Legal Practice Notes

Acting as a company’s agents, directors oversee its everyday operations and bear a number of obligations owed to it. Many of these obligations have been crafted by the courts over hundreds of years, developing from broader common law rules and principles of equity......

When an employee is let go due to redundancy, the Employment Rights Act 1996 ( ERA 1996) sets out a mechanism enabling the employer to propose, and the worker to accept, fresh or renewed employment in place of a redundancy payment. In certain circumstances, if this occurs and the worker is taken back within four weeks, the initial dismissal is treated as a legal fiction; the individual is regarded as not dismissed in law and, for these purposes, is not entitled to a statutory redundancy payment. In all cases, unless the substitute terms and conditions are identical to the earlier ones, both the worker and the employer are allowed a statutory trial period of at least four weeks to assess the new arrangement. Depending on the changed terms and conditions, and the employee’s reasons for rejecting them, or for declining to continue after the trial...

This Practice Note This Practice Note summarises the employment tribunal’s authority, under Rule 33 of the Employment Tribunal Procedure Rules 2024 ( ET Rules 2024), SI 2024/1155, to compel disclosure of documents and information. It explains the relationship with the Civil Procedure Rules ( CPR) and explores what disclosure and inspection mean and cover, the applicable test for disclosure, the overriding objective and proportionality. It also addresses both standard and specific disclosure, confidentiality, public interest immunity, oppressive disclosure, medical reports, and legal professional privilege (including legal advice privilege, litigation privilege, the iniquity exception and waiver). The Note further reviews procedural requirements such as disclosure statements, pre-action disclosure, and disclosure by non-parties, together with restrictions on the use of disclosed material. It concludes by considering the role of artificial intelligence ( AI) in the disclosure process. In many employment tribunal cases, documents of...

An employee dismissed is legally entitled, under section 92 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 ( ERA 1996), to request a formal written statement detailing the reasons for their dismissal......

Employers may, at times, make loans available to directors or staff, either as part of the overall remuneration package or on particular occasions to assist with major outlays. This Practice Note looks in detail at the income tax and National Insurance contributions ( NICs) consequences where the lender later writes off or releases such borrowing. It sets out the specific provisions within the benefits code in ITEPA 2003, Part 3 that govern ‘employment‑related loans’. For what amounts to an employment‑related loan, see Practice Note: Employment‑related loans—defined. Alongside the write‑off charges outlined below, if an employee or director (or a relative of either) receives an employment‑related loan that counts as a taxable cheap loan, there is an annual income tax and Class 1A NICs charge on the cash equivalent of the benefit enjoyed by the employee or director (subject to certain...

This Practice Note outlines the forthcoming duty on employers to provide each worker with a written statement confirming their right to join a trade union. The obligation is to be introduced by section 58 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 ( ERA 2025). Regulations will be made to bring section 58 into force, with additional details of the requirement to be set out in those regulations. A consultation on the duty ran from 23 October to 18 December 2025. The consultation indicated the government’s intention for commencement by October 2026. For more, see Practice Notes: Employment Rights Act 2025—tracker and Consultation tracker— Employment. The basic right to a statement ERA 2025, s 58 provides for an amendment to the Trade Union and Labour Relations ( Consolidation) Act 1992 ( TULR( C) A 1992) by inserting a new section 136A. This amendment will require that, when a...

This Practice Note This Practice Note sets out who holds ownership of IP generated in the course of employment. It then outlines the legal position and prevailing practice for businesses when securing IP rights from employees and contractors, highlighting key considerations. It further offers practical guidance on the principal IP clauses and related provisions commonly found in employment contracts and contractor agreements, as well as practical steps. On a day-to-day basis, employees, consultants and contractors create valuable IP for organisations as part of their assigned duties and responsibilities within their roles. For example: R& D personnel may devise inventions that are capable of being protected by patent. They may also develop new formulae, recipes or algorithms, or design novel methods or processes to make operations more efficient. If these are kept confidential, significant rights can exist as know-how or trade...

