Article Category: Insight & Opinion

In 2012, the Chancellor announced proposals for a new type of employee ownership arrangement, under which employees would give up some of their employment rights in exchange for shares in the company which employs them. The provisions were introduced as part of the Growth and Infrastructure Bill. Following a tortuous passage through Parliament, the bill… Read more »

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has announced it will have new powers to intervene on the finances of operators in the care sector. The CQC inspectors will be able to monitor the finances of the largest care homes and domiciliary care providers, in order to try and prevent the increasing numbers of sudden closures. The… Read more »

Following a game of parliamentary tennis the government has finally agreed to introduce employee shareholder status into the Growth and Infrastructure Bill, which was passed by parliament in April. Having previously rejected the proposal twice the House of Lords finally voted to accept the proposal for employee shareholder status to be introduced. Under this arrangement… Read more »

In the first reported judgement on the termination of ‘parental responsibility’ for a number of years and therefore a very unusual case, Mr Justice Barker terminated the parental responsibility of a father and his right to be involved in his child’s life. The reasons for this judgement were completely understandable. In this extreme circumstance, the… Read more »

Child abduction happens when a parent or a relative or someone acting on their behalf removes, retains, or conceals a child, under the age of 16, in breach of the other parent’s custody rights whether joint or sole. In the UK, it is a criminal offence for anyone connected with a child under 16 to… Read more »

Following a separation, a common question we are often asked is whether both parents have a legal right to equal contact with children. The answer to that question is neither parent has an ‘equal right’ to see their children after separating. For each case, the welfare of the child is the main consideration when establishing… Read more »

In the past, spouses in a marriage breakdown could access legal aid to assist with the financial cost of their separation. With the abolition of legal aid, it became apparent that some spouses – for example wives or husbands who had been homemakers and not had any regular income – were left with no financial… Read more »

Following the recent death of Michael Winner the headlines have screamed how his widow, Geraldine has been left penniless as all Mr Winner’s assets had been frozen following his death. To give this case some context; it’s worth noting that when someone dies, it is the ‘norm’ for assets owned in the sole name of… Read more »

Parental leave is a form of statutory unpaid leave which is available to some parents. This leave is provided in addition to maternity, adoption and paternity leave and is more flexible in terms of when it can be taken and how it is to be split across the year. Prior to Friday, 8 March 2013… Read more »

In English law there is no requirement to make a will and statistics show that one in three of the population die without one. What is not always revealed is how many people die with a home-made will, which is either completely invalid or is valid in some way but does not reflect the true wishes… Read more »