Legal Article
19/12/23
The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill introduces a duty for employers to take reasonable steps in the prevention of sexual harassment of their employees during the course of their employment. The Bill received Royal Assent in October becoming the Worker Protection (Amendment of…
Legal Article
13/12/23
It is worth noting that there will be significant changes to employment law and HR in 2024 as a result of various pieces of legislation which are expected to come into force. The following gives a brief overview of the changes which are expected: The Employment Rights (Amendment, Revocation and…
Legal Article
13/12/23
National Minimum Wage / National Living Wage In April 2024 there will be significant increases to the National Minimum Wage and the National Living Wage. This is the first time that the minimum wage has increased by more than £1 and as a result will have a significant impact on businesses,…
Legal Article
11/12/23
Artificial Intelligence or AI is going to be extremely prominent in 2024, both from a governance and legal perspective, but also from a business strategy point of view. There has been much discussion about AI and the impact this will have on society and businesses in the future in the form of…
Legal Article
23/11/23
The Supreme Court have handed down their judgement in the case of Independent Workers Union of Great Britain v Central Arbitration Committee and another. This judgement confirms that Deliveroo Riders were not in an "employment relationship" for the purposes of Article 11 of the European…
Legal Article
22/11/23
The Government announced on the 21st November 2023 that it has accepted the Low Pay Commission's (LPC) recommendation on minimum wage rates to apply from April 2024. The Low Pay Commission is an independent body made up of employers, trade unions and experts whose role is to advise the Government on…
Legal Article
17/11/23
Reshoring refers to the strategic decision made by Businesses to bring their operations back to their home country from overseas locations. In essence, it marks the reversal of the popular offshoring strategy that aimed to reduce costs by relocating operations abroad. Reshoring has gained momentum…
Legal Article
17/11/23
Acas have issued a consultation on a new draft statutory code of practice for handling requests for a predictable working pattern, which will be used in conjunction with the Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023 once it comes into force. The Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions)…
Legal Article
10/11/23
The Government has published its response to the consultations "retained EU employment law" and "calculating holiday entitlement for part-year and irregular hours workers". Whilst the response covers a number of areas (set out below) the most noteworthy is the proposal to change how…
Legal Article
08/11/23
North West Sexual Violence Awareness week aims to raise awareness of sexual violence and the support services available to survivors in the region. The phrase 'sexual violence' is used as an umbrella term to encompass any kind of sexual activity or act (including online) that was unwanted, took…
Legal Article
18/10/23
The Supreme Court has finally handed down its judgment in the case of Chief Constable of Police Service of Northern Ireland v Agnew and is a landmark case on the calculation of holiday pay in the UK, clarifying the rights of workers to claim for underpaid holiday pay. The case involved a group of…
Legal Article
13/10/23
As of the 4th of October 2023, there have been significant amendments to Immigration and Nationality fees by way of the Immigration and Nationality (Fees) (Amendment) (No.2) Regulations 2023. The primary objective behind these changes was to support vital services, with a focus on prioritising funding…
Legal Article
04/10/23
National Work Life Week (2 - 6 October 2023) is an annually ran campaign by the Working Families Charity to get employers and employees talking about wellbeing at work and work life balance. National Work Life Week is a key opportunity for employers to highlight the importance of a work life…
Legal Article
26/09/23
A lot of people under estimate the importance of having your own network. Not just swapping business cards, but having a group of individuals that form a safe space that you can call upon. HR can be a lonely place, certainly if you're a stand alone HR professional, but also from the…
Legal Article
18/09/23
Equal pay for equal work is a fundamental principle of that has been at the forefront of the global exchange regarding gender quality within the workplace for decades and the principle that men and women who undertake equal work shall receive equal pay has been enacted by the Equality Act 2010.…
Legal Article
31/08/23
Safeguarding protocols are an essential part of keeping children safe and are a primary consideration for most education providers. The question then is how to balance your safeguarding responsibilities as an employer with an appropriate level of fairness towards your employee when dealing with…
Legal Article
22/08/23
It has been recently reported (Inside Housing - Insight - Housing Officers Under Pressure) that the role of a Housing Officer is becoming increasingly difficult, with reasons cited including Housing Officers feeling overwhelmed and overworked with huge patches. They are expected to do tasks that aren…
Legal Article
31/07/23
Mediation is a voluntary process by which an impartial third party helps people in a dispute to explore and understand any differences that they have. This then helps them to come to a mutual agreement in settling those differences. The mediator acts as a facilitator during the process; it is…
Legal Article
27/07/23
The Conditions of Service for School Teachers in England and Wales, also known as the Burgundy Book was updated in August 2023, for the first time since August 2000.. The Burgundy Book is a national agreement between five teacher unions and the National Employer's Organisation for School…
Legal Article
25/07/23
On the 17 July 2023 the Government published a new Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules. The statement contains a number of changes, but what we believe to be the most notable are discussed below: Skilled Worker Shortage Occupations List The skilled worker shortage occupations list…
Legal Article
25/07/23
Sustainability is an increasingly important topic on the agenda for employers. Employees expect more from their employers in their approach to sustainability, beyond simply policies that are not followed in practice. When considering the challenges of the current recruitment market, it is clear…
Legal Article
20/07/23
In 2022, the Government committed to making the right to request flexible working a "day 1" right in a bid to give workers a greater say in where, when, and how they work. As a result, they enacted The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 which has recently completed its passage…
Legal Article
10/07/23
