Couple can sue PwC for professional negligence despite time delay
August 12th 2019A couple have been granted permission to take accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers to court in a professional negligence claim. Sir Christopher and Lady Anne Evans hired PwC in 2001 to advise them on ways to avoid capital gains tax on the disposal of shares. They were encouraged to use a “round the world” scheme, which involved the trust becoming resident for part of the tax year in a jurisdiction that did…
Government to strengthen sexual harassment laws
August 7th 2019By Claire Davies Director The government is look for ways to strengthen the law to give employees more protection from sexual harassment. It is launching a consultation and is inviting victims to have their say on what sort of changes would be beneficial. One of the things being considered is how to strengthen and clarify the law to give explicit protections against third party harassment. It had been thought that…
Landlord was entitled to give tenant only two months’ notice
August 5th 2019By Mark Aspin Director & Head of Dispute Resolution The Court of Appeal has ruled that a landlord was within his rights to end a tenancy agreement without giving his tenant the six-month notice period required under the Housing Act 1988. The tenant, Sarah Bamber, had agreed a seven-year tenancy on the property, which included a 12-month starter period. During this starter period, the agreement stated that the tenancy could…
UK house prices jumped 0.7% between March and April
July 31st 2019By Elizabeth Crouch Head of Residential Conveyancing The latest House Price Index figures show that the cost of an average home in the UK jumped 0.7% between March and April. The annual rise to April was 1.4%, bringing the cost of the average property to £228,903. In England, the annual rise was 1.1%, with the average property costing £245,128. The regional data for England shows that: the North East experienced…
Buyer of insurance firm compensated for warranty breach
July 29th 2019A company has been compensated for a breach of warranty after it bought an insurance firm. David Tew Associate Solicitor reports on this recent case. The case involved a firm that sold policies related to motor or household insurance. When it was sold in 2014, the seller provided warranties that the company accounts were accurate and a fair representation of the company’s financial situation. The agreement stated that the seller…
Parental leave is not equivalent to statutory maternity leave
July 25th 2019By Joanne Stronach Head of Employment & HR Two recent cases involving fathers taking paternity leave have highlighted a defining difference between parental leave and a mother’s statutory maternity leave. One male employee who worked for a technology firm sued for sex discrimination after his employers insisted he should not be paid at the same rate as mothers on statutory maternity leave. A similar case saw a policeman claim sex…
Property owner must pay £81,000 for work completed on cancelled job
July 22nd 2019By Stephanie Johnson Associate A dispute between a property owner and builder has been settled by the High Court, with the owner ordered to pay for work completed, even though he was not happy with it and the job was cancelled. The parties had entered into a JCT minor works building contract for work to be done on the owner’s property. However, after some initial work had been completed, the…
Ambulance staff entitled to have overtime included in holiday pay
July 18th 2019By Joanne Stronach Head of Employment & HR A court ruling in a dispute between ambulance workers and the NHS could affect employers across all sectors when it comes to factoring overtime into holiday pay. The dispute centred on whether ambulance staff were entitled to have an average amount of their voluntary overtime pay included when calculating their holiday pay. The Employment Tribunal ruled in favour of the NHS Trust,…
Live The Dream #FiveReasonsWhy
July 16th 2019Haltwhistle is an ideal location to enjoy a great career and a fantastic standard of living which will be the envy of many of your family and friends. Located in the centre of Britain with excellent road and rail connections, you can explore all the country has to offer in every direction – Hadrian’s Wall and the Northumberland Coast, the Lake District and the Scottish Borders, and all the city…
Huge fines being threatened by the ICO in two landmark cases
July 16th 2019Joanne Stronach Head of Employment & HR gives her views on recent headline. The ICO has issued a ‘Notice of Intention’ (NOI) to fine British Airways a huge £183.39 million for GDPR infringements. It is for a breach that took place last September, in which personal data of approximately 500,000 BA customers was compromised. The ICO has also issued a NOI to fine Marriott £99 million for a cyber incident…
