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Court Issues Guidance on Letters of Intent
Letters of intent are widely used in the building trade, because it is normal for both developer and contractor to wish to make progress on a building project without having to wait until the formal contractual arrangements have been fully agreed. However,... -
Administration of Troncs
The long-running series of disputes between employers in the hospitality industry and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) concerning the taxation of employees’ tips and their National Insurance (NI) status seems to have been concluded by the issue of new... -
Advice on Acquisitions Deductible
One common area of dispute between companies and the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is that of deductibility of expenses. One of the hottest areas of dispute is often whether an expense is a trading expense (deductible as part of the day-to-day running costs... -
Age Discrimination - Be Prepared
There are currently 20 million people aged 50 and over in the UK and the figure is expected to reach 27 million by 2030. On 1 October 2006, the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations came into effect. This legislation makes it unlawful to discriminate on the... -
Are You Data Friendly
Many businesses regard the Data Protection Act 1998 as something that merely requires a lot of form filling and the payment of fees, but there is a lot more to it than that. The purpose of the Act is to protect a person's right to privacy with regard to... -
Assured Shorthold Tenancies Rights of Residential Landlords and Tenants
Assured Shorthold Tenancies - Rights of Residential Landlords and Tenants -
Bank Deposit Protection Rules for Businesses
With new stories of bank instability featuring regularly in the newspapers, the Government’s decision to raise the amount of deposit that it will guarantee in the event of bank failure to £50,000 was welcomed by all. However, it has not been made... -
Business Property Relief - Traps for the Unwary
Most business people know that for family businesses there are generous Inheritance Tax (IHT) reliefs, which generally operate to make assets used in the business exempt or partially exempt from IHT. The reliefs take various forms, but are collectively known... -
Business Tenancies What is a Business
The question as to what sort of organisations can be regarded as businesses came before the courts in a case involving a not-for-profit company which had failed to give the required notices to protect their tenancy under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 . ... -
Can We Stop Them
Restrictive covenants (clauses which are normally found in contracts of employment and partnership agreements, which restrict the right of a person to compete with his or her firm) have always been a difficult area of law. The courts are able to strike out... -
Case Report: Dismissal due to stress contributed to by the employer
In McAdie v Royal Bank of Scotland [2007] EWCA Civ 806 the Court of Appeal endorsed the EAT's approach in finding that an employer could fairly dismiss an employee for ill-health capability despite the fact that the employee's stress-related illness was... -
Case Report: Ownership of contact lists - PennWell Publishing (UK) Ltd
The high court has held that where a journalist employee created and kept all his contacts (including those made before joining the employer) on his employers computer system, that list of information belonged to the... -
Case Report: Part-timers - dealing with bank and public holidays
McMenemy v Capita Business Services Limited (Inner House, Court of Session) This case considered the fraught issue of how to deal with bank and public holidays for part timers. Capita employed Mr McMenemy on a part-time basis to work on Wednesdays,... -
Case Report: Sick pay and disability discrimination
O'Hanlon v Commissioners for HM Revenue & Customs (CA) The Court of Appeal has confirmed the EAT's decision that when Mrs O'Hanlon's entitlement to sick pay had been exhausted under HM Revenue & Customs' sick pay policy, the employer's failure to... -
Case Report: TUPE and service provision changes
A recent employment tribunal decision, involving an employee at a PR agency, is the first time to our knowledge that the courts have looked at the provisions of the 2006 TUPE Regulations on service provision changes. This legislation introduced a new... -
Case Report: Unfair Dismissal - What weight should be given to a previous warning?
That has been a controversial issue in some recent cases. In Airbus UK -v-Webb the Claimant was employed as an aircraft fitter who had previously been given a final written warning in respect of being found washing his car in company time. It was made clear... -
Changes to Family Friendly Legislation
The Work and Families Act introduces measures intended to give more choice to families attempting to balance work and caring responsibilities. It imposes significant new obligations on employers. The period of statutory maternity pay has been... -
Collecting Your Debts - a Brief Guide
If a business cannot recover a debt from a customer after the normal credit control procedures are exhausted then it will need to consider taking further action to recover the sum due. Mediation with the debtor, involving negotiation through a third party,... -
Company Name Rules
On 1 October 2008, new rules relating to the registration of company names came into force. These allow companies to object more easily to the registration of a company name which could be confused with theirs. The new rules can be found on the website of... -
Company Disclosure Rules
The Companies (Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2008 came into force on 1 October 2008, making many changes to the requirements as to where and when company trading names, names of directors etc. need to be shown. The Statutory Instrument implementing the... -
Company Formation Checklist
You may have come across advertisements which make forming a company sound very easy, but before you go ahead there are some serious issues to think through. If you have decided that a company is the best vehicle for your new venture then here is a... -
Company Late Filing Fees
Companies filing their accounts after the due date are subject to late filing penalties which were last changed in February 2009. Private companies are required to file their accounts within 10 months of the end of the accounting period. Those that file... -
Company correspondence - do you know about the new rules
Company correspondence - Do you know about the new rules? Company law in England and Wales is in the process of being shaken up, with the Companies Act 2006 having received Royal Assent in November 2006. The Act is being introduced in phases, but due to... -
Compensation for Loss of Light
Following a recent case in which a dispute regarding a property owner’s right to light was unexpectedly dealt with by the granting of an injunction against a developer, a more recent case has offered guidance on how much compensation might be payable... -
Compromise Agreements - Tax Position Clarified
A compromise agreement is an agreement made between an employer and an employee who is having their contract of employment terminated. It sets out the terms under which the termination will take place and contains a provision that the employee will receive a... -
Considering Outsourcing
These days more and more processes are being outsourced (run by external contractors under a service agreement) by more and more businesses. It is particularly common to outsource IT functions and telephone call management. Outsourcing can offer many... -
Contaminated Fuel - Making a Claim
It has recently emerged, that the petrol contamination scare which has caused hundreds of cars in the South East to break down may be caused by silicone... -
Contractors Are Your Responsibility
A handbook produced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) outlines the responsibilities of both the contractor and the client in situations in which work is carried out by contractors rather then employees. It does not apply to circumstances in... -
Court of Appeal: Final word on the requirement of fairness for bank charges?
