Legal Q&A

Form D81: Statement of information for a consent order in relation to a financial remedy It asks for up-to-date capital and income to be set out in a table at section 8. Use Part B for capital not classed as real property; list real property under Part A......

When someone undertakes tasks connected to the deceased’s estate, they are treated as an executor who has intermeddled. By doing so, that person effectively assumes the position of personal representative ( PR), even where they did not intend to act. As a result, they may become responsible for the consequences of those actions in respect of the estate......

In any specific context, a controller handling personal data or information must assess if the processing activity complies with what is now the applicable Assimilated Regulation ( EU) 2016/679, the UK General Data Protection Regulation ( UK GDPR), and the Data Protection Act 2018 ( DPA 2018)......

If an employer appoints a utility co-ordinator to supervise and arrange utility connections with Statutory Undertakers, would this alter status of Statutory Undertakers, as set out in clause 2.26.6 of JCT Design & Build Contract?......

Where a relevant transfer occurs under the Transfer of Undertakings ( Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 ( TUPE 2006), SI 2006/246, the employment contract of any individual employed by the transferor and allocated to the organised grouping affected by transfer is not brought to an end. Rather, following the transfer, the employment contract takes effect as though originally concluded between the worker and the transferee ( TUPE 2006, SI 2006/246, reg 4(1))......

This Q& A relates to the shared parental leave and shared parental pay regime introduced in respect of children who are: due to be born on or after 5 April 2015, or placed for adoption on or after 5 April 2015 Shared parental leave permits parents, if they prefer, to split up to a maximum of 50 weeks of the leave that would otherwise fall solely to the mother or adopter, which is then treated as shared parental leave. Shared parental pay enables the mother and the father (or, where relevant, the adopter and the adopter’s partner) to divide up to 37 weeks of the pay to which the mother (or adopter) would otherwise be solely entitled. To qualify for shared parental leave and pay, the mother and the father (or, as applicable, the adopter and the adopter’s partner) must satisfy certain...

Statutory paid holiday entitlement For guidance on the general statutory right to paid holiday, see Practice Notes: Holiday and Holiday pay. Under the Working Time Regulations 1998 ( WTR 1998), SI 1998/1833, a worker is entitled to 5.6 weeks’ paid annual leave each leave year, consisting of: a core entitlement of four weeks’ annual leave, giving effect to Directive 2003/88/ EC, the Working Time Directive ( WTD) a further entitlement of 1.6 weeks’ annual leave, which arises solely under domestic legislation A worker is due a week’s pay for every week of leave, calculated in line with sections 221 to 224 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 ( ERA 1996). The method for working out a week’s pay varies according to whether the worker has normal working hours. For more detail, see the section of Practice Note: Holiday pay titled...

Safeguarding (and promoting the welfare of children) is defined in the Government’s statutory guidance: Working together to safeguard children as: keeping children safe from maltreatment averting impairment to children’s health and development making sure children are raised in conditions that align with safe and effective care acting to ensure every child can achieve the best outcomes There is no specific obligation on an employer providing work experience to young people under 18 to introduce a safeguarding policy......

Duty to make reasonable adjustments The Equality Act 2010 ( Eq A 2010) establishes a duty to make reasonable adjustments (referred to below as ‘the duty’), which contains three distinct requirements. The third requires that, where a disabled person would, without the provision of an auxiliary aid, face a substantial disadvantage in relation to a relevant matter when compared with people who are not disabled, such steps as are reasonable must be taken to supply the auxiliary aid. The situations in which the duty arises differ across workplace settings. Accordingly, the precise circumstances that engage the duty will not be uniform across all settings. For all three requirements, the duty is triggered only where a disabled individual is placed at a substantial disadvantage compared with non‑disabled people ‘in relation to a “relevant matter”’, and what counts as a ‘relevant matter’ (as defined in Eq A 2010, Sch 8 Pt...

For guidance on entitlement to statutory annual leave under the Working Time Regulations 1998 ( SI 1998/1833), and on methods of calculation, refer to Practice Notes: Statutory paid holiday—the right and Statutory paid holiday—calculating holiday pay. For details on recourse where statutory sick pay ( SSP) and contractual sick pay are not paid, see the ‘ Remedies’ section of Practice Note: Sick pay......

For information: regarding the revised Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ( CJRS), see Practice Note: Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (extended version 1 July to 31 October 2020) [ Archived] concerning holiday and holiday pay during the coronavirus ( COVID-19) pandemic, see Practice Note: Coronavirus ( COVID-19)—holiday and holiday pay [ Archived] for general holiday and holiday pay matters, see Practice Notes: Holiday and Holiday pay It is clear that: employees may take holiday whilst on furlough the statutory framework for working out holiday pay applies to furloughed staff in exactly the same way as it does to those not on furlough See the section of Practice Note: Coronavirus ( COVID-19)—holiday and holiday pay [ Archived] entitled: Furloughed workers, under the heading ‘ Holiday pay’. The BEIS guidance Holiday entitlement and pay during coronavirus ( COVID-19) has not been updated since it was first...

statutory sick pay ( SSP) For general guidance on SSP, see Practice Note: Sick pay. Under section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 ( ERA), an employer must not take deductions from a worker’s wages unless one of the following applies: the deduction is required or authorised by a statutory provision, or by a relevant term in the worker’s contract; or the worker has previously given written agreement or consent to the deduction (eg in respect of pension contributions) See also Practice Note: Deductions from wages— When deductions are lawful. In addition, ERA 1996, s 14 identifies certain ‘excepted deductions’ to which section 13 does not apply. These excepted deductions under ERA 1996, s 14 include situations where the deduction is made to reimburse the employer for an overpayment of wages, or for an overpayment of expenses incurred by the worker in the...

