A question that has been posed by separated parents over the last year has been whether they will need to pay maintenance for their children for longer due to the unexpected gap year. Following the outbreak of COVID-19 there was an increase in students deferring their places at university due to start in the autumn of 2020. The number of deferrals was increased from 5.6% in 2019 to 6.3% in 2020 ...
Our latest article in the series looking at the impact of the pandemic on different groups focuses on how COVID-19 has affected those within ethnic minorities, what this has meant for the BLM movement and what employers can do to better support employees. Impact of COVID-19 The latest statistics all point to the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected those within ethnic minorities ...
According to the Court Service, around 80% of cases presently in the family courts of England and Wales involve at least one of the parties acting as an unrepresented litigant in person. Since 2013, when public funding for almost all family court cases was stopped, numbers have been steadily rising. The reasons are simple; many people decide to represent themselves in an attempt to avoid expensive legal bills ...
Introduction The Covid-19 vaccine is currently being rolled out, and according to the authorities’ vaccination-plan, a large part of the population will receive their first dose during the summer months. As a rule, one must take the vaccine in one’s own home municipality, and not in the municipality where one has a summer house etc. In addition, the authorities are working on a corona certificate ...
This is the first in a mini-series of articles setting out how whistleblowing claims can be (and are being) pursued in the Employment Tribunal during the pandemic. This first article discusses the concept of a 'protected disclosure'. Whistleblowing is not always as dramatic or headline-grabbing as this, and disclosure can often be made on a more day-to-day level ...
The health crisis has not eased the tensions between the management and the trade unions of the Belgian National Orchestra (“BNO”). The pandemic has even caused an additional outbreak of ‘fever’, which even a Brussels Court of Appeal ruling on 7 May 2021 will probably not be enough to ‘cure’... At issue is the fate of musicians' rights to reproductions and broadcasts of their performances ...
The negative impact of COVID-19 across the social and economic spectrum is undeniable. We reflect on the findings from the Social Mobility Commission and consider how employers can help give a much-needed boost to social mobility moving forwards. Research recently published by the Social Mobility Commission has given a snapshot of public perceptions of where and whom the pandemic has impacted most ...
Following Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s recent announcement in Parliament, it is now certain that there will be a Public Inquiry into the handling of the pandemic. What is the planned Inquiry likely to consider, and who might be involved? For over a year now, the government’s focus has been on the here and now - managing and responding to the rollercoaster that is the COVID-19 crisis ...
As many of us continue to work from home and/or have opportunities for travel and meeting up restricted, we are continuing to run our essential webinar series for employers to ensure that our clients and contacts remain up to date and equipped to deal with all eventualities! Our latest seminar focused on the return to places of work ...
We’re excited to announce that Shoosmiths is one of the partners behind Platform – a six-month campaign that aims to make town centre property more accessible to communities and businesses. Being based in thirteen locations across the UK and with many clients whose businesses rely on a successful town centre, Shoosmiths is heavily invested in the issue of urban revival ...
The impact of the pandemic can be seen across all sectors of society but those who are disabled have been particularly affected, not least because employees with an underlying disability are likely to have been identified as clinically extremely vulnerable and told to shield for considerable parts of the last year. Being away from the workplace and separated from colleagues has left many feeling insecure ...
To support our IHL community, on 21 April we hosted our latest webinar on “Fraud” where we discussed the recent upsurge in fraud due to home working, general awareness of fraudulent activity and what businesses can do to protect themselves. Here are the key takeaways: What types of fraud are you seeing at the moment? The world is a turbulent place right now, and therefore the perfect time for fraud and illicit activity to thrive ...
Two weeks before the 2021 Scottish Parliament elections, Fraser Mitchell, partner at Shoosmiths sat down with political analyst, strategist, and commentator, Andy Maciver to discuss his views the current state of Scottish politics, the economy in the face of COVID, Brexit and the growing support for independence as well as key issues in the context of Scotland’s future. We have captured the key takeaways from the discussion below: Andy Maciver: AM Fraser Mitchell: FM 1 ...
In what has been a period of unprecedented upheaval, employers have learnt a lot about their working practices and staff. As we enter the new world, employers have a unique opportunity to build back better including normalising flexible working for all ...
Below is an update on the most relevant employment law measures adopted after the Decree of March 22, 2021, no. 41 (the so-called “Sostegni Decree”) within the framework of the COVID-19 emergency legislation and the on-going vaccination campaign ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the difficulties in reacting at European level to a major health crisis and the intention of the European Commission is to respond more effectively to future problems in the area of health. As a result, it is currently conducting an initial assessment of possible legislative changes in the area of medicinal products for human use ...
Employers can face a civil penalty under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 (“the Act”) of up to £20,000 per illegal worker for failing to carry out the prescribed right to work document checks. It is a criminal offence to knowingly employ anyone who does not have the right to work in the UK or where an employer had ‘reasonable cause to believe’ they did not have the right to work in the UK ...
06.04.2021 – The Law no. 58/02.04.2021 for approving the GEO no. 211/2020 and amendment of GEO 132/2020 was published in the Official Gazette no. 345 dated April 5th, 2021 These new legal provisions introduce a series of amendments of articles wording, certain values/limits and conditions to be met regarding the possibility to temporarily reduce the working time in the current context and access the specific state support ...
07.04.2021 – The Ministerial Order no. 214/22.02.2021 for approving the template documents provided by art. 53¹ para. (12) of the Labor Code was published within the Official Gazette no. 350 dated April 6th, 2021 ...
Further to the decline of the Covid-19 spread in Israel after the successful vaccination rollout, Israel has announced changes in foreign entry policy into the country, which will allow, among others, the regular entry of foreign experts and businessmen. These reliefs come after several months in which the state borders were almost completely closed to foreigners ...
Research and development ("R&D") of medicinal products is fundamentally important in peoples’ daily lives. This is true both from an individual perspective – when considering the objective of identifying and treating pathologies (with a consequent increase in the quality of life of patients) – and from a collective perspective, when considering the role of R&D in controlling the spread of diseases and in eradicating them altogether ...
There has been a growing expectation that in order to fill the COVID sized hole in the Treasury's finances focus and ultimately action would be brought to bear on pension tax relief across defined benefit and defined contribution pension schemes. However, "Tax Day" has seen cuts to higher rate tax relief fail to materialise ...
The opening webinar of The Lawyer’s Smarter Working Week saw leaders from a broad range of different sized teams discuss their experiences over the past 12 months and how they will use these learnings to build back better and enhance the experience for their business ...
COVID-19 has forced us to completely rethink the way we live, work and move around. It has begged the question: what is it that makes a great city? Manchester is one of the fastest-growing cities in the UK. With cranes dominating the skyline, billions continue to be invested into the city centre as it evolves into a city of quarters ...
COVID-19 has undoubtedly occupied the minds of employment lawyers and businesses over the past 12 months; however, what else has happened in the world of employment law that we might have missed? In our webinar, we looked at the changes that have taken place in the employment context over the past year and we looked ahead at the changes we can expect to see in 2021. Looking back... Section 1 changes A number of key changes took place in April 2020 ...
