The Government has published its response to the consultation on reforming the judicial review process that was issued in December 2012. Despite admitting that most respondents opposed the proposals and criticised the consultation process, the Government is pressing ahead with reforms that it considers are necessary to target large numbers of “weak, frivolous and unmeritorious cases”.
This update contains brief details of recent key policy, legislation and case law developments relevant to those involved in procurement work, that have been published in the past three months.
Olwen Dutton, Local Government Partner has been named Partner of the year 2013 by the Birmingham Law Society.
At the award ceremony on Thursday 14 March, the judges indicated that they were impressed with the way that she had developed her career, moving from a prominent local government position, to become a leading private practice lawyer dealing with local authority issues.
Welcome to the February 2013 edition of Employment Eye our monthly newsletter with information on the latest employment law developments and how they should be implemented.
This month’s news round-up is brought to you by Alastair Currie and includes the latest news on: TUPE (whether it is ‘static’ or ‘dynamic’); whistleblowing; changes to unfair dismissal as a result of the recent BNP case on politically motivated dismissals; details of new guidance following the recent Eweida case on religious discrimination; and details of new developments on collective redundancy, family friendly rights and settlement agreements.
In a follow-up to our recent alert on the report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Inquiry, Julian Hoskins discusses the practical impact of the report on workforce issues, in a Q&A with Carlton Sadler - the Bevan Brittan Senior Associate who led the team advising one of the core participants in the Inquiry, the Care Quality Commission.
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Lockwood v Department of Work and Pensions, the Employment Appeal Tribunal has confirmed that an enhanced redundancy payment for older workers did not amount to direct age discrimination, when objectively justified by a strong social policy objective. In this case, the strong social policy objective was the provision of a 'financial cushion' for older workers that reflected the extra difficulties they experienced after losing their jobs. George Pennington explains more.
Things rarely stand still in the housing market and 2013 is no different. Our quarterly publication of Housing Landscape aims to help professionals in housing to understand key issues and to keep up with all changes in the market. Our spring edition of Housing Landscape is now available and ready for download.
Governance was a central theme of Robert Francis QC’s report on the failings at Stafford Hospital. While Foundation Trust boards and various regulators bore the brunt of the criticisms, the report also has implications for Foundation Trust governors.
As 1 April 2013 approaches and CCGs receive their authorisation, it is important for all CCGs to focus on what they need to do now to ensure they are able to be effective from inception. There is already a wealth of advice available from various sources, including the NHS Commissioning Board and the BMA. This article outlines some of the key areas of legal significance.