News

Following controversy over tax avoidance by some senior civil servants, and a dictum from the Treasury that those engaged to work for the government must be ‘on payroll’, the scope for recovering ‘proper levels of tax’ from highly placed individuals in the private sector recently took a step closer. The ‘Controlling Persons’ consultation involves individuals […]

Yes – they can now. The Court of Appeal’s new ruling, NHS Leeds v Larner broadens an earlier ECJ decision allowing an employee who was off sick to have their leave carried forward into the next year. This used to only apply in the public sector, but now the European Court of Justice’s ruling has […]

Media coverage on the schemes available to pay lower levels of tax is still gathering momentum. But the argument appears to be shifting from whether the methods sought are for tax efficiency or tax avoidance. An emerging  viewpoint  also questions whether operating in such a way is morally wrong, regardless of the legal position. Government […]

The recently announced code of conduct for recruitment supply chains and RPOs does not go far enough says the Association of Recruitment Consultancies (ARC) and fails to address the key issue. The code seeks to tackle an unfairness where second tier agencies, if they wish to deal with a hirer that uses an RPO, have […]

Social media has come centre stage when it comes to recruiting new talent, says a new study from recruitment platform Jobvite – but employers could be on shaky ground if they use people’s personal information to do background checks. The Jobvite social recruiting survey 2012 found that 92% of US companies plan to use social […]

It has recently been reported that two temporary workers suffered life-changing injuries as a result of poor health and safety practices by a manufacturing firm to whom they were supplied. So, we are revisiting the obligations of agencies and hirers towards temporary workers. What health and safety obligations are agencies and hirers obliged to supply […]

Lose an employment tribunal claim over equal pay, and you will find yourself subject to an equal pay audit, in tough new measures drawn up by the government. Equalities minister Lynne Featherstone said firms would have to look at its employees’ salaries if the tribunal rules that it has discriminated on the grounds of gender. […]

More people aged 50-65 are in employment than ever before, but if they lose their job they discover the recruitment process works against them, according to a report by think tank Policy Exchange. Too Much to Lose: Understanding and Supporting Britain’s Older Workers reveals that someone over 50 who is unemployed is much less likely […]

Have more websites asked about your privacy settings lately? They all seem to want to know if you are willing to accept cookies. Unfortunately this doesn’t refer to elevenses, but falls in with new legislation that requires websites to seek your consent before a cookie gets downloaded to your computer. What is a cookie? A […]

HM Treasury has launched a consultation on a General Anti-Abuse Rule (GAAR) with a view to tackling ‘artificial and abusive tax avoidance schemes’. This is the result of a review commissioned by the Treasury from tax specialist Graham Aaronson QC as to whether the introduction of a broad anti-avoidance rule would act as a deterrent […]

As the IR35 storm brews, watch out for interesting recent developments in the field of limited company contractors. Following the expose of Ed Lester (the boss of the Student Loans Company found to be being paid through an intermediary limited company), it has been found that others are working this way – and whilst formally […]

And so – the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill has had a second reading in the House of Commons. Vince Cable announced that the government will not be pursuing Adrian Beecroft’s ‘compensated no fault dismissals’  proposals. Over 60 MP’s had signed had a motion calling on the government to drop it, as the move would […]

Changes in the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill  are intended to promote conciliation and reduce the number of employment tribunal claims – but how far will they achieve this? The Bill, which has received its second reading in Parliament recently, contains a number of changes affecting employment law, and the procedure to be adopted by […]

If an employee commits an act of serious misconduct (such as theft, or assault), and there is compelling evidence to support the allegation, most people would consider dismissal to be a fair outcome. However this is not necessarily true, as unfair dismissal laws do not just look at the reason for the dismissal: Employment tribunals […]