By Sally Eastwood in Uncategorized

You may be aware that in December 2014, the Employment Appeal Tribunal made an important decision concerning worker’s holiday pay and overtime. The position previously was that only basic pay needed to be taken into account when calculating a worker’s holiday entitlement. The Employment Appeal Tribunal ruled that voluntary overtime should count towards the calculation… Read more »

By Victoria Mitchell in Solicitors for Business

Employers need to be ready as 2015 has numerous significant changes in employment law. Watch out for the following: 1. Shared Parental Leave and Pay begins Described as one of the “yuckiest, most horrible laws ever” and “the most complex sets of regulations” the right to shared parental leave and pay will be available to… Read more »

By Debbie King in Corporate Law

Top UK businesses are on course to meet the government’s 25% target of women on boards, according to a recent report by the Cranfield School of Management (“Cranfield Report”). The original report was carried out by Lord Davies in February 2011. In this report he noted that women made up only 12.5% of the boards… Read more »

By Ian Brunt in Family / Divorce

A landmark decision has been made this week regarding divorce settlements and, in this case the husband’s obligation to fund his ex-wife’s lavish lifestyle following the break down of their marriage. The case in question involved the divorce of millionaire horse surgeon, and his duty to pay a substantial monthly maintenance settlement to his ex… Read more »

By Kelly Darlington in Inquests

A breakthrough has been made in relation to the access of legal aid in inquests. The precedent set by the High Court in the case of Joanna Letts means that bereaved families will be entitled to legal aid where the state is thought to be implicit in the death. Prior to the ruling their was… Read more »

By Victoria Mitchell in Employment for Business

The start of 2015 has been interesting, as we have seen a flurry of business clients have a specific desire to deal with employee exits and particularly for absenteeism. New Year New Start is a common mantra for individuals at this time of year and for businesses it appears no different as we have seen… Read more »

By Sian Hall in Business Crime

Research released by BDO’s corporate finance team Fraud Track, which closely examines all cases of reported fraud involving values grossing £50,000, found that the regions total amounted to £50.2million worth of fraud in 2014. The report placed the North West alongside London and the South East as the most costly region for fraud in the… Read more »

By Angharad Bentley in Divorce

On the 5th February 2015 Farleys hosted a Parenting Apart Course held through the medium of Polish at Maundy Grange on Abbey Street in Accrington. The course was kindly presented by Liz Tait of Divorce Jigsaw, a qualified solicitor and trained mediator. Held in the chapel room there was a spread of delicious biscuits together… Read more »

By Sally Eastwood in Employment for Business

Do you need post-termination restrictions (restrictive covenants) in any of your existing employees’ contracts of employment to protect your business? A recent High Court decision in Re-use Collections Limited v Sendall & May Glass Recycling Limited held that where an existing employee was provided with a new contract of employment containing post-termination restrictions without any… Read more »

By Ian Brunt in Children (family law)

From September 2015 family court judges in England and Wales will be able to request and pay the costs of DNA tests to ascertain a child’s parentage. The introduction of the extended powers comes following the success of a pilot scheme trialled in Taunton and Bristol following anecdotal evidence that courtroom arguments led to delays… Read more »

By Barry Bunyan in Divorce

Statistics released by The Money Advice Service revealed that one in ten people have an ‘escape fund’ in case they decide to leave their partner. Research also suggested that men were more likely than women to have a secret escape fund in the event they decided to leave their partner following the breakdown of a… Read more »

By Jonathan Bridge in Abuse Claims

I spent a very pleasant hour today in the company of Sally Chesworth who interviewed me for a Radio 4 documentary on the role of insurance companies in abuse claims. One of the questions she asked was how I would react to a suggestion that abuse Claimants were akin to personal injury Claimants and whether… Read more »

By Stephen Greenwood in Commercial Contracts

The recent well publicised case of Gordon James Ramsay v Gary Love [2015] EWHC 65 (Ch) concerned the scope of an agent’s authority to bind his principal. In the case Gordon Ramsay claimed that a “ghostwriting” machine was used by his father-in-law to forge his signature without his authority, meaning that he should not be… Read more »

By Victoria Mitchell in Employment for Business

In order to significantly minimise the risk of HR & Employment disputes, businesses must take the time out to review their staffing structures, individual status and terms and conditions of employment. The significance of identifying status allows determination of legal rights and obligations; tax and NI responsibility; liability for injury in the workplace and Employer’s… Read more »

By Rachel Conroy in Wills Trusts and Probate

An ISA is a tax efficient way to save or invest.  An ISA is a savings account or investment within a tax free wrapper which means that there is no income tax payable on any income generated by the savings or investments and no capital gains tax is payable on any growth of your investments…. Read more »