Articles and Briefings

Relief for retailers as Chancellor's Budget announces a package of welcome measures

03 Mar 2021

Following a year in which the retail industry has been one of the hardest hit sectors by the coronavirus pandemic, there was some welcome relief today when the Chancellor's widely previewed budget was announced. It includes a package of measures to help retailers to get back on their feet once non-essential retail reopens on 12 April 2021 under the government's planned roadmap.

UK Freeports: The story so far

03 Mar 2021

Following the EU referendum in 2016, Rishi Sunak presented a case for British Freeports and the potential and opportunity this presented as a fast response to Brexit. With the vision that successful Freeports would allow the country to level up, increase productivity, shift regional imbalance, and reinvigorate the North, as well as promoting and incentivising global trade.

FAQs - extension to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

02 Mar 2021

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (the Scheme) has now been extended to 30 April 2021. This FAQ deals with the changes to the Scheme.

Intellectual Property Enterprise Court revisits joint authorship after retrial is ordered in Martin v Kogan

01 Mar 2021

Following the decision of the Court of Appeal to remit the case back to the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court, there has been another judgment in the dispute between Julia Kogan and Nicholas Martin, concerning the authorship of the screenplay of the film 'Florence Foster Jenkins'.

Part 2 of 2 - In-depth review of November 2020 Lloyds Bank Judgment

25 Feb 2021

As reported in our article in November, GMP Equalisation - transfers out, the most recent judgment in the series of Lloyds Bank cases, handed down in November 2020 (the Transfer Judgment), considered the obligations on trustees of contracted out defined benefit schemes who had transferred out benefits to other pension schemes.

What you need to know about a Letter of Wishes

25 Feb 2021

A Letter of Wishes is a tool that can be used by someone setting up a trust (the settlor), or making a Will.

The Official Receiver and Kids Company case – long-awaited, unexpected or not?

25 Feb 2021

On 12 February 2021 the High Court delivered its verdict on "Kids Company" – technically The Official Receiver v Atkinson & Ors. The case considered the possibility of director disqualification orders being made against trustees of the insolvent charity Kids Company, and whether the charity's Chief Executive Officer should be classed as a "de facto" director, and also disqualified.

Equality and diversity – when did you last carry out refresher training?

23 Feb 2021

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) recently held in Allay (UK) Ltd v Gehlen that an employer was not able to rely on the "reasonable steps" defence to a harassment claim and therefore had to pay a former employee compensation of just over £5,000. It had provided training to the perpetrator and other employees around 20 months before the harassment took place but the EAT held that the training had become stale and needed refreshing, meaning that the employer could not use the defence and was liable for the harassment.

Scotland: building and fire safety regulation post-Grenfell

22 Feb 2021

Following the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, the UK Government has been reviewing and taking steps to reform our building and fire safety regimes.

However, one thing that is often overlooked in discussions around building and fire safety is the fact that the starting points for reviewing and improving this around the UK, particularly England and Scotland, are different.

Public sector exit payments: the cap didn't fit

22 Feb 2021

In a surprise move on 12 February 2021, the Government announced that the Restriction of Public Sector Exit Payments Regulations 2020 will be revoked. The Regulations came into force on 4 November 2020 and introduced a cap of £95,000 on exit payments made by a long list of public sector bodies and offices listed in the Regulations.

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