When an employee is let go on grounds of redundancy, the Employment Rights Act 1996 ( ERA 1996) sets out a process through which the employer may propose, and the employee may accept, alternative or renewed employment instead of receiving a redundancy payment. In certain situations, where the employee is taken back within four weeks, the original termination is treated as a legal ‘fiction’; the individual is regarded as not having been dismissed and therefore has no entitlement to a statutory redundancy payment. In all instances, unless the fresh terms and conditions mirror the previous ones exactly, both parties benefit from a statutory trial period of at least four weeks to assess the new arrangement. Depending on the revised terms and conditions, and the employee’s reasons for declining them, or for opting not to continue once the trial period concludes, the employee may...

At common law, the hallmark of an apprenticeship was a binding bargain to receive training and instruction in a trade or vocation: the apprentice undertook to serve the employer so as to acquire the trade, and the employer, in turn, undertook to train, teach and tutor them. Such common law apprenticeship contracts rarely now arise, chiefly because the Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 ( ASCLA 2009) makes it an offence to label any course or training as an apprenticeship unless it is a statutory apprenticeship. For information and guidance on common law apprenticeship contracts, see: Contract of apprenticeship, set out below. This Practice Note addresses the requirements of the statutory framework as it operates in England. For information on the position: in Scotland, see Practice Note: in Scotland in Wales, see: frameworks below and Practice Note: Employment law in Wales— An...

This Practice Note explores the potential claims that an impacted employee or worker might pursue in connection with the statutory entitlement, under section 10 of the Employment Relations Act 1999 ( ERA 1999), to be accompanied during particular disciplinary and grievance hearings where applicable......

Remote hearings Remote hearings are proceedings conducted via electronic communication (eg telephone or video), as opposed to the usual in-person hearing where everyone attends an employment tribunal hearing centre. Traditionally, employment tribunals heard almost all cases in person. The coronavirus ( COVID-19) pandemic, however, seriously impacted the tribunals’ operational capacity, and the main safe way to hold hearings during that period was through a significant increase in remote hearings. Although the restrictions from the pandemic no longer apply, tribunals still conduct many more hearings remotely than they did beforehand. For further background, and to understand how and when employment tribunals decide if a hearing should be in person, remote, or partly remote (ie hybrid), see Practice Note: Format of employment tribunal hearings. This Practice Note considers how employment tribunal hearings are run remotely, in particular with reference to: the Presidential Guidance: conduct of...

Death of the employer—effect at common law Under the common law, if the employer is a natural person rather than a legal person (such as a corporate entity or a partnership), the employer’s death frustrates the employment contracts of all their employees and thereby ends them. Ownership of the business then passes from the deceased to their personal representatives. Those representatives have no authority to keep the business running, save to preserve it with the intention of selling it as a going concern. However, the deceased may, by the terms of their Will, grant their personal representatives authority—expressly or by implication—to continue the business, and this authority may, it appears, be inferred from the usual clause empowering the executors to postpone the sale of the whole, or any part or parts, of the deceased’s estate......

For many years, the same laws have broadly applied as in the other parts of Great Britain. Although a distinct legal jurisdiction, policy in Northern Ireland was that measures from Great Britain could apply directly (for instance the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 ( DDA 1995) or the Data Protection Act 1998 ( DPA 1998)) or would be mirrored on broadly the same basis as legislation in Great Britain, though with modest variations (for example the Employment Rights Act 1996 ( ERA 1996) in Great Britain was followed by the Employment Rights ( Northern Ireland) Order 1996, again with some differences), compared with Great Britain. The only major divergence from the Great Britain approach to employment law was discrimination on grounds of religious belief and political opinion as a distinct area. Most legislation enacted in Great Britain was also implemented in Northern Ireland, though...

This Practice Note explores the scope of the employment tribunal’s powers regarding equal pay (equality of terms), along with the remedies a claimant can obtain in an equal pay dispute. For more detail on equal pay (equality of terms) and the rule of equal pay for equal work, consult: Equality of terms (equal pay)—overview and Practice Note: Equal pay: definition of pay. Relationship with discrimination claims Some equal pay claims, especially those about non-contractual benefits, may instead be pursued under the Equality Act 2010 ( Eq A 2010) discrimination provisions rather than the specific equal pay regime where appropriate......

