Everyone knows that it is illegal to discriminate in the workplace, directly or indirectly, against anyone on the grounds of; age, sex, disability, religion or belief, pregnancy or maternity, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership or race. But it wasn’t always like this… 1963 Last month people across the world remembered and celebrated […]
The TUC’s latest move in complaining to the EU Commission that the UK implementation of the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) has not adequately protected agency workers’ rights is ‘cynical’ says the Association of Recruitment Consultancies (ARC). Adrian Marlowe, chairman of the ARC, said “The AWR came into being after an agreement was reached between the […]
The millionth worker was automatically enrolled onto a workplace pension in July according to the Pensions Regulator. All companies will have to automatically enrol eligible workers (which can include PAYE temps and employed agency workers) into qualifying pension schemes, deduct contributions for workers and make employer contributions on their behalf. The national auto enrolment scheme […]
Two recent unfair dismissal cases demonstrate the danger of not following correct procedure when dismissing employees. Neither business had proper policies in place, neither followed a code of practice when dismissing staff and both paid the price! Theresa Mimnagh, Associate Director at Lawspeed said: “Coincidentally both of these cases relate to the use of Social […]
Last week Lawspeed delivered updated Agency to Umbrella contracts to scores of recruitment businesses as part of the legal firm’s on-going dedication to protecting clients’ commercial interests. Ravi Murphy, Director at Lawspeed said: “This latest Contract addresses new potential risk and brings greater clarity to the commercial relationships between agencies and their ‘umbrella’ suppliers. It […]
New research shows that firms are spending more time and money on compliance issues than two years ago. Whilst the overall cost increased by 8.5%, the recent survey from the Forum of Private Business (FPB) demonstrates that one thing has not changed in the past two years; taxation compliance remains the single biggest outlay for […]
Following the excitement around the birth of baby George earlier this week, some may have overlooked the fact that Prince William is now entitled to claim paternity leave and receive the princely sum of £136.78 a week. William will be the first member of the Royal Family to take advantage of statutory paternity leave which […]
It may seem obvious that if an employee commits an act of serious misconduct, such as theft or assaulting a colleague, then their dismissal would be fair (provided that there is evidence to support the allegation.) However, unfair dismissal laws do not just look at the reason for the dismissal, they also take into account […]
A survey of 2,000 business professionals in the UK has revealed that workers are using a broad range of communication channels, especially when delivering bad news. The research, commissioned by Intercity Telecom, found that 38% of British workers have used email or text to inform their boss that they were sick and unable to work. […]
There is no doubt that the government is determined to reduce tax avoidance. HMRC is clearly upping the ante by increasing the number of specialist investigation teams, looking at both global and national breaches of tax laws. So is it any wonder that most UK contractors running their own limited company say that understanding and […]
