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Staying secure when homeworking during the coronavirus pandemic
25 March 2020Viruses do not just infect organic lifeforms such as humans. They, and other types of malware, can also affect our digital lives. While the world faces a public health emergency leaving organisations with little choice but urgently to introduce or scale up homeworking arrangements, opportunist cyber criminals are exploiting the crisis by increasingly using the coronavirus (COVID-19) as an attack vector.
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Social distancing and the use of electronic signatures
25 March 2020With vast numbers of people now working from home due to COVID-19 restrictions, finding more convenient methods of making binding transactions which are recorded in writing has become a priority.
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In memory of Ellen Temperton
25 March 2020It is with great sadness that we announce that on Friday 20 March our dear friend and Partner, Ellen Temperton, passed away following a long illness.
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Types of directors: myths and common pitfalls
25 March 2020Below we answer some of the most common questions and address frequent pitfalls in the often-confusing realm of company directors.
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Ireland: The new Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme
25 March 2020The Irish government has introduced the Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme to incentivise employers to retain employees on the payroll where possible (replacing the emergency COVID-19 Employer Refund Scheme). What are the implications for employers?
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COVID-19 and tech solutions for planning
24 March 2020The industry appears to be split about the use of technology in the decision making process. Last week, the Planning Inspectorate issued guidance that confirmed all site visits would be cancelled and two local plan examinations due to take place were postponed.
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Gender pay gap reporting cancelled due to coronavirus
24 March 2020Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the requirement for employers with 250 or more employees to publish gender pay gap reports has been suspended for this year.
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Advice for working from home
24 March 2020With many of us now operating remotely, we have prepared some helpful advice for those who are working from home.
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AI regulators getting interested
24 March 2020It has been reported that Amazon has been removing thousands of listings for bogus items related to the coronavirus. It seems likely that Amazon is using forms of artificial intelligence to help scour its website for such items, and as the significance and range of uses of artificial intelligence grow, it is worth considering a recent flurry of regulatory developments in the sector in the UK and the EU.
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April’s employment law changes
24 March 2020While employers are understandably preoccupied with the coronavirus pandemic and its implications, a number of significant employment law reforms are due to take effect early next month. Here’s a brief round-up.
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Coronavirus – landlord's obligations to carry out annual gas safety inspections
24 March 2020In these unprecedented times we have advised a number of landlords about their obligations to tenants and particularly in respect of the obligation on all residential landlords to carry out annual gas safety inspections in accordance with the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 when we should all be social distancing.
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Government urged to relax planning regulations
23 March 2020The RTPI, RICS and RIBA have written to the Prime Minister offering to assist “in this time of national emergency" and "seek Government support for the UK’s construction and infrastructure sectors which are worth over £100 billion to the UK economy".
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COVID-19 and its implications for data protection compliance
23 March 2020As COVID-19 panic continues to grip the nation, businesses are grappling with how best to respond to the situation, including considering how to protect their customers, visitors and staff. At the same time, EU data protection regulators are keen to remind us this pandemic does not in and of itself entitle us to relax our approach to data protection compliance; the law is still very much the law. In this article we consider some of the key data protection issues when it comes to dealing with COVID-19.
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Employer National Insurance Contributions charge on termination payments from April 2020
23 March 2020The new employer’s national insurance charge on termination payments over £30,000 comes into effect from 6 April 2020.
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‘IT MARKS THE START OF UK’S ECONOMIC FIGHTBACK’ – Business leaders react to Sunak statement - Colin Leckey comments for Business Leader
23 March 2020Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said the government will pay 80% of workers’ salaries – that qualify under the new measures – as part of an ‘unlimited’ effort to help businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. He also announced a whole raft of other measures aimed at offering support during this difficult economic period.
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Furloughing employees – what does it mean for employers?
22 March 2020The government has announced the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to provide UK employers with support for paying wages of staff who would otherwise have been laid off as a result of Coronavirus.
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Coronavirus - our second employer survey
20 March 2020We carried out a second benchmarking survey to find out how employers are dealing with the Coronavirus outbreak.
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Employer NIC charge on termination payments from April 2020
20 March 2020The new employer’s national insurance charge on termination payments over £30,000 comes into effect from 6 April 2020.
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Coronavirus Bill – emergency volunteering leave and SSP changes
20 March 2020The new Coronavirus Bill introduces a new form of unpaid statutory leave for volunteers, along with powers to establish a compensation scheme. It also makes changes to SSP rules.