Communities Secretary, Sajid Javid, has published draft legislation to reverse the impact of a ‘staircase tax’, which has unfairly affected up to a thousand businesses. The draft legislation follows a decision in the Supreme Court (Woolway v. Mazars) which brought about a change to the practice of the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) in assessing rateable values for businesses. Following this ruling, businesses who occupied more than one property in a shared building received a separate rates bill for each unit. This was widely known as the ... Continue reading

A review of the pensions enrolment system has confirmed that the lower age criteria at which employers are required to automatically enrol employees into a pension scheme is to be lowered from 22 to 18 years old. Currently, to be eligible for automatic enrolment a worker must be aged between 22 years and State Pension age, and earn more than £10,000 per year. For such workers, employers have to: contribute a percentage figure of their gross earnings between £5,824 and £43,000. The compulsory contributions are being phased in from 1% now... Continue reading

The Chair of an independent review into building regulations and fire safety has found that a ‘universal shift in culture’ is required to significantly improve the way that fire safety is assured. Dame Judith Hackitt, who was appointed by government to lead an Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety following the Grenfell fire, has now published her interim findings. Alongside her interim report, Dame Judith is calling on the construction industry, building owners, regulators and government to come together to address t... Continue reading

Businesses failing to comply with gender pay gap reporting regulations could face unlimited fines and convictions, the Equality and Human Rights Commission has warned, as it published its enforcement strategy. As the regulatory body responsible for ensuring that all employers with over 250 employees report their gender pay gap statistics, the Commission has set out its enforcement policy for consultation. Although it will take steps to encourage compliance and engage informally with employers who are in breach of the Regulations as a first p... Continue reading

The number of Employment Tribunal claims being brought has increased by 64% in the last quarter (July 2017 – September 2017), indicating that the abolishment of Tribunal fees in July 2017 has had a significant impact on employees’ ability to bring forward claims. On 26 July 2017, the Supreme Court in its judgment in R (on the application of Unison) v. Lord Chancellor held that the Employment Tribunals and the Employment Appeal Tribunal Fees Order 2013, SI 2013/1893 (the Fees order), which came into effect on 29 July 2013, was unlawful unde... Continue reading