It remains a huge concern the lack of investment in the NHS. Surely the point of accident and emergency is that time remains very much of the essence and a patient needs to be seen urgently. Delay in diagnosis for some patients is a question of life and death or, enduring pain and suffering. As […]

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) this week released a survey of 5,000 employers in relation to zero-hours contracts. This shows that, for a sample 2-week period beginning on 20 January 2014, in Great Britain there were 1.4 million zero-hours contracts under which employees worked some hours in the sample period, and a further 1.3 […]

From 6 April 2014, Employment Tribunals have a discretionary power to impose financial penalties on employers who lose claims. If the tribunal concludes that the employer has breached any of the worker’s rights to which the claim relates and the breach has one or more aggravating features, a penalty may be ordered. The penalty is […]

It has recently been decided by the European Court of Justice (in the case of C-D v S-T C-167/12) that mothers who become a parent through a surrogacy arrangement (even if the mother is the child’s biological mother), are not entitled to paid maternity leave. In this case, the mother was the legal and biological […]

The mandatory ACAS early conciliation procedure became available from 6 April 2014 and must be followed by all claimants who issue a claim (unless one of the very limited exceptions apply) from 6 May 2014. Early conciliation imposes a duty on the parties to engage in settlement discussions before a claim is issued. ACAS will […]

I’m sending out another plea, to anyone who will listen, for greater knowledge and management of the asbestos threat within our schools. Our children are more at risk and more vulnerable to asbestos and, whilst we cannot do anything about past exposure, we can and must see action to prevent anymore being exposed.  The outcomes […]