The Bribery Act could make it illegal to wine and dine a client at Wimbledon. No one can say for sure what will and will not be allowed Wimbledon hospitality tents may be quieter. There are 150 executive boxes at Twickenham, the home of English rugby, packed out on match days Fuelled by a roast lunch and champagne, their occupants will cheer on Martin Johnson. It could be a different story in future. New Laws could make corporate hospitality an offence. Flying in guests from overseas to the rugby or the tennis at Wimbledon might be construed as bribery. The…
The default retirement age (DRA) will be consigned to history from October 2011. Employers will no longer be able to require people to stop working at 65, purely because of their age. Employers should think of having a much older retirement age – 70 or 75. Employers would no longer be able to issue compulsory retirement notifications under the DRA procedure from 6 April 2011. Between 6 April and 1 October this year only people who were notified before the April cut-off date can be compulsory retired. From 1 October 2011 employers will only be able to operate a compulsory…
Couples who break up following a live-in relationship are paying tens of thousands of pounds in settlements to their former partners. A new phenomenon of ‘break-up payments’ is increasingly common because more and more couples are living together for several years without marrying. When a marriage collapses, a spouse is usually entitled to half the couple’s assets, but for cohabitees the legalities can be a minefield. Some people were willing to pay up to £100,000 to former partners to avoid lengthy legal action which can last up to 18 months, it said. Recent actions have involved custody of children, jointly…
The Department for Work and Pensions cannot recover welfare benefit payments through the courts where the claimant is not at fault, the Supreme Court has ruled. Between March 2006 and February 2007 the DWP wrote to over 65,000 claimants telling them it could sue them, if they did not return overpayments made as a result of administrative errors. The benefits involved included income support, incapacity benefit, disability living allowance, jobseekers’ allowance and child benefit. In The Child Poverty Action Group v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2010] UKSC 54, the judges said it was common ground that the…
The arrest of expat WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for alleged sex offences has highlighted aspects of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) agreement which enable all EU member states to extradite defendants without producing any evidence in support of the charge. Born in Queensland, Australia, Mr Assange is very much an expat. Having moved 37 times by the time he was 14, and many more times subsequently, he is almost a global citizen – a condition occasionally favoured by wealthy expats who seek to avoid paying tax in any particular jurisdiction. Tax-dodging expats often discover, however, the arm of the taxman…
A European Parliament move to revise EU law in order to improve legal certainty in cross-border family disputes concerning children has been welcomed by a leading expert in international family law, Rodney Hylton-Potts of Hylton-Potts Legal Consultants. Robert Matthews reports Analysis Rodney Hylton-Potts considers cross-border family disputes involving children to be a legal area that needs tackling. MEPs have recently agreed that such disputes and the protection of children’s rights, especially of those with separated parents, are matters that the EU needs to address. As he points out: “At present, we have directly conflicting national laws on outcomes, jurisdictions, stays,…
The Last Chance Tax Saloon HMRC has offered taxpayers one last chance to declare overseas assets – take advantage while you still can. The world is becoming a smaller place. Swiss banks ‘voluntarily’ disclosing information; bank data ‘going missing’ – tax authorities whether in the UK or elsewhere are having a field day! The major nations have declared war on tax havens. You must face up to dealing with undeclared assets overseas for peace of mind, and ensure you do not leave your heirs with a mess. December 2009 saw the door close on the widely publicised voluntary disclosure amnesty…
A Shepherd’s Bush hairdresser who made fraudulent housing benefit claims over 19 years has been jailed for a year and will have to pay back £360,000. Matilda Kwapong claimed she had been evicted from the home she bought in Ealing in 1988, and in 1990 was given a two-bedroom council flat which she then rented out to help repay her mortgage. She also claimed housing benefit and council tax discounts, despite running a successful hairdressing salon in the railway arches at Shepherd’s Bush Market. Kwapong was only discovered when one of her tenants also tried to claim housing benefit last…
Equality Act 2010 Brings in new rights for employees, namely disability discrimination rights, and rights for people who are discriminated against indirectly, such as carers who look after elderly parents or who are affected by bullying at work. Allowing offensive jokes about disability, sex and gender reassignment at work or criticising dyslexics will leave employers facing substantial claims. The old discrimination legislation protected employees who are discriminated against on the ground of a protected characteristic, including sex, disability, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation and age, the level of protection available varied. The new law introduces much wider protection for…
A traveller who financed his children’s private education using £31,000 obtained in a benefits fraud was jailed for 18 months yesterday. Matthew Newland, 41, from Lyne, near Chertsey, Surrey, drove a BMW car and paid £10,000 a year for his daughter to attend a prep school and £7,000 a year to educate his two sons, a jury at Guildford Crown Court was told. Newland claimed incapacity benefit, disability allowance, housing benefit, council tax benefit and income support, despite earning nearly £90,000 a year as a roofer while living in a static caravan owned by his mother-in-law. Newland admitted five charges…
