Employers can face a civil penalty under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 (“the Act”) of up to £20,000 per illegal worker for failing to carry out the prescribed right to work document checks. It is a criminal offence to knowingly employ anyone who does not have the right to work in the UK or where an employer had ‘reasonable cause to believe’ they did not have the right to work in the UK ...
There has been a growing expectation that in order to fill the COVID sized hole in the Treasury's finances focus and ultimately action would be brought to bear on pension tax relief across defined benefit and defined contribution pension schemes. However, "Tax Day" has seen cuts to higher rate tax relief fail to materialise ...
The opening webinar of The Lawyer’s Smarter Working Week saw leaders from a broad range of different sized teams discuss their experiences over the past 12 months and how they will use these learnings to build back better and enhance the experience for their business ...
COVID-19 has forced us to completely rethink the way we live, work and move around. It has begged the question: what is it that makes a great city? Manchester is one of the fastest-growing cities in the UK. With cranes dominating the skyline, billions continue to be invested into the city centre as it evolves into a city of quarters ...
COVID-19 has undoubtedly occupied the minds of employment lawyers and businesses over the past 12 months; however, what else has happened in the world of employment law that we might have missed? In our webinar, we looked at the changes that have taken place in the employment context over the past year and we looked ahead at the changes we can expect to see in 2021. Looking back... Section 1 changes A number of key changes took place in April 2020 ...
This article looks at the dynamics and tensions which exist between remote and agile working versus the role of hierarchy and the competing needs of teams. Where does the power lie in deciding what the future of work looks like? Does it sit with management, leadership, employees or HR? Many leaders and managers seem to have embraced working remotely, having previously spent days/weeks and possibly months commuting every year ...
COVID-19 has definitely changed the way in which we work. When many people started working from home back in March 2020, it was seen as a short-term, temporary arrangement to help combat the effects of COVID-19. Fast forward 12 months and homeworking is widely considered to be here to stay. In our webinar (kindly hosted by Macmillan Davies), our employment law and health and safety experts talked through the key issues for businesses to be aware of ...
Comment from Paula Swain, Partner National Head of Commercial Recoveries and Head of the Solent office for Shoosmiths, Paula is also a Director with the Solent LEP and was part of the Freeport taskforce which was successful in its bid ...
Rishi Sunak has announced the much-awaited budget for 2021 hailing protection for the “jobs and livelihoods of the British people”. We outline below the key elements impacting employers and their wider workforce. Budget 2021: The Employment Implications Rishi Sunak has announced the much-awaited budget for 2021 hailing protection for the “jobs and livelihoods of the British people” ...
Shoosmiths hosted one if its best attended Shoosmiths Aviation & Marine Breakfast Association (SAMBA) webinars on 25 February. Joined by representatives from industries across the marine spectrum (boatbuilding, finance, insurance, marinas and the RYA) Elliot Bishop and Sarah Fairweather discussed the impact of Covid and Brexit on the leisure marine sector in particular and the outlook for the coming year ...
This is the second article in our 2021 Tricky Issues Series. We will be looking at the five most common causes of delays in disciplinary processes, including the topical issue of delays relating to Covid-19, and how employers can best manage them ...
This is the final article in a series reflecting on employee mental health and wellbeing challenges that employers are currently facing. It focuses on how employers can support employee mental health going forwards. Flexible future? If COVID-19 has done one thing at the very least, it is to open employers’ eyes to different and more creative ways of working ...
Takeaways from webinar on 2 February 2021 hosted by Karen Howard, Matthew Stimson and Grace Mitchell from our planning & environmental team. What are public rights of way and why are they relevant? A public right of way (PROW) is a type of highway - a route across land over which the public at large has a right to pass/ repass without permission or interference ...
Over the next decade, challenges around public funding and a shift in live/work priorities will create an increasing need for public-private collaboration as we seek to rebuild and regenerate our towns and cities in a post-Covid and post-Brexit climate ...
The with backdrop of a global pandemic, John Hartley looks at the modern structure of global corporate investigations. It is a small world and getting smaller. The speed at which COVID-19 spread across the world when most easily transmitted by being within two meters of each other is a clear indication of just how small the world is getting ...
Our latest Brexit Insight: Immigration series of webinars focusses on the impact of Brexit on workers and businesses since 31 December 2020. Our Immigration expert, Rachel Harvey, kicked off the first session by discussing the issues surrounding the new frontier worker permit and eligibility, including what a frontier worker is, what a frontier worker permit provides and what your obligations are as an employer for the next 6 months and beyond ...
This article forms part of our ‘New How: Perspectives’ report: ‘Can real estate help solve the productivity puzzle?. To access this free report, please click on the download link to the right of this page. If somebody asked me at the start of 2020 whether I could join a meeting by video, my immediate thought would have been: “no, that sounds far too difficult and I don’t think we really have the technology to do that” ...
The requirement for businesses to publish gender pay gap reports was cancelled in 2020 as a result of COVID-19. Gender pay reporting is, however, back on the agenda for 2021 so is there anything new that you need to know? In short, yes. There has been a lot of commentary over the last nine months about the impact of Covid-19, and particularly furlough, on gender pay statistics (see our previous article here https://www.shoosmiths.co ...
This article looks at trends, including the response to COVID-19, which we expect to impact the mid-market in 2021. Last year we gave COVID-19 a quick mention in our ‘look at the year ahead’. Nobody foresaw the impact it would have. As the market enters a new year, there remains the uncertainty that we’ve grown familiar with ...
This article forms part of our ‘New How: Perspectives’ report: ‘Can real estate help solve the productivity puzzle?. To access this free report, please click on the download link to the right of this page. The Covid pandemic has clearly had a significant impact on our society, the economy and everyday life, with numerous sectors having found life in lockdown incredibly challenging ...
At the beginning of the pandemic, businesses had to rapidly adopt new ways of working and enable staff to work from home as much as possible. Nine months on, the threats posed by the virus remain, and ways of working have changed beyond recognition. We consider below the longer term impact of COVID-19 on flexible working, and the extent to which employees are willing (or not) to return to their ‘normal’ place of work ...
On 12 January 2021, David Mathias, Tim Willis, Sam Grange and Matthew Stimson from our Planning & Environmental team hosted a webinar to discuss the main changes introduced to the existing ‘Standard Method’ used for assessing housing need in England and Wales ...
The Supreme Court has handed down its much anticipated decision relating to the coverage of business interruption insurance claims made following the COVID-19 pandemic. A key question was whether the Supreme Court ruling would finally provide the clarity that the expedited test case sought to achieve for both policyholders and insurers. The good news for all is that the Supreme Court has indeed provided much more clarity in relation to most issues ...
The outlook for the year ahead is uncertain with the effects of post-Brexit rules to contend with and COVID-19 continuing to restrict the way we live and work. We look at what the year may have in store for the construction industry. COVID-19 There is no doubt that the pandemic has caused challenges for the construction industry and is likely to have a significant impact into 2021 ...
This article forms part of our ‘New How: Perspectives’ report: ‘Home Working not the Panacea’. To access this free report, please click on the download link to the right of this page. Home. Noun. Meaning: “The place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household.” Not any longer. Home is now also where many of us work ...
