Amendments to right to work checks during Covid-19 outbreak
May 27th 2020Joanne Stronach Director and Head of Employment & HR provides useful update. The government has amended right to work checks to make it easier for employers to carry them out during the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. The following temporary changes have been made: checks can now be carried out over video calls job applicants and existing workers can send scanned documents or a photo of documents for checks using email or…
Partnership Agreements – why bother?
May 22nd 2020Jonathan Carroll Director & Head of Property talks about the importance of Partnership Agreements. So your accountant and your bank keep telling you that you ought to get a written partnership agreement. Just money for lawyers, right? Well, some, but the potential costs to you are huge if you don’t. The law governing unwritten partnerships is from 1890, and pretty harsh: Any partner can terminate the business, practically overnight, and…
How businesses can deal with debt collection during Covid-19
May 18th 2020Natalie Tatton Solicitor in our Dispute Resolution team provides some top tips for debt collection during Covid-19. With businesses across the country facing financial uncertainty, it is important that your own business is protected as far as possible. Although there is some government support to businesses, there are going to be financial problems as a result of Covid-19 and many businesses have already seen their income reduce significantly. Many individuals…
Health & safety is the biggest challenge facing SMEs as they emerge from lockdown
May 14th 2020Earlier this week, we shared a UK200 Group poll, to better understand the biggest challenges facing SMEs as they return to work from lockdown. If you participated in the poll, thank you. The poll has highlighted that health and safety ranked as the top concern for businesses emerging from lockdown. Cashflow comes second and client confidence third. This indicates that it is the uncertainty of reopening a business, with all…
Business Interruption Insurance: Are you covered?
May 13th 2020Mark Aspin Director and Head of Dispute Resolution provides useful information on business interruption insurance. As some areas of commerce – at least tentatively – look to restarting operations over the coming weeks, those businesses which have been totally closed over the past weeks will be looking forward to seeing an income stream restarting. Whilst income has been reduced (or stopped) and places of work closed, many businesses have been…
Cumbrian firm lobbies government for more support for SMEs as survey reveals more than 30% face permanent closure
April 29th 2020A LEADING Cumbria legal firm is backing calls for the government to do more to help small and medium sized businesses with more than 30 per cent at risk of going out of business if the COVID-19 lockdown continues. New research conducted by the UK200Group an organisation which represents the country’s leading law and accountancy firms, shows that more than 500,000 people in the North West are at risk of…
Shops and SMEs to be protected against aggressive rent collection
April 29th 2020Stephanie Johnson Associate Solicitor provides an update. Shops and small businesses will be protected from aggressive rent collection during the Covid-19 emergency. Instead, Business Secretary Alok Sharma says they will be asked to pay what they can over the next two months. Mr Sharma says most landlords and tenants are working well together to reach agreements on debt obligations, but some landlords have been putting tenants under undue pressure by…
Landlord and Tenant repossessions and trespassers during COVID-19
April 27th 2020Mark Aspin Director and Head of Dispute Resolution provides an update As we have previously reported, as a result of the Coronavirus Act and changes to the court rules, tenants in both commercial and residential properties have been given extra protection to avoid eviction during government restrictions and the coronavirus pandemic. The courts have now, however, modified the general stay on possession proceedings that was granted recently and added the…
Lake District Radio Business Show with Joanne Stronach
April 20th 2020Today saw the launch of the UK HMRC Furlough scheme. Lake District Radio had a Q&A session live on the radio with Joanne Stronach who joined by telephone. The show was broadcast on Lake District Radio on the 20th April 2020 and is available below.
Latest Employment Law Update on Furloughing
April 16th 2020Latest update from Claire Davies Director and Employment & HR Solicitor. New changes to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme New guidance published yesterday has confirmed that the eligibility date has been extended to 19 March 2020 – the day before the scheme was announced. Employers can now claim for furloughed employees that were employed and on their PAYE payroll on or before 19 March 2020. This means that the employee…
