Welcome to Clarkson Wright & Jakes, Solicitors and Notaries in Orpington, Kent

IMPORTANT UPDATE: As many workplaces remained closed and in person checks would pose difficulties for many from 17 th May 2021, the Home Office has agreed to put the date back to the 21 st June 2021.   In March 2020, the Government announced that...

Recent Office for National Statistics research found that one in five UK adults had experienced some form of depression in early 2021.  Many will find it hard to adjust back into the workplace, and the toll of the pandemic on mental health is likely to...

Following the announcement about the rules on foreign travel after 17 May 2021 and the introduction of the traffic light regime, we look at some of the issues that may arise at work. Current Government advice, (even after 17 May) is that people should not...

  Flexible working According to the BBC, 43 out of 50 of the UK’s biggest employers do not plan to bring staff back to the office full time after restrictions ease, with hybrid working – part of the week in the office and part of the...

Rodgers v Leeds Laser Cutting is one of the first pandemic related claims to be heard in the Employment Tribunal.  Mr Rodgers a laser cutter, had less than two years’ service, so lacked the service to bring a claim for ‘ordinary’...

IR35 came into effect in April 2000 with the aim of stamping out a deemed form of tax avoidance where contractors would seek to avoid paying tax and National Insurance Contributions by supplying their services via an intermediary (usually a personal services...

The Employment Appeal Tribunal in the case of Allay (UK) UK Ltd v Gehlen sends a reminder to all employers to keep their equal opportunities training up to date if they intend to rely on the statutory reasonable steps defence in claims made against them for...

The Supreme Court has handed down its Judgment in the long running dispute between Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake on whether workers on sleep-in shifts should be paid the national minimum wage for hours spent asleep concluding that they should not be...

Take a listen to our podcast where the CWJ team discuss for 15 minutes, one of the biggest issues faced by UK organisations. Latest episode (2) - Managing mental health in the workplace April is #Stress Awareness Month and our second podcast is on...

Employment Law Facts and Figures Guide 2021 - click here to download IR35: the changes to off-payroll rules in the private sector postponed in April 2020, are now in force.  This shifts responsibility for assessing employment status and...

Just over a year ago, employers and employees were thrust into homeworking with the Government direction to stay home and work from home where possible. For those employers who had already embraced remote working the transition was no doubt less bumpy but...

As part of our series of articles and podcasts on the transition of employees back to the workplace, we look at an increasing number of issues facing employers and HR teams as the vaccination programme roll out continues and lockdown restrictions begin to...

In the first of CWJ's bite-sized podcasts, Chris Moore, HR Director at CWJ speaks to Judith Curran, Partner and Head of Employment at CWJ on the various issues that employers are considering over the coming months on bringing their employees back to the workplace.  

With Government advice to “work from home if you can” continuing to apply until at least 21 June, HR teams are having to continue to look at new ways of working. While workplaces continue to be disrupted, with many working from home or on...

Many businesses under extreme financial pressure as a result of the ‘lockdowns’ and restrictions imposed by the government have turned to their business interruption insurance policies for financial assistance. The decision by the Supreme Court...

A complex court case over conflicting dispute resolution provisions has highlighted a simple, but vital, lesson on the importance of corporate reporting requirements for all UK registered companies, as the pandemic sees offices unattended or subject to...

As landlords are looking at their empty properties whether on the high street or shopping centres, some are considering alternatives to the traditional FRI (full repairing and insuring) rent structure to attract new tenants. If you are a tenant looking for...

The value of our online lives is becoming immeasurable, yet few people are recording or protecting their digital assets.  Whether the financial value of investments or the emotional value of family photos, if there is no arrangement in place to hand on...

If you have given a former tenant permission (licence) to assign their lease and the current tenant failed to pay the rent due on 24 June, you may able to recover the rent arrears from the former tenant or their guarantor if you obtained an Authorised...

Probate registries are experiencing significant delays in issuing Grants of Probate. In the past, applications for a Grant usually took up to 2 weeks, but currently applications are taking 12 weeks and longer to process. The delays are a culmination of a...

With effect from the end of the transition period following the UK’s departure from the European Union, unless the EU decides that the UK can be treated as an equivalent state for the purposes of data protection law, the UK will become a “third...

When the transition period ends and the UK’s exit from the European Union is complete, businesses with customers in Europe will need to exercise care to keep on the right side of data protection legislation.   Under the European...

As interest rates stay low or even fall, you may be tempted to look at refinancing your property portfolio.  There are many reasons to look at this.  You may want to raise money for an additional property investment, to consolidate various separate...

Protection from Forfeiture for Commercial Tenants Extended Until 31 st December 2020 On the 15 th September 2020 the Business Tenancies (Protection from Forfeiture: Relevant Period) (Coronavirus) (England/Wales) (No. 2) Regulations were passed...

The Government has recently confirmed that temporary legislation covering the signing of wills is being put in place to allow individuals to witness a will remotely. This temporary legislation will also apply to codicils. The usual requirements for signing a...