News for Businesses

• Disputes in the EU - Rules on Applicable Law Where a dispute has a foreign element, one of the common problems is deciding under what jurisdiction legal action should be taken. This is avoided in many commercial contracts by specifying the applicable law in the contract, but in consumer contracts there...
• A Guide to the Agency Workers Regulations The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 (AWR) came into force on 1 October 2011. All agency workers are entitled, from the first day of their assignment, to information on any job vacancies and to make use of collective facilities and amenities available to...
• Administration of Troncs The long-running series of disputes between employers in the hospitality industry and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) concerning the taxation of employees’ tips and their National Insurance (NI) status seems to have been concluded by the issue of ...
• Advice on Acquisitions Deductible One common area of dispute between companies and the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is that of deductibility of expenses. One of the hottest areas of dispute is often whether an expense is a trading expense (deductible as part of the day-to-day running costs...
• Age Discrimination - Life After the Abolition of the Default Retirement Age The Default Retirement Age (DRA) has now been abolished and it is no longer permissible for an employer to dismiss an older worker on the ground of retirement unless this can be objectively justified under the Equality Act 2010 . This does not mean that...
• Age Discrimination and Retirement Since the abolition of the Default Retirement Age (DRA) in 2011, it is not permissible for an employer to dismiss an older worker on the ground of retirement unless this can be objectively justified under the Equality Act 2010 . This does not mean that...
• Are You Data Friendly? Many businesses regard the Data Protection Act 1998 as something that merely requires a lot of form filling and the payment of fees, but there is a lot more to it than that. The purpose of the Act is to protect a person's right to privacy with regard...
• Bank Deposit Protection Rules for Businesses In December 2010, new limits were announced for the levels of protection available for different investments underwritten by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The FSCS protects the deposits of small companies, which are those which meet...
• Bribery Act Guidance The Government provides guidance for businesses on complying with the Bribery Act 2010 , which came into force on 1 July 2011. The Act was originally scheduled to take effect in April 2011, but its implementation was delayed to allow the final version of...
• Business Relief - Traps for the Unwary Most business people know that for family businesses there are generous Inheritance Tax (IHT) reliefs, which generally operate to make assets used in the business exempt or partially exempt from IHT. The reliefs take various forms but have been collectively...
• Buying from an Administrator - Take Care With businesses becoming insolvent in large numbers, opportunities abound to acquire assets from their administrators. However, the low prices sought for the assets are due, at least in part, to the additional risk to the purchaser. Here are some of the...
• Companies Act 2006 Overview and Company Information The Companies Act 2006 became fully effective from October 1st 2009. It is the principal source of law relating to the conduct of companies incorporated in England and Wales. Companies House provides useful information on the Act on its website . In...
• Company Name Rules You cannot incorporate a company using any name you like. Some names are prohibited (for example, those which suggest a connection with the Government or the Crown) and names will not be allowed if they are too similar to the names of existing companies. ...
• Company Disclosure Rules - The Basics The Companies (Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2008 set out the the requirements as to where and when company trading names, names of directors etc. need to be shown. The Statutory Instrument implementing the changes is both short and straightforward. In...
• Company Formation Checklist You may have come across advertisements which make forming a company sound very easy, but before you go ahead there are some serious issues to think through. If you have decided that a company is the best vehicle for your new venture then here is a...
• Compensation for Loss of Light Following a recent case in which a dispute regarding a property owner’s right to light was unexpectedly dealt with by the granting of an injunction against a developer, a more recent case has offered guidance on how much compensation might be payable...
• Construction Act Changes On 1 October 2011, changes to the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (normally called the Construction Act) came into force. These apply to all relevant contracts entered into from that date. The changes include: The removal of the...
• Construction Industry VAT Changes Ahead Businesses in the construction industry are reminded that on 1 October 2020 the new VAT domestic reverse charge will come into force. This is being introduced as an anti-fraud measure and will see a major change in accounting for VAT on some construction...
• Consumer Protection Regulations Businesses that deal with the public are reminded that legislation will come into effect soon to give consumers better protection under the law than they currently have. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 received the Royal Assent on 26 March and became law on...