Non-disclosure agreements ( NDAs), or confidentiality clauses Non-disclosure agreements ( NDAs), also called confidentiality clauses, are contract terms designed to prevent the unauthorised sharing of information. Such provisions: are routinely used in agreements resolving employment disputes or bringing employment to an end, helping party achieve a clean break, for both sides to move forward (for more detail, see Practice Note: Settlement agreements in employment—practical and tax issues, and in particular the main section: Confidentiality, non-disclosure and whistleblowing) may likewise appear in employment contracts, e.g. to safeguard commercially sensitive material and data (for further information, see: The legal considerations below and Practice Note: Restrictions and other express terms during employment— Disclosure of confidential information during employment) Within this Practice Note, references to a confidentiality term or NDA cover a stand-alone NDA, as well as a secrecy or...

This Practice Note explains how to make an application for costs, the bases on which costs orders may be granted, and the types of costs that can be awarded in the Employment Appeal Tribunal ( EAT), including partial awards. It also addresses wasted costs against a party’s representative, costs payable to litigants in person, and pro bono costs. As in the employment tribunal (see Practice Note: Costs in the employment tribunal— When a costs order or a preparation time order must or may be made), the EAT may order costs only in limited situations. The EAT rules define ‘costs’ to cover fees, charges, disbursements and expenses incurred by or for a party, and include sums recoverable by a litigant in person (see Costs of litigants in person below). The Practice Direction states that ‘costs’ also encompass legal fees, expenses, and payment for time spent...

This Practice Note explains how to bring to an end a partnership created under the Partnership Act 1890 ( PA 1890), addressing both technical dissolution and general dissolution. A partnership governed by the PA 1890 may come to an end by: dissolution, or insolvency What is dissolution? There is no statutory definition of ‘dissolution’ for a partnership, but the term is used to denote the cessation of the partnership relationship. Despite a dissolution: the former partners (or some of them) may continue together in a new partnership that succeeds to the business of the dissolved firm, or a partner’s authority to bind the firm, along with other rights and duties, may persist insofar as required to complete the winding up of the dissolved partnership’s affairs (see Practice Note: Ending a general...

Practice Note It outlines how to establish the effective date of termination ( EDT) for unfair dismissal under the Employment Rights Act 1996 ( ERA 1996). It sets out how to determine the EDT where notice is given, where no notice is given (summary dismissal), and at the end of a fixed or limited term contract, and also when the statutory minimum notice period impacts qualifying service and the basic award......

This Practice Note outlines how far an employer may probe a candidate about past convictions and cautions, and when checks with the Disclosure and Barring Service ( DBS) can be undertaken. Employers might seek confirmation of a criminal record because: it bears on the individual’s integrity and fit for the role, or the detail is needed to satisfy regulatory requirements Details can be obtained by questioning the applicant or by requesting DBS searches. Key principles As a rule, employers are not entitled to unrestricted disclosure of all historic convictions and cautions. Under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 ( ROA 1974), convictions and cautions may become spent and the person is treated as ‘rehabilitated’ once the rehabilitation period ends—see: Spent convictions and Effect of rehabilitation below. However: some sentences never become spent—see: Excluded sentences (never spent) below, and there are...

Continuity of employment ( ERA 1996) This Practice Note explores provisions of the Employment Rights Act 1996 concerning continuity of employment. It explains why length of service matters—namely eligibility to bring claims and the level of compensation—and sets out the general principles of calculation; when a period of continuous employment commences and ends; what constitutes a break in continuity (a break in service); how the continuous period is worked out; situations in which a change of employer does not interrupt continuity; which weeks count where there is a contract of employment and which weeks count where no contract is in place; the effect of sickness, injury or a temporary cessation of work; the operation of any arrangement or established custom that preserves continuity; the impact of zero hours contracts; rules applicable to health service employers; protection of redundancy payments for NHS and public...