Legal Article
15/09/21
On Monday 5 July 2021, information relating to the Building Safety Bill was published including various supporting and explanatory documents and some draft regulations. The Bill, once passed, will introduce new and enhanced regulatory regimes for building safety in England and Wales and for construction…
Legal Article
15/09/21
Owning a company on your own is great, it means you have ultimate control over any decision which the company makes, without having to consider what anyone else thinks. However, as soon as a company is owned by more than one person, things become a little more complicated. The more shareholders of a…
Legal Article
15/09/21
No legal requirement currently exists for workers to be vaccinated, with the exemption of care workers. Many businesses, however, are considering introducing vaccination requirements, despite the fact that, in the absence of any legislation making vaccinations compulsory, any such policies could well be…
Legal Article
15/09/21
A significant number of EU workers from the UK have left the construction industry leading to those in the industry facing a substantial shortage of workers in some specialist trades. In addition to this, more than 500,000 UK-born construction workers are expected to retire in the next 10 to 15 years…
Legal Article
15/09/21
In Spring this year the government announced it aimed to increase the number of self and custom build homes (CSB), establishing self-building as a mainstream option. The so called "Help to Build" scheme could deliver 30,000 to 40,000 of the target 300,000 nationally required homes each year,…
Legal Article
18/08/21
The planning laws are there to monitor what can and can't be built in certain areas to keep within the local policy and that of the country as a whole. Permitted development rights are, to some degree self-explanatory, as they are those rules that allow certain aspects of development to progress…
Legal Article
17/06/21
Firstly, what are these provisions? A 'pay-when-paid' clause is a payment condition that establishes a reasonable time for the contractor to comply with its duty to make payment to a subcontractor or supplier upon the contractor's receipt of payment from the owner. Essentially this…
Legal Article
18/05/21
What must the government's independent review of construction frameworks consider to benefit both the public sector and contractors. An independent review of public sector construction frameworks should have happened before the publication of the Construction Playbook and should take a project-…
Legal Article
07/05/21
Currently, under s44 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, an employee can bring a tribunal claim if they have been subjected to a detriment because they reasonably believed that being at work would place them (or someone else) in serious, imminent danger. Employees also enjoy protection from unfair…
Legal Article
07/05/21
On the 10 February, the Government announced its strategy to improve nationwide building safety, following the continuing fallout from the Grenfell disaster. A pivotal part of the strategy was the announcement of a further £3.5 billion funding to help facilitate the removal of unsafe cladding. It…
Legal Article
07/05/21
HMRC has recently extended the 'off-payroll working rules' - commonly referred to as the 'IR35 rules' - to the private sector, in order to tackle scenarios in which some contractors took advantage of the tax efficiencies of providing their services through a limited company or another…
Legal Article
07/05/21
Properly preparing your business for sale takes time, which means you need to start planning for a sale well in advance. However, you never know when an offer might come along that is too good to pass up - would your company be in a position to be sold at short notice? If not, this is the best time…
Legal Article
10/02/21
National Apprenticeship Week began on 8 February. This year's theme is 'Build The Future.' With 20 years of experience in progressing employees through apprenticeships, Forbes Solicitors has helped build futures and this year has been no different and has been as successful, despite the…
Legal Article
26/01/21
It is widely considered that the Brexit deal is preferable to what would have arisen in a no-deal Brexit, and the deal has been cautiously welcomed by many in the construction industry for providing some much sought-after clarity. Whilst the impacts of Covid are ongoing and are likely to be lasting, the…
Legal Article
18/01/21
On 4 January, the prime minister announced that the country would be going into the third national lockdown in less than a year and the advice reverted to stay at home except where absolutely necessary for limited legally permitted reasons. Many businesses are required to close again, and workers…
Legal Article
18/01/21
Early in 2020, in direct response to the Coronavirus pandemic, the Government amended Section 74B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 to provide a temporary, fast track deemed consent route for developers to apply to local planning authorities to vary existing conditions, or the details submitted…
Legal Article
18/01/21
Following the UK's official departure from the European Union on 1 January 2021, the Environment Bill is set to be one of the most significant pieces of legislation introduced by the Government. The Bill as it stands will incorporate environmental protections covered in EU legislation, as well as…
Legal Article
18/01/21
Under the new lockdown restrictions, the government has urged all employees to work from home unless they cannot "reasonably" do so. The very nature of the construction sector means that this is not possible for construction workers and so despite the tighter restrictions they can thankfully…