• Contractors Are Your Responsibility A handbook  produced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) outlines the responsibilities of both the contractor and the client in situations in which work is carried out by contractors rather then employees. It does not apply to circumstances in...
• Corporate Manslaughter and Gross Negligence Manslaughter The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 established a new statutory offence of corporate manslaughter (corporate culpable homicide in Scotland). An organisation is guilty of the offence if the way in which it manages or organises its...
• Damages for Wrongful Dismissal The Supreme Court has ruled ( Edwards v Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust ) that a consultant surgeon who suffered a loss as a result of findings of personal and professional misconduct made against him in disciplinary proceedings that were...
• Data Loss - What to Do The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has issued guidance for organisations that lose personal data, having reported that it has been notified of nearly 100 such incidents to date. One of the less intuitively obvious suggestions is to think...
• Dealing With Breach of Patent When you discover that a business has breached your patent, what should you do? The answer to this question has two elements. The first is based on what you can do in law and the second is based on business strategy. Firstly, before picking a fight with...
• Dealing with Employee Absence Employee absences can be both costly and disruptive. It is advisable to have systems in place to measure and analyse these costs so that you can identify problem areas. Are there patterns of absence? Does a particular department have a below average record?...
• Direct Marketing Via E-mail - Regulations UK law relating to the sending of unsolicited direct marketing material by electronic means are based on the EC Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications and are modified by the General Data Protection Regulation which started to be enforced in...
• Drug Policy - Recognising the Signs and What to Do Research findings from Medscreen, based on drug testing carried out over the last ten years across a variety of professions, reveal that there has been a 3,000 per cent increase in the number of workers testing positive for cocaine. More than five per cent...
• E-Commerce Law on Disclosure - Compliance Guide The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations introduced specific legislation to underpin e-commerce. If your business has an Internet presence then you need to make sure that you are not falling foul of theserules. The Regulations do not just apply...
• Employed or Self-Employed? Whether you are employed or self-employed makes a substantial difference to how you are taxed and the income tax liabilities of an employed person can be very different from those of a self-employed person with similar levels of gross income. The National...
• Employee Fraud Most corporate fraud is employee fraud. Although fraud has traditionally been regarded as hard to prove, the Fraud Act 2006 provisions make it easier to obtain convictions for fraud a than was possible under the predecessor legislation. Under the Act,...
• Employee Fraud: Warning Signs Most corporate fraud is employee fraud. ‘Targeted’ frauds, often backed by organised criminals, are also becoming more common. In these cases, an employee (often using a stolen identity) is ‘planted’ in an organisation with the...
• Enforcing Copyright - The Basics Copyright is a right that exists as soon as you create the copyright material. You do not have to apply for it. There are some exceptions to copyright, but unless one of these applies, anyone else using your material without your permission is infringing...
• Entrepreneur's Relief - the Basics From 6 April 2008 disposals of qualifying businesses and business assets have been eligible for Entrepreneurs’ Relief. In simple terms, it allows business owners to reduce their Capital Gains Tax liability to the equivalent of 10 per cent of the...
• Failing to Prevent Bribery - Are You at Risk? The Bribery Act 2010 came into force on 1 July 2011. It created a new offence which can be committed by a commercial organisation if it fails to prevent persons associated with it from committing bribery on its behalf. A business can provide a defence by...
• False Claims on a CV - What to Do According to research carried out by the University of Law, formerly the College of Law, more than half of CVs submitted by job applicants contain lies or inaccuracies. Nearly one in five of those surveyed (17 per cent) said their reason for lying was...
• Financial Fraud - What Not to Do! With recent surveys showing that instances of employee fraud are still on the increase, and HMRC showing regrettable lack of ability to safeguard personal data, eliminating poor security practices which make fraud easier is becoming even more important....
• Franchising Your Business - the Basics If you have been running a successful business for a period of time, you may be considering expansion. One of the options available is to start a franchise. When it first came into existence, franchising was broadly frowned upon but, in recent years, it has...
