Simmons & Simmons has seen half-year turnover growth of 8 per cent compared to the same period in 2012/13, with revenues hitting £130.6m at the six-month stage of 2013/14. The increase follows a minimal drop in turnover for the full 2012/13 year. The firm posted revenue of £250.3m, down less than 1 per cent compared […]
By Michael Hardiman Employee health can be a significant source of risk for any business and employers increasingly seek help from medical professionals in managing such risk. Occupational health advice may be needed to: assess whether an employee is fit to return to work after long-term absence; consider what reasonable adjustments could be made for […]
By Suzanne Burrell Earlier this year, the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) consulted on proposals to ‘consolidate, harmonise and simplify’ the existing disclosure regime. The Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/2734) have now been laid before Parliament. They will come into force on 6 April 2014. The draft regulations […]
A team of lawyers at Walker Morris, led by Debbie Jackson, Graham Mackenzie and Oliver Duke, has advised InTechnology on the sale of its subsidiary InTechnology Managed Services (IMS) to Redcentric for £65m. Headquartered in Harrogate, IMS provides managed network, data, hosting and voice telephony solutions designed to help its customers transition from on-premise IT solutions […]
On 16 September 2013, the Charity Commission published its revised public benefit guidance for all charities. The guidance was previously contained in a single document called ‘Charities and Public Benefit’ together with supplementary guidance on ‘Public Benefit and Fee-charging’. The Charity Commission withdrew parts of this guidance in December 2011, following the decision of the […]
Local authorities have a statutory duty to ‘provide a comprehensive and efficient library service for all persons desiring to make use thereof’, generally free of charge. Budget cuts have made this duty increasingly difficult to fulfil, and so local authorities are increasingly using innovative methods of delivering library services, including transferring libraries to community ownership. […]
The UK government maintains its drive to promote industrial and provident societies (IPSs) and staff mutuals with the publication of a recent consultation on IPS reforms. IPSs were introduced as a legal form by the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1965. This created two types of co-operatively owned societies: co-operative societies (businesses owned and run […]
Public procurement is the purchase of goods, works and services by public bodies. Because public bodies spend a significant proportion of a country’s gross domestic product, the EU has issued a set of rules (or directives) to make sure that the way they buy does not distort competition nor affect trade between member states. The directives […]
By Alan Harper Charities, like any organisation or business, frequently use and create intellectual property (IP), for example drawings, photographs or logos, as part of their activities. It needs to be clear who owns the IP that is used or created to make sure that the rights vesting in it are owned by the correct entity […]
The new guidance explains in detail how charity trustees should approach making decisions affecting their charity. The Commission highlights that, while it does not expect trustees to follow the guidance step by step for minor decisions, it should be followed when trustees make significant or strategic decisions (i.e. ones that affect beneficiaries or assets). This guidance […]
Since December last year, the government has been seeking to reform the process for bringing a judicial review claim. Judicial review is an important right by which individuals or organisations can challenge decisions made by a public body. There have been fears, however, that the process is being over-utilised, even abused, with figures showing that […]
The Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) was brought in by the Equality Act 2010 and came into force in April 2011. It requires public bodies to have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination; promote equality of opportunity between different groups; and foster good relations between different groups. This general duty is supplemented by […]