The University and College Union (UCU) marking boycott has emerged as a significant topic of contention within the academic community. The marking boycott is a form of industrial action employed by the union as a means to negotiate to improve working conditions and pay structures for university staff.…
Legal Article
10/07/23
The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Students has recently sought to highlight the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on students in further education (FE), in particular the unique difficulties that college students face (as opposed to say, for example, their higher education (HE) counterparts…
Legal Article
28/06/23
The recent Scottish case of The University of Dundee v Chakraboty highlights the importance of understanding the rules of legal advice privilege, specifically how and when it applies. In this case, despite what the University believed, the first draft of a grievance investigation report was not legally…
Legal Article
27/06/23
Recently, in May 2023, three Private Members' Bills received Royal Assent; all of which expand the rights and protections currently available for parents and carers. The Government have not presented any timescales in regard to when the Acts come into force, simply stating that it will happen "…
Legal Article
27/06/23
This week, an Employment Tribunal has struck out a Claimant's claim for Automatic Unfair Dismissal where the Claimant argued she was dismissed because she made a protected disclosure. The Tribunal found that the Claimant was not the one who made the disclosure. For a dismissal to be automatically…
Legal Article
26/06/23
What do major High Street retailers, recruitment businesses, construction companies, restaurants, hotels, schools, holiday parks, taxi companies, football clubs and pre-school nurseries have in common? They are just some of the 202 companies who have been named and shamed by Government for previously…
Legal Article
09/06/23
4th June 2023 marked National Cancer Survivors Day which aims to raise awareness of cancer and how it affects those living and surviving with cancer. According to Cancer Research UK, more than 127,000 people diagnosed with cancer each year are of working age and therefore it is important that employers…
Legal Article
03/05/23
Forbes Solicitors has announced 11 new promotions across a range of its specialisms including employment, insurance, contentious trusts & probate, commercial property, crime, housing & regeneration, and commercial litigation. The promotions, which are effective from 1 May, will create two…
Legal Article
26/04/23
The Government is currently reviewing opinions on a draft statutory Code of Practice on Dismissal and Re-engagement (often referred to as "fire and rehire"). The consultation opened late January and closed mid April 2023 and no doubt the job now will be for government ministers to wade through…
Legal Article
25/04/23
In March 2023, the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill passed the second reading stage in the House of Lords which was the first opportunity for the House to debate the key principles and main purpose of the Bill. The Bill is due to be further scrutinised at the Committee Stage, but…
Legal Article
21/04/23
As many in the education sector know, the Supreme court handed down a landmark judgement in July 2022, ratifying the decisions of the Employment Appeal Tribunal and Court of Appeal, in dismissing the appeals of the Respondent Academy Trust in Harpur Trust v Brazel. Whilst some time has passed since the…
Legal Article
22/03/23
Around one in seven people of working age in England are residing in social housing, and a further look tells us that these residents are twice as likely to be unemployed than those in other forms of tenure. Housing providers are becoming increasingly aware of the struggles that their tenants face…
Legal Article
22/03/23
Following the government's announcement of a returnerships programme as part of the Spring 2023 Budget to help minimise the current skills shortage, guidance aimed at employers on helping individuals return to work has been published. Employer guidance: helping people return to work. The…
Legal Article
08/03/23
Since Brexit and the pandemic happened around the same time, the UK employment market has been volatile to say the least. This situation hasn't improved with so many strike actions across the various work forces in the UK. As there is an increase in the employment market in the UK, there is a…
Legal Article
20/02/23
On 24 January, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy published its Draft Code of Practice on Dismissal and Re-engagement ("the Code") and launched a consultation in respect of the same. What is dismissal and re-engagement? Colloquially known as 'fire and…
Legal Article
16/02/23
Vicarious liability came back before the court at the end of last year in a case which provided a good reminder of the applicability of this important legal principle. The judgment sets out a useful guide to the key case law on this issue, as well as providing a summary of the issues to be addressed. In…
Legal Article
24/01/23
The shortage of skilled workers within the UK has far-reaching implications throughout the renewable energy sector. As new technology sees the sector advance, the openings for skilled workers continue to increase, with organisations fearing that failure to source candidates with the necessary skills…
Legal Article
18/01/23
In the case of Ellis v Bacon and Advanced Fire Solutions, a director, Ms Bacon was dismissed from the company during divorce proceedings with her husband, a majority shareholder at the same company, Mr Bacon. The case focused on the following question: "to succeed in a claim for marital status…
Legal Article
16/01/23
In July 2022, the Supreme Court held that holiday entitlement under the Working Time Regulations 1998 for permanent part-year workers should not be pro-rated and that anyone on a year-round contract is entitled to 5.6 weeks of holiday pay, calculated using a holiday entitlement reference period of 52…
Forbes News
09/01/23
Forbes Solicitors has appointed Gabriela Hammond in the newly created role of Head of HR Consultancy. The role will see Gabriela work together with Forbes' established employment law team to support clients with employee relations matters and to develop people strategies. Gabriela brings…
Forbes News
09/01/23
Sponsors of skilled workers applying under the Skilled Worker and Global Business Mobility Senior or Specialist Worker routes are required to pay an additional fee for the Immigration Skills Charge (ISC) every time they assign a new Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) to a worker, with some limited…
Forbes News
09/01/23
The Department for Work and Pensions has published the annual rate increases that will take effect from 1st April 2023. As set out in the Autumn Statement, the government has followed the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission (LPC), intending to support the living standards of lower paid workers…
