The first ever National Offer Day for Primary School places is almost upon us. This coming Wednesday, 16th April 2014, parents across the country will discover at which Primary School their children have been given a place. In years gone by, there was no co-ordination between the Local Authorities in offering places and this National… Read more »
In the recent divorce case of American Hedge fund tycoon Christopher Hohn and his wife Jamie Cooper-Hohnwhich, the largest divorce case to be decided in the English courts a High Court Judge has decided against a reporting restriction which means everything in the case is to be made available to the public. The couple have… Read more »
The government’s last-minute decision to increase compensation for some mesothelioma victims is to be welcomed. However the move – which will see sufferers and their families receive 80% of the compensation they are entitled to, rather than 75% as previously planned – does not go far enough. Most people who contract mesothelioma – a fatal… Read more »
Since April 2009 employers, employees and workers who were involved in workplace disputes were able to elect to use the ACAS Pre-Claim Conciliation Service, to see whether the issues could be resolved without the need to pursue an Employment Tribunal Claim. This extended the existing and continuing provision of conciliation by ACAS following submission of… Read more »
Couples who are just finding out now that they are expecting a baby will be the first to benefit from new rules on shared parental leave. Eligible women who are due to give birth on or after 5 April 2015 may be able to share their maternity leave with their partner, allowing them to return… Read more »
On 22 April 2014 the Children and Families Act came into force. The Act followed a review of the whole family justice system in 2012 when it was decided everything was too complicated and slow. Basically the government decided children and families were not getting the service they deserved. The review panel spent a year… Read more »
The amount of compensation paid out to certain Mesothelioma victims is due to increase in line with inflation under new draft legislation. Under the draft Mesothelioma Lump Sum Payments (Conditions and Amounts) (Amendment) Regulations 2014, compensation payments under the 2008 Diffuse Mesothelioma Scheme – which provides for lump sum compensation payments to be paid to… Read more »
For anyone still fortunate enough to receive them this is often the time of year when bonuses are paid. But what if the person due to get the bonus has separated from their spouse but is not divorced? Unfortunately bonuses can be a source of problems for two main reasons in a situation like this…. Read more »
Equal pay claims against local government and the NHS (large public sector employers) have dominated the headlines for a long time. The basis of these claims was that women who were doing like work to male colleagues were paid less. As the roles were similar, the only reason for the difference in pay appeared to… Read more »
A Judicial Review Judgement handed down today in the Royal Courts of Justice has halted Government plans to increase legal costs for the victims of the asbestos related cancer mesothelioma. This is an extremely aggressive disease usually affecting the pleura around the lungs, life expectancy after diagnosis is approximately nine months and the only known… Read more »
You don’t need to be a lawyer to know that the festive period can have its highs and lows. There are pressures to buy presents that are ‘the perfect gifts’ and pressures to have a ‘great time’. When the clock strikes midnight to mark the start of the new year, supposedly bringing with it a… Read more »
Attending University can be an expensive time, especially with tuition fees rising – so are you getting what you’ve paid for? Information released by the BBC today indicates that student complaints and appeals have increased and that this may be directly linked to the rise in tuition fees. With students and their families paying up… Read more »