• Freedom of Information - What it Means in Practice The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000 came fully into force on 1 January 2005. It has serious implications for businesses doing business with the public sector. The reason for this is that because one of the aims of the Act is to engender greater...
• GDPR Documenting Processing Activities Article 30 of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) contains explicit provisions that require organisations to maintain internal records of their data processing activities. This obligation reflects the increased importance of accountability...
• GDPR General Principles The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applies detailed provisions to ensure that personal data – i.e. any data relating to an identifiable person – is properly processed and kept secure, and imposes a significant compliance regime on...
• GDPR Guidance If you have not yet taken steps to ensure your business complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR ), the time to start is now: it came into force, on 25 May 2018, from which date the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) will start to...
• Guide to IHT and Small Business Inheritance Tax (IHT) is payable on a deceased person’s estate (exclusing their principal private residence for whaih an extra allowance is available) at 40 per cent above £325,000 (2019/20) – the current nil rate band. However,...
• HMRC - Overnight and Subsistence Expenses HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) are well known for their dislike of claiming expenses without complete documentation but the reality, as every businessperson knows, is that maintaining complete and accurate documentation for all transactions is a...
• Health and Safety - Working With Display Screen Equipment Many workers spend a large part of their day looking at a computer screen, laptop or touch screen. The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 specifically deal with the health and safety issues associated with regularly working with...
• How to Reclaim Foreign VAT It is commonly thought that within the EU, recovering VAT on expenditure made whilst abroad is merely a matter of calculating the VAT at the applicable rate and claiming it via your VAT return. However, the right to recover VAT on a VAT return is limited to...
• ICO 'Must Do' Data Protection Guide   The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has published a guide to protecting personal data ,' hich it describes as outlining the procedures organisations must follow to ensure data security. In the wake of a fine of £200,000 being handed...
• IPO Guidance on Brexit The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has published a guide on how intellectual property (IP) law is likely to be affected following Britain's withdrawal from the EU. The IPO's aim is to 'continue to protect all existing registered European Union Trade...
• Informing and Consulting Employees The EU Information and Consultation Directive 2002 established minimum requirements for companies with more than 50 employees for consulting and informing them on a wide variety of subjects. The Directive does not apply to those businesses with fewer than 50...
• Insolvency and Pre-Packs Legislation on insolvency enacted in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015   affect directors of companies that become insolvent. The Act added two new grounds for disqualifying a person from being a director of a UK company and...
• Intellectual Property: Who Owns It? One of the biggest sources of disputes in industries based on innovation is a difference of opinion about who owns the intellectual property (IP) created in terms of designs, software, processes and systems. This is a general guide for businesses to the...
• Investing in Small Businesses and Start-Ups - The EIS and SEIS Schemes The Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS ) and the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) are popular vehicles for investment in small or start-up businesses. Both are attractive because the tax advantages for 'qualifying investors' are considerable. The...
• Landlords - Dealing With Pre-Pack Tenants Businesses in financial difficulties are increasingly seeking ways of ridding themselves of extra costs and, in many cases, premises let in more promising economic times are viewed as a substantial and avoidable liability, especially for businesses which...
• Letters of Intent - Getting Them Right What Is a Letter of Intent? Letters of intent, commonly referred to as 'heads of agreement', are used to indicate the terms under which two or more people intend to enter into a contractual relationship when doing business together. The term 'letter of...
• Limited Liability Partnerships: Procedures and Guide Limited liability partnerships (LLPs) were first introduced in April 2001 and are becoming an increasingly popular way of structuring a business, especially with professional practices. The big advantage of the LLP is that it allows the liability of...
• Making Retention of Title Work Prior to the recession, Retention of Title (RoT) clauses probably received less attention than they should have from many businesses. However, RoT is now back in the spotlight. An effective RoT clause will normally allow you to recover the goods you have...
• Making Training Costs Tax Deductible Most business owners and managers think that training costs aimed at improving skills or business profits automatically qualify for tax relief, but that is not necessarily the case. The complexities of the UK tax system mean that the availability of tax...
• Making Waivers of Dividends Work When a company is set up, it is common to divide the shares in it in approximately equal proportions amongst the subscribers. Whether or not this proves to be the most effective way to split them in the long run depends on a variety of factors, of which the...
