hot topic on many local authority agendas for this year will be the regeneration of their town centres. The way we shop, eat and work is ever changing, and our town centres need to be ready to accommodate a more diverse and flexible way of life. A lifestyle not necessarily brought on by, but certainly expedited by the COVID-19 pandemic ...
If 2020 marked the beginning of the pandemic, 2021 was the year it became fully imbedded in our personal and working lives. What does 2022 have in store? For the pandemic, only time will tell, but when it comes to employment law things are a little clearer. Employment Bill Perhaps unsurprisingly, the long-awaited Employment Bill did not progress in 2021 ...
If 2020 marked the beginning of the pandemic, 2021 was the year it became fully imbedded in our personal and working lives. What does 2022 have in store? For the pandemic, only time will tell, but when it comes to employment law things are a little clearer. Employment Bill Perhaps unsurprisingly, the long-awaited Employment Bill did not progress in 2021 ...
No fault divorce is due to come into effect in England and Wales on 6 April 2022. From this date couples will be able to get divorced without one person needing to blame the other. This change will also apply to civil partnership dissolution. The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 will be the biggest reform of divorce law in fifty years and means that you’ll no longer have to make allegations about your partner’s conduct to obtain a divorce ...
Almost one year into the new funding round for English affordable housing, we consider how the new Homes England shared ownership lease may affect living sector stakeholders. What’s happened to shared ownership leases? April 2021 heralded a major change to shared ownership (‘SO’) leases in England. Following a consultation process, Homes England released a new suite of model SO leases ...
The Home Office has announced changes to employer right to work checks, effective 6 April 2022 that all employers must be aware of. Carrying out right to work checks is an essential part of the recruitment process and it is important that employers are always up to date with any changes in this area. At present, employers must ask new recruits for physical evidence of their right to work in the UK, such as a Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) ...
In the last article for our Tricky Issues series, we consider the duty to make reasonable adjustments for employees who are deemed disabled under the Equality Act 2010 and share our top tips for employers looking to make such adjustments ...
In this article we look at Prevention of Future Death reports (“PFDs”) issued by Coroners in England and Wales – specifically those which have been made in relation to deaths arising from or connected with the COVID-19 pandemic. We assess the significance of the reports and how they may relate to the COVID-19 public inquiry examining the government’s response to the pandemic ...
There are numerous reasons why your pension might be in England and Wales while you are not. Perhaps you lived and worked in England or Wales then moved abroad, or you live overseas and did a stint of employment here. Whatever the situation, the majority of English and Welsh pension administrators neither recognise nor implement pension orders made in foreign courts following divorce ...
The New Homes Quality Code has been published and this article sets out some initial aspects for housebuilders to consider. After a consultation process lasting almost five years, the New Homes Quality Code (the Code) and Developer Guidance were published by the New Homes Quality Board (NHQB) on 17 December 2021. The Code will replace the current Consumer Code for Home Builders and will apply across the UK for the benefit of purchasers buying new build homes for their own occupation ...
With Scotland’s population growth stalling and with labour shortages in the UK at a record high, the demand for migrant workers at all skill levels is ever-increasing. Part 1 of this insight focuses on some of the current immigration routes for consideration by Scottish employers. Scotland is more reliant on migration than the rest of the UK to maintain population and help alleviate skills shortages ...
Part 1 of this insight focused some of the current immigration routes for consideration by Scottish employers to mitigate the Scottish labour shortage. Part 2 of this insight explores some of the new routes expected to be opened up by Spring 2022. Innovation visas Global Business Mobility Route In spring 2022, the Home office is due to launch the new Global Business Mobility route ...
In the policy statement PS21/16 issued at the end of November 2021, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) set out its new approach to decision makers when issuing statutory notices ...
On 2nd December we hosted a webinar focused on social mobility and the role that in house legal functions can take to improve social mobility in the legal market. The panel of speakers comprised of Amanda Callear, senior legal counsel at Volkswagen Group and Tarn Kaur, associate at Shoosmiths as part of the ‘Conversations with Clients’ web-series and was hosted by Sebastian Price, partner at Shoosmiths ...
Following the publication of its guidance on environmental claims in September 2021, the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) will start reviewing potentially misleading claims in January 2022. Enforcement action may follow if claims breach consumer law ...
With just seven days left until Christmas Day, there’s no denying we are well in the midst of the festive build up. But, for those holding out for a special ‘I Do’ surprise this year, Christmas might just come a bit earlier than expected. Predictions made previously by Bridebook [1] show that the weekend before Christmas is when most intending spouses do, in fact, pop the question ...
It may seem logical that personal injury damages awarded for someone’s on-going medical needs following a serious injury would be ring-fenced on a divorce. Unfortunately, this is not necessarily the case. The leading authority on this point is Wagstaff v Wagstaff from 1992 in which, when referencing an attempt to ring-fence damages on divorce, it was stated that “the capital is not sacrosanct nor any part of it secured against the application of the other spouse” ...
The UK has introduced new legislation that, from 4 January 2022, will require transactions in certain specified sectors to be approved by the UK government before they can be completed. A new regime The UK is introducing a new regime which, from 4 January 2022, will require purchasers to obtain prior approval for transactions in certain specified sectors ...
Led by legal director of immigration, Rachel Harvey and principal associate, Sian Hoare, this webinar provided a post-Brexit recap, outlined general trends and looked at what is on the horizon for immigration law in 2022. Free movement in the UK for all EU citizens ended on 31 December 2020. As a result, there have been significant changes to the UK immigration rules and it looks likely that further changes are still to come in 2022 ...
