The Growth and Infrastructure Bill, issued on 18th October, implements a number of the measures announced by the Government in September as part of its major planning and housing package. The Government says the Bill will help the country compete on the global stage by cutting red tape which, it claims, is delaying new infrastructure and job creation, and discouraging business investment.
This article will look in greater detail at the first three measures that are intended to assist with bringing developments forward and that are giving rise to industry comment.
George Pennington rounds up this month’s employment law news: the latest statistics from the Employment Tribunals and the EAT; a reminder from the EAT on the importance of correctly identifying the reasons for a misconduct dismissal; social media consultation; and last but not least….this year’s 1 October employment law changes.
A recent decision of the EAT potentially leaves employers with little wriggle room in relation to ETO reasons for TUPE related dismissals. As Sarah Lamont explains, a college was held to have automatically unfairly dismissed two teachers for refusing to agree to new terms following a post-TUPE redundancy and harmonisation exercise.
The UK’s infrastructure requires substantial investment to maintain and improve its present condition. Roads have suffered particularly badly from under-investment since the late 1990’s under successive Conservative and Labour Governments.
With effect from 1 September, a new criminal offence of squatting in a residential building comes on to the statute book under section 144 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012. This summary tells you all you need to know about the new offence, which has implications for all who own or manage residential and commercial property.
There has been yet another chapter in the thorny issue of whether or not a sick worker’s failure to request holiday affects their right to carry over holiday. Following a further appeal in the case of
NHS Leeds v Larner [2012] EWCA Civ 1034 to the Court of Appeal, Alastair Currie reviews the decision and the impact this could have on holiday rights for sick workers.
Jane Wallenstein looks at some of the big employment stories of July 2012, including the announced decision to charge fees in the Employment Tribunal and Employment Appeal Tribunal; the most recent statistics in employment litigation; an update on the position regarding maternity leave and surrogacy and, finally, a recent case which has further clarified the difference between the definitions of worker and employee.
This question was considered recently by the EAT in the case of
Packman t/a Packman Lucas Associates v Fauchon UKEAT/0017/12, as Victoria McNeel explains in this article.
The Chancellor has announced that the Government will guarantee infrastructure scheme which have stalled because of financing problems. However, given the tight eligibility criteria and with no promise of new money, it is not clear how many projects will actually be able to benefit from this new scheme.
In keeping with the jubilee theme, Gemma Hill reports on the Queen’s Speech which was delivered at the State Opening of Parliament on 9 May. As always, it sets out the Government’s legislative programme going forward, which, we were told "will focus on economic growth, justice and constitutional reform". Within the various announcements made during the speech there were a number of employment-related Bills which are set out in more detail in this article.