• Mixed Premises - Legal Status Living ‘above the shop’ is quite common in the small business sector and where the premises are rented, the lease will cover both the business and residential parts of the property. However, the statutory basis for repossession is quite different...
• Money Laundering Regulations Money laundering is the process by which criminals turn their 'dirty' income – which is usually earned in cash – into 'clean' money, by undertaking transactions which hide the original source of the cash and/or turn the cash into 'legitimate...
• Nuisance Calls and Texts Law Since 6 April 2015, changes to the law have given the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) enhanced powers to take action against companies making nuisance marketing calls and sending spam messages. Previously, the ICO could only issue a civil monetary...
• Options and Pre-emption Rights Prospective purchasers and vendors of land frequently wish to ‘lock in’ the other party to the deal and the means by which this is done will normally involve the prospective vendor either giving the prospective purchaser an option to purchase the...
• Outsourcing - Nine Steps to Success These days more and more processes are being outsourced (run by external contractors under a service agreement) by more and more businesses. It is particularly common to outsource IT functions and telephone call management. Outsourcing can offer many...
• Outsourcing the Processing of Personal Information - Guidance The Information Commissioner’s Office offers guidance  for smaller businesses on how to comply with the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) when you outsource the processing of personal information, such as your payroll function or customer mailing...
• Patent Searches Checking for existing patents in force is easy (and free) if you use the UK Intellectual Property Office's (UKIPO) patent databases which are accessible online. The new databases replace the Patents Journal and are designed to make obtaining information...
• Patents - The Basics Some people may think that once you have obtained patent protection for your product, you need do nothing further to protect your rights against infringement or to claim damages from an infringer. However, in many jurisdictions, merely being the owner of a...
• Protecting Your Design Rights Protecting intellectual property has always been a complex area of law, but in one specific area things may be getting clearer. The Registered Designs Regulations 2001 include several protections for inventors of designs. If you have a new design which is...
• Registering a Trade Mark Your business has its own unique brand and reputation and it is vital in a competitive marketplace to ensure that these are protected from unscrupulous third parties. Some business owners do not believe there is any point in registering their trading or...
• Remedies for Breach of Contract Having the right contract is always a good idea, but no matter how much protection it offers, no contract can prevent a breach of contract by the other party. If you enter into a contract and it is breached, there are several possible remedies available to...
• Removing or Modifying Covenants Over Land   Covenants over property are a potential nightmare for developers but fortunately there are circumstances in which a covenant can be removed. If the beneficiaries of the covenant for which removal is sought cannot be persuaded by...
• Retirement Planning and Your Business It is arguable that the whole point of any business should be to enable the owners to retire when they want and with the lifestyle they want on retirement. Of course, enjoying it as you go along is a good idea too, but retirement comes to most of us...
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• Stamp Duty Land Tax: Beginner's Guide Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is a self-assessed tax. The onus is on the taxpayer to make the necessary land transaction return, calculate the tax and pay it across. This is a fundamental change. The old Stamp Duty regime taxed documents, so it was...
• Step by Step Plan for Health and Safety Compliance The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) offers a ‘step by step plan’ for businesses for protecting the health and safety of workers and others . The key recommended actions are: 1. Register a new business with the appropriate authority (HSE or...
• Taking a Franchise - the Basics There are many potential benefits of buying a franchise, such as having access to well-established business and accounting systems, centralised marketing and a proven business model. Being part of a well-known national brand also has an appeal for many...
• Tax Avoidance Disclosure Rules UK tax law is almost unique in that it contains regulations which require professionals to advise HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) of information regarding tax avoidance schemes (TAS). Failure to comply can lead to a penalty of up to £5,000 plus other...
• Tax Free Perks The Government has continuously sought to limit the tax free perks that businesses can provide for their employees. However, there are some remaining. Here is an update on some of those still available. Childcare Childcare provision and childcare...
• Tenancy Deposit Protection Schemes - Rules If you are a landlord it is vital that you are aware of the requirement that all deposits taken by landlords and letting agents for Assured Shorthold Tenancies (AST) in England and Wales must be protected by a tenancy deposit protection scheme. There are...