The Court of Appeal has now heard the ongoing litigation brought by the Office of Fair Trading (“OFT”) concerning the fairness of bank charges and has concluded that unarranged overdraft charges are subject to the rules of fairness. An... -
Data Loss - What to Do
The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) has recently issued guidance for organisations that lose personal data, having reported that it has been notified of nearly 100 such incidents to date. One of the less intuitively obvious suggestions is to think... -
Data Protection Act 1998
On 24th October 2007, all remaining provisions of the Act come fully into force including the need for Manual filing systems in existence before 24 October 1998 being required to comply fully with the Data Protection Directive... -
Data Protection Guidance for Landlords
The Information Commissioner's best practice guide for landlords - written to to assist them in complying with the Data Protection Act can be downloaded from the Information Commissioner’s website . The guide includes a checklist which is intended to... -
Dealing With Subject Access Requests
The Data Protection Act 1998 gives individuals the right to access information held about them by organisations. The Act governs how organisations can use the personal information they hold – including how they acquire, store, share or dispose of it.... -
Developers Take Note - Communal Areas Not Dwellings
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have issued guidance to developers which will come as a disappointment, but not a surprise, to developers of student residences for universities and the like. The approach taken is said by HMRC to apply to all... -
Direct Marketing Via E-mail - Regulations
UK law relating to the sending of unsolicited direct marketing material by electronic means care based on the EC Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications. A major aim of the Directive was to cut down on the amount of ‘spam’ that e-mail... -
Directors Who Compete Face Court Wrath
The courts have again shown that they will crack down on directors who put their own interests before their fiduciary duties as directors of the company, to the extent of causing it detriment. In the case of British Midland Tool Ltd. v Midland... -
Directors' Duties Under the 2006 Companies Act
The Companies Act 2006 was designed to modernise British company law, making it ‘fit for purpose’ for the 21 st Century. In particular, there are several changes which affect directors. As of 1 October 2007, the duties of directors are, for... -
E-Commerce Law - Do You Comply
The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations introduced specific legislation to underpin e-commerce. If your business has an Internet presence then you need to make sure that you are not falling foul of these new rules. The Regulations do not just... -
Email - Who Owns the Copyright?
Copyright is a right which exists without any specific steps having to be taken. It applies whenever there is a work created which contains original skill or labour. It applies to written material and that includes email, as a recent High Court ruling has... -
Email and Copyright
Copyright is a right which exists without any specific steps having to be taken. It applies whenever there is a work created which contains original skill or labour. It applies to written material and that includes email, as a recent High Court ruling has... -
Employed or Self-Employed?
Whether you are employed or self-employed makes a substantial difference to how you are taxed and the income tax liabilities of an employed person can be very different from those of a self-employed person with similar levels of gross income. The... -
Employee Fraud
Employee fraud was a boom area before the recession started. It be can reasonably expected to get wirse beofre it gets better. ‘Targeted’ frauds, often backed by organised criminals, are also becoming more common. In these cases, an employee... -
Employee Fraud - Fraud Act 2006
Employee fraud continues to rise as the recession continues to bite - however, the Fraud Act 2006 provisions make it easier to obtain convictions for fraud a than was possible under the predecessor legislation. Under the Act, fraud offences... -
Employment Tribunal Statistics - September 2007
According to the Employment Tribunal and Employment Appeal Tribunal statistics there was a 15% increase in the amount of tribunal claims last year (1 April to 31 March 2007), and a total of 132,577 claims. They also confirmed the average tribunal awards in... -
Entrepreneur's Relief - the Basics
From 6 April 2008 disposals of qualifying businesses and business assets have been eligible for Entrepreneurs’ Relief. In simple terms, it allows business owners to reduce their Capital Gains Tax liability to the equivalent of 10 per cent of the... -
Evicting Trespassers
The Ministry of Defence came under criticism from local residents recently when it failed to evict a group of squatters on a military housing estate due to a legal technicality. It is important for landowners to know their rights and to follow the... -
False Claims on a CV - What to Do
According to research by the Risk Advisory Group, more than half of CVs submitted by job applicants contain lies or inaccuracies. These range from gaps in employment history to false claims regarding qualifications and failure to mention fraud committed... -
Financial Fraud - What Not to Do!
With recent surveys showing that instances of employee fraud are still on the increase, and HMRC showing regrettable lack of ability to safeguard personal data, eliminating poor security practices which make fraud easier is becoming even more important.... -
Freedom of Information - What it Means in Practice
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000 came fully into force on 1 January 2005 and it has serious implications for businesses doing business with the public sector. The reason for this is that because one of the aims of the Act is to engender greater... -
Guide to Good Boardroom Practice
The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators have published an excellent and highly practical short guide (3 pages) to boardroom good practice, which will be of great interest to company secretaries and directors, especially non-executive...
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