Category: Business & Employment

On 16th May 2014, a number of changes to prevent illegal working in the UK came into force.  The changes include amendments to the right to work checks and associated documents, and changes to civil penalty payments.

The changes are intended to support employers to make the correct checks on their employees to ensure that they have the right to work in the UK.  If these checks are not carried out properly, or an employer is found to be employing someone who does not have the right to undertake the work in questions, they may be liable for a civil penalty.

Here is a breakdown of the main changes.

The Right to Work checks:

• A reduction in documents, i.e. List A and List B documents.  List A is largely the same, however List B documents have been split into Group 1 and Group 2 documents:
  • Group 1 documents = the time-limited statutory excuse from payment of civil penalty lasts until end of worker’s permission to be in UK and do the work in question (as evidenced in the document produced for the right to work check)
  • Group 2 documents = the time-limited statutory excuse lasts for six months
• Removal of the requirement to conduct annual repeat check son employees who only have temporary leave to live and work in the UK
• An extension in grace period for conducting right to work checks for employees acquired as a result of a Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment), from 28 to 60 days.

The Civil Penalty Payments:

• An increase in the maximum civil penalty for employing an illegal worker from £10,000 to £20,000 per worker
• A revised method for calculating civil penalty levels.  Two mitigating factors can each lead to a £5k reduction:
  • Whether the maximum penalty is applied will depend on whether the employer reported the suspect illegal worker to the Home Office Employer’s Helpline and
  • his active co-operation with their investigation
• Introduction of a fast payment option – 30% reduction in civil penalty for payment in full within 21 days (not available to employers who have been found to be employing illegal workers in the last 3 years)
• Two revised Codes of Practice are now in force: the Code of Practice on preventing illegal working (the civil penalty scheme) and the Code of Practice on avoiding unlawful discrimination while preventing illegal working.

Full details of the changes to prevent illegal working and the new requirements can be found on the Home Office website.

If you are an employer and are worried about the changes, one of our employment solicitors can help advise you to stay within the law. Our well established team of specialist employment solicitors have in-depth knowledge and experience in all aspects of employment law.  To speak to our employment team, contact us on 0161 624 6811 or send us a message through our contact form.

Unpaid debt can cause a multitude of problems, whether you are owed money as a business or an individual. It can cause cash-flow problems, which is especially problematic if you are a business with a tight budget, and even cause problems with banks. Using a solicitor with experience in debt recovery can therefore be a cost effective solution to the problem of unpaid costs.

The first step in recovering your unpaid debt is to consider whether taking professional action is the right step to take. It’s important to weigh up the amount owed against the cost of recovery, and decide if it is really worth the cost, bearing in mind that often effective communication can solve small financial disputes. However, the repercussions of this should also be considered. If you let a small payment owed slip through the cracks, is this acquaintance or customer likely to take this as a sign that they can get away with not making payments in the future?

If you do decide to take action, using a solicitor can be a worthwhile solution – however be sure to let the debtor know that you are doing so beforehand, as this alone may spur them on to pay what you are owed. Solicitors with experience and expertise in debt recovery can help you recover your debt in a time and cost effective manner. They can assist you in trying to resolve the dispute without taking legal proceedings initially, and can send a letter to the debtor letting them know that legal action may soon be taken. Letters from solicitors have a high success rate – debtors are far more likely to pay what they owe when they are aware a solicitor is involved – however if the debtor still refuses to pay, the solicitor can then assist with legal proceedings.

If you are owed money, you don’t need to stand for it, especially if it is affecting your business. Wrigley Claydon’s debt recovery service is carried out by a team of qualified, experienced solicitors who can take care of everything from giving you initial advice on the best plan of action to taking care of court proceedings, even ensuring that you get fair interest on the debt.

Contact our team on 0161 785 3534 or send us a message through our website to find out more.

‘Last in, first out’ (LIFO) used to be one of the most common ways of objectively determining who was going to lose their jobs in a redundancy situation.

Put simply, LIFO means that when choosing people for redundancy, the longer you have been with a company the safer you are.

Is this fair though?

It may be objective, but when it comes to employment law redundancy LIFO isn’t necessarily fair when used as the sole selection criteria. Since the enactment of equality and anti-discrimination legislation, LIFO taken on its own is no longer considered as legally safe as it once was and is generally avoided by employers.

For example, younger workers are more likely to lose out under a LIFO system, as they tend to be the people who have worked for the shortest time at an organisation. As they are at a disadvantage based on their age, they may have grounds to make a claim for indirect age discrimination. Instead employers should be looking at skills based selection, that doesn’t assume that just because you’ve been there a long time you’re better at the job.

Employment Law Redundancy

Redundancy is never easy for an employer. If you face the possibility of making them, take advice at the earliest opportunity to avoid the pitfalls.

If you’re an employee, check at an early stage so that mistakes your employer might be making, can be rectified before the damage is done.

For more information or to speak to our team about our Employment Law Redundancy services  please call us on  0161 624 6811

Team: John Porter, Soibi Iketubosin