• Termination of Leases - Tips for Landlords When tenants seek to vacate premises, reduce the size of their premises or renegotiate their leases, problems can be created for landlords. Here are some tips for landlords to help deal with tenants when a break clause in a lease is looming: Be ready....
• Termination of Leases - Tips for Tenants Disputes over break clauses in commercial leases are a continuing source of work for the courts. For tenants seeking to break their leases, here are some pointers: Make sure any notice to break the lease is issued by the right person. This may strike...
• The Duty to Manage Asbestos - HSE Guidance According to statistics provided by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), asbestos is the single greatest cause of work-related deaths in the UK. Every year 1,000 people who have been involved in carrying out building maintenance and repair work die as a...
• The Eight Data Protection Principles Anyone processing personal data must comply with the eight enforceable principles of good practice. Here is a checklist. Data must be: fairly and lawfully processed; processed for limited purposes; adequate, relevant and not excessive; accurate; not...
• The Equality Act 2010 - A Guide for Employers The Equality Act 2010 replaced nine major pieces of discrimination legislation and other ancillary measures introduced over the last forty years. The core provisions of the Act came into force on 1 October 2010. As well as harmonising existing...
• The GDPR and Your Firm's Pension Scheme The press is awash with comment about the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into full effect 25 May 2018. It would be difficult for any organisation not to be aware by now of the issues and, hopefully, your business is well on the...
• The New Insolvency Regime In September 2003, the insolvency provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002 came into force, bringing in a new regime for dealing with insolvencies. The main features of the new rules are: a streamlined procedure for putting a company into...
• Tips for Business Borrowers With the economy improving, businesses will be thinking about financing the expected expansion of trade. Borrowing cost often dominates the thinking, but it isn’t all about the cost of the loan. In order to negotiate the right deal, here are some tips...
• Understanding Options People who want to buy a property but do not currently have the means to do so, or who simply want to be guaranteed the opportunity to buy it during a specified period or at some future date, will often undertake an option agreement with the owner. Under...
• VAT and Electronic Goods - Take Care In order to combat ‘missing trader’ fraud, which is estimated to have cost the Exchequer hundreds of millions of pounds, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have introduced measures which can, in some circumstances, make a supplier (or customer)...
• VAT on Business Assets With Private Use It is very commom for a smaller business to have assets which have been acquired which are used for both business and private use. Traditionally, this could be dealt with either by claiming only the percentage of the input VAT which corresponded to the...
• VAT on Electronic Services   If you supply electronic products (telecommunications, broadcasting and e-services) to non-business customers through online sale you need to  will comply with the VAT 'place of supply' rules that came into force on 1 January 2015. The rules...
• What to do When Your IT Doesn't Work These days it is increasingly the case that when your IT doesn't work, neither does your business. Clearly, the best way to deal with IT problems is prevention, which means doing regular backups, proper systems maintenance, keeping anti-virus protection up...
• When is an Environmental Impact Assessment Necessary? The The Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (England and Wales) Regulations 1999 apply to any development likely to have significant effects on the environment by virtue of its size, nature or location. If a Local Authority fails...
• Who Pays the Rates? When a company that is the tenant of a property goes into liquidation, it is normal for the liquidator to disclaim the lease on the premises. Business rates must be paid by the 'person entitled to possession of the property' ( Local Government Finance Act...
• Workplace Stress - An Employer's Duties The Chartered, Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) has published its nineteenth annual survey, 'Health and Well-Being at Work' , which was carried out in November 2018 in partnership with Simplyhealth. This found that 37 per cent of the businesses...
• Written Statement of Employment Particulars A contract of employment may be verbal but all employees, whether part-time or full-time, are entitled by law to be given a written statement setting out the main particulars of their employment, provided their employment lasts for one month or more....
• Your Home Office - The Legalities If you run your own business, working from home, there are legal ramifications which need to be considered. There are few regulations that apply to 'normal' businesses that do not apply to 'home' businesses: you are not exempt just because you operate...