UK company directors should note with concern the this weeks decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) which found two of a company’s directors jointly and severally liable with company to pay damages of around £40,000 to two employees, for discrimination on the grounds of religious faith. The employees succeeded in claims of unfair dismissal and the [...]
In the last few years Health & Safety (or ‘elf and safety) has been an increasingly popular source of stories for the media. We have all seen stories about local councils cutting down apple trees in case people trip over fallen apples and hurt themselves, or stopping using hanging baskets in public places in case [...]
Anyone with even a passing interest in the relationship between politician and newspaper publishers has knows for many months that it was only a matter of time before the inept cover up of the illegal practices carried on by, or on behalf of, the News of the World would unravel. So it has proven this [...]
In an attempt to deal with the looming pension crisis and the failure of people to make provision for their retirement, the UK Governments has introduced legislation that will require all employers to auto-enrol their staff in a qualifying workplace pension scheme. The rationale behind the legislation is that it seems that currently many employees [...]
Way back in 2002 the EU enacted a directive which required owners of websites based in the EU to obtain customers’ consent before using ‘cookies’ to track how they browse their website. As usual the implementation of EU directives is subject to a number of delays and opt-outs, so much so that we often forget [...]
The UK Equality Act 2010 is a major piece of legislation which collects together all of the existing anti-discrimination laws and which has introduced several new areas which give rights to employees, some of which could cause major problems for business owners and managers. Most of the Act came into force last October and you can read about these [...]
The long-awaited and controversial Bribery Act Guidance has been published this morning by the Ministry of Justice. The Act will now come into force on 1 July 2011. Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke has sought to reassure opponents of the Act by confirming that he would like to see the legislation implemented in a “workable, common [...]
Implementation of the Bribery Act 2010 is to be delayed amidst fears that promised guidelines to enable businesses to understand the somewhat complex legislation will not be ready in time. The Act was introduced by the last Labour Government and whilst the new Conservative-LibDem coalition broadly supports the rationale for the new law it decided to [...]
The National Employment Savings Trust (“Nest”) is the UK Government’s pension scheme introduced following the Pensions Commission’s 2005 report and is intended to encourage people to save for retirement. In fact it isn’t a new scheme, just a rebranding of the Personal Accounts Scheme which has been in operation for some time. The real difference [...]
Today, 1st October 2010, sees a number of changes in respect of the UK national minimum wage (NMW) regulations. From today the age at which UK workers become eligible for the full rate drops from 22 to 21 and the rate itself increases from £5.80 per hour to £5.93. The hourly rate for workers aged [...]
UK business owners and managers who employ staff will need to be aware of the requirements of the new Equality Act the bulk of which come into force today (see below for a list). Failure to adhere to its requirements, some of them fairly onerous and complex, could see them end up in court facing [...]
In recognition of the increase in life expectancy which we all know will have a serious effect on the UK economy – people will draw retirement benefit for longer and will need more health care for example – the government has proposed to abolish the Default Retirement Age (“DRA”) of 65. On the surface there [...]
Following the unseemly debacle surrounding Kraft’s takeover of Cadbury (and some of us remember similar issues many years ago in the Guinness/Distillers takeover) the Takeover Panel have launched a review into certain aspects of the regulations concerning takeovers and have invited comments. Here are mine. Any changes to the Takeover Code must ensure that the [...]
The United Kingdom Ministry of Justice today announced that the UK Bribery Act, including the new strict liability corporate offence of failing to prevent bribery, will come into effect in April 2011. This is later than originally proposed, but reflects more recent anticipation as to the likely timetable for implementation. Under the new corporate offence, [...]
The long-awaited Bribery Act 2010 was today (8th April) given Royal Assent and so has passed into law. The purpose of the new act is to reform the existing criminal law (which dates back over 100 years) and to provide a new, modern and comprehensive scheme of bribery offences that will enable courts and prosecutors [...]
The recent worldwide financial crisis has clearly indicated that there is an urgent need to improve the effectiveness of company boards. This can only be achieved when all board members, together with shareholders, employees and other stakeholders, truly understand their roles and responsibilities. For over 10 years the Institute of Directors (IoD) have been offering [...]
A new website has just gone online which will be of great help to anyone starting up a new business. One of the most common complaints on a whole load of business forums is that of someone who has an established business and finds that someone else has set up another business with the same [...]
The Combined Code on Corporate Governance * is published by the Financial Reporting Council and applies to all UK incorporated companies (and some foreign companies) listed on the UK Stock Exchange. The most recent (2008) version of the Code combines the Cadbury and Greenbury reports on corporate governance, the Turnbull Report on Internal Control (revised [...]
This Blog is dedicated to offering help and advice to people who run or want to run a business of any kind. In addition to the information contained in the posts we also offer a number of free business guides, usually around 12 pages long, on a wide range of subjects. You can access these via [...]
The Health and Safety (Offences) Act 2008 (the “Act”) came into force on 16 January 2009, increasing penalties for health and safety offences. Principally the Act: raises the maximum fine that can be imposed when a case is brought in a lower court from £5,000 to £20,000; broadens the range of cases that can be [...]
