There has been a rapid increase in the application and use of eco-labels and claims by businesses that they or their products are environmentally friendly. This has occurred because the environment is becoming increasingly important to the general public,...
Co-parenting during the holiday season, particularly Christmas, can be a delicate situation for separated parents. Balancing traditions, expectations, and the desire to create meaningful experiences for children requires open communication and cooperation....
We often advise main contractors on their sub-contracts, either their standard Ts&Cs or agreements for specific projects, and one of the perennial problems is cascading liabilities down the chain. The industry has had a problem for decades with...
A new law has recently been passed that will place a legal duty on employers to take “reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment at work. The duty will come into force in October 2024, giving employers time to review what they are already...
Sharia law is the system of religious laws within Islam and is derived from the Qur’an. It deals with all aspects of a Muslim’s life, ranging from family and financial matters to personal hygiene and clothing. It is increasingly used in parallel...
For most claims issued at Court after 1 October 2023, a new fixed recoverable costs regime will apply. The regime will apply to most debt recovery claims with a value of £10,000 up to £100,000. Where claims are valued at £10,000 or less...
On 1 st October 2023 changes to rules on costs came into force that extend the application of fixed recoverable costs into civil litigation. These changes will not affect all areas of civil litigation practice- this article focuses on the effect...
The Government has confirmed how they intend to deal with various retained EU employment law issues, including: There will be an introduction of “rolled-up” holiday pay, which enables workers who work irregular hours or part time hours to...
It is a common myth that couples who live together, known as “cohabitees,” are protected under ‘common law marriage’ but this is not the case. There are approximately 3.6 million cohabitating couples in the UK and such family types...
Many people like the idea of being a charity trustee, and indeed there are many vacancies for trustees across the UK. But what is a trustee, what are their responsibilities, and how do you start the process of becoming one? What is a charity...
There has recently been an important case ( Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland v Agnew ) in relation to holiday pay in the Supreme Court. The case is outlined below but shows that a gap of 3 months between underpayments does not...
The Charity Commission, the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales has recently published its report following its statutory inquiry into the Birmingham Education Trust (the Trust). The inquiry looked into a series of concerns at the Trust...
The Law Commission published an update on its “Wills Project” a couple of weeks ago, building on its initial consultation piece back in 2017. The original consultation made a passing reference to predatory marriage. The supplementary paper has...
It is becoming increasingly common for people, usually disgruntled beneficiaries who are not inheriting as much as they had hoped, to challenge the validity of a Will. If you have been appointed as an Executor of an Estate where a Will is being challenged,...
There are many myths around divorce, but how many of them are true – we’ve taken some of the most common ones below and explained the real situation. Assets are always split 50/50 on divorce. Whilst the starting point in English matrimonial...
Citibank has successfully defended an unfair dismissal claim by an employee who was dismissed for claiming expenses for sandwiches and coffee for his partner. The Claimant brought his unfair dismissal claim against the bank after he was dismissed for gross...
On 5 October 2023, the Law Commission published an update on its wills project in the form of a supplementary consultation to its initial consultation (which was published as far back as 2017), this time with a particular focus on electronic wills. Given...
The Renters Reform Bill sets out reasonable circumstances where the landlord can evict a tenant. What are the changes? The Renters' (Reform) Bill outlines plans to abolish Section 21 notices, strengthen the grounds under Section 8 of the...
Last week, we discussed what to look out for in terms of potential breaches of the allergen requirements and a case study to illustrate that. In this blog, we have condensed our advice into five top tips to help you prevent an allergen incident in your food...
It’s not news that most design expertise in the building industry lies not with main contractors but with consultants and specialist sub-contractors. Often the expertise is such that the main contractor does little except procure and co-ordinate the...
One of the most common breaches of the Food Hygiene Regulations is in respect of incidents involving allergens. In this blog, our Food Regulatory Team discusses the law, what to look for in your business and what to do if you have an allergen incident. Food...
All charities are overseen by their trustees. They give up their time, energy and expertise on a voluntary basis and are responsible for the governance, strategy and overall operation of the charity. The Charity Commission, the independent regulator...
Today the fourth tower of the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s iconic cathedral in Barcelona, was completed. It’s a mere 141 years since the building of the cathedral started, which puts the delayed (and, also as of today) partly cancelled HS2 into...
The 1 st of October 2023 marked two years since Natasha’s Law came into force. This legislation, officially known as the Food Information (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2019, made it mandatory for food which is pre-packed for direct sale to include...
Julie Robinson, Agriculture Partner at Roythornes Solicitors, explains why putting land into a biodiversity net gain project is not a walk in the park for farmers. Following the Government’s announcement on 27 September, we now have confirmation...
I’ve read a fair few corporate finance documents over the last few weeks. A work stream that I’ve found myself enjoying more and more. However, all too often I’m told by property colleagues “the client doesn’t want advising on...
Allergen labelling is a hot topic and continues to be one of the most common breaches of food law. It is a legal requirement for all food business operators (“FBOs”) to declare the presence of any of the 14 major allergens (celery, cereals...
It is not unusual for people to have children from different relationships and ‘illegitimate’ children born outside of marriage. Whilst blended families are increasingly common and often have positive relationships, unfortunately, there can...
We all live in an increasingly digital world and social media forms a large part of this for many people. For charities it has opened new ways of engaging with service users, attracting volunteers and raising much needed funds. As with most...
This week, the Government announced it will open a £4million fund to support small abattoirs at the end of 2023. Here, Rebecca Ironmonger of our Regulatory Team discusses what we know so far about the fund and considers what else might be needed to...