For guidance on safeguarding confidentiality in the workplace, see Practice Note: Confidential information and trade secrets in employment. For broader support on addressing misconduct, consult the following Practice Notes: Managing conduct Dismissing fairly for conduct reasons Reason for dismissal—conduct Protection from dismissal Under section 152 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations ( Consolidation) Act 1992 ( TULR( C) A 1992), a dismissal will be automatically unfair if the principal reason for ending employment is that the worker: has taken part in, or intended to take part in, the activities of an independent trade union at an appropriate time has used, or intended to use, trade union services at an appropriate time For these purposes, ‘an appropriate time’ is: a time outside the worker’s normal working hours, or a time during working hours when the employer has agreed they may...

Maternity leave For general guidance on maternity leave, refer to Practice Note: Maternity leave. The relationship between holiday, maternity leave and categories of family leave is intricate. Because only a woman may take maternity leave, sex discrimination considerations have shaped how the European Court of Justice ( ECJ) has approached holiday entitlement. By contrast, other forms of family leave can be taken by eligible people of any sex, making sex discrimination less relevant overall. All contractual terms (other than those concerning pay) continue to apply throughout both ordinary and additional maternity leave (sections 71(5) and 73(5) of the Employment Rights Act 1996, Maternity and Parental Leave etc Regulations 1999 ( MAPLE 1999), SI 1999/3312, reg 9(1)–(2)). See also Practice Note: Maternity leave— Rights during ordinary and additional maternity leave. Accordingly, women continue to accrue statutory and contractual holiday in the usual manner while on...

Redundancy pay The statutory redundancy entitlement is assessed by reference to a week’s pay, under sections 220–229 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 ( ERA 1996). The approach to working out a week’s pay varies according to the pattern of hours an individual works and the pay arrangement that governs them. Regardless of the rule used, the figure for a week’s pay is ultimately derived by reference to the employee’s remuneration......

Under WTR 1998, workers get 5.6 weeks’ annual leave each year: a basic entitlement of four weeks’ leave (20 days for a standard full‑time worker) implementing article 7 of the Working Time Directive ( WTD) an additional 1.6 weeks’ leave (eight days for a standard full‑time worker) created by domestic law only Understanding this distinction is important because: European Court of Justice case law concerns the WTD alone, so it applies only to the basic four weeks’ paid leave holiday pay is calculated differently for: the basic four weeks, and the additional 1.6 weeks The general rules as to the right to carry forward accrued holiday entitlement are that: the basic four weeks must be taken in the leave year earned and...

In ordinary circumstances, the employer determines the range of disciplinary sanctions, together with the rules on how, and in which situations, they should be used, and records these within its disciplinary policy. For initial misconduct where instant dismissal would not be fitting, a tiered approach to warnings is commonly adopted, aligned with the disciplinary framework set out in the Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures (the Acas Code). The terms of the Acas Code ought to be reviewed with care when managing disciplinary matters at work. Although a departure from the Acas Code will not, by itself, create liability, a tribunal can take such non‑compliance into consideration when assessing appropriate cases. It may, therefore, influence how relevant matters are decided accordingly......

Coronavirus ( COVID-19)—holiday and holiday pay [ Archived] If you require general guidance on matters concerning the right to holiday and holiday pay during the Coronavirus ( COVID-19) pandemic, consult Practice Note: Coronavirus ( COVID-19)—holiday and holiday pay [ Archived]. The way holiday pay is calculated under the Working Time Regulations 1998 ( WTR 1998), SI 1998/1833, has continued unchanged throughout the coronavirus pandemic; the amendments contained in the Employment Rights Act 1996 ( Coronavirus, Calculation of a Week’s Pay) Regulations 2020 ( Week’s Pay Amendments Regs 2020), SI 2020/814, do not apply to the calculation of holiday pay. Under regulation 16 of the WTR 1998, SI 1998/1833, a worker taking statutory holiday is entitled to be paid at the rate of a “week’s pay” for each week of leave, with that figure determined in accordance with sections 221–224 of the...

The Fixed-term Employees ( Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002 ( FTE Regulations 2002), SI 2002/2034 The FTE Regulations 2002 state that, unless an employer can objectively justify continuing to use fixed-term contracts, a fixed-term worker who has been employed on an uninterrupted basis—under one fixed-term contract or a succession of fixed-term contracts—for four years or more and is subsequently re-engaged on another fixed-term contract without any break in continuity will have that further contract treated as permanent. For information on fixed-term employees generally, see Practice Note: Fixed-term employees. In specified circumstances, the FTE Regulations 2002 include a mechanism, derived from the Fixed-term Work Framework Directive, for turning fixed-term contracts into permanent contracts ( FTE Regs 2002, SI 2002/2034, reg 8)......

Is the employee protected from pregnancy and maternity discrimination? Under section 18 of the Equality Act 2010 ( Eq A 2010), discrimination occurs where, during the protected period linked to a woman’s pregnancy, she is treated unfavourably: because she is pregnant, or because of illness she experiences as a result of that pregnancy The protected period starts when the woman’s pregnancy begins. Its conclusion depends on whether she is entitled to ordinary and additional maternity leave: if she has the right to ordinary and additional maternity leave, it ends at the close of the additional maternity leave period, or on her return to work after the pregnancy, if earlier if she does not have that entitlement, it ends two weeks after the pregnancy ends Although “end of the pregnancy” is not defined, a miscarriage before 24