I hope you are sitting down as you read this post, because what I am about to tell you is so shocking it almost sounds unreal. A few weeks ago we featured a blog post concerning the shortage of health care professionals and the pressure on the NHS. The article worked through all of the relevant issues to show that as the situation stands at the moment, the NHS is not sustainable without the import of doctors and nurses from overseas. Now the government has introduced legislation that will require all foreign-sourced employees from outside the European Economic Area (EEA)…
An article in the Solicitors Journal on 23rd June, www.solicitorsjournal.com is well worth reading Universal Credit. How does UC work? Under UC, there is no cap to the number of hours someone can work. The amount received, however will, go down as earnings increase. Also there is a cap was introduced to ensure that the amount received by way of benefits for those of working age did not exceed the average wage for working families. Some capital assets will also be taken into account, such as second homes and savings. The threshold is additional capital of £16,000, and care must…
Recently we posted an article on our blog that presented some case studies of famous divorces that have been very important in determining the outcomes of other cases. By learning about such cases, you can gain a better understanding of what to expect, and it can help with developing a strategic framework to work from. In this post we present a few more important divorce case studies that we feel will have relevance in the future of divorce law, and examine what these cases can tell us about the legal system and how judges tend to reach their decisions. Prest…
It is a logical assumption that when two people decide to go their separate ways after being married for a period of time that their assets should be divided equally between them. While that often is the case, there are plenty of exceptions to this ‘rule’. Just a short time ago, UK divorce law was written in a way that assumed that married women had no means of supporting themselves, because that was usually the case. It was only recently that these laws were reformed to more accurately reflect modern societal standards, due largely to the efforts of lawyers and…
I strongly recommend a read of the article in the Law Society Gazette on 13th April 2015 www.lawgazette.co.uk The article highlights the conflicting legal cases over the pension bankrupt. The issue is whether a pension which has not yet been drawn down by a bankrupt, but which he is able to draw down, if he wants to, is ‘in the nature of income… to which he from time to time becomes entitled’ for the purposes of an income payments order (IPO). And IPO is an order obtained by the trustee to take all a part of the bankrupt’s income. Most…
How much of a price can you put on freedom? This is the fundamental question that anyone contemplating intentional fraud should be asking, because essentially their freedom is what they are staking in a high-risk gamble against being caught. As we have explored in previous blog posts here on the Hylton-Potts website, government statistics show that intentional fraud by benefits claimants is exceptionally rare. Many of those who get “caught” are not actually guilty of fraud; yet innocent people may be prosecuted and sometimes even convicted. This tragic injustice usually occurs because the accused person often does not know what…
An excellent article in the financial Times is well worth a read http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7309cb48-e1c5-11e4-8d5b-00144feab7de.html#axzz3Y2pwxGoo HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has already received a huge amount of data about UK residents with Swiss bank accounts. There is an increase of criminal prosecutions. New proposals including a “strict liability” rule a taxpayer could be deemed to have committed a criminal offence without the Crown needing to prove that he deliberately set out to conceal offshore income that is taxable. This Draconian measure can reverse the normal burden of proof. However, if you act quickly you can still make use of the agreement between…
In recent times, you may have noticed the increasing number of foreign doctors practicing as GP’s in the UK. While some people don’t even give this a second thought, many others feel that this is a cause for concern. Are these foreign doctors taking places that rightfully belong to British doctors? Are they going to be able to provide the same quality of care that British doctors can provide? The list of concerns goes on. In this article, we’ll try to clear up some of the misunderstandings and confusion surrounding the debate over foreign doctors working in the UK, and…
According to a recently published survey, it is claimed that 66 per cent of UK consumers are concerned about housing benefit fraud. Really? Are we supposed to believe that two-thirds of the population are wandering around constantly thinking about this issue? If that actually is true, then that is a much more serious problem than housing fraud! I am reminded of a humorous incident where a news reporter was interviewing a racing car driver and he asked the question “Aren’t you worried you could get killed?” And the driver replies: “Well, I wasn’t until you mentioned it!” That’s the…
It’s never too late to make a fresh start, so the saying goes, and one man who has certainly taken that message to heart is octogenarian actor, Ed Asner. At the ripe old age of 85, he has finally gotten around to divorcing his wife Cindy. It may be worth pointing out the irony of the fact that Ed’s most recent starring role was in the animated movie Up! in which he played the part of Carl Fredrickson – a man so deeply in love with his wife that he defies not only his local council but even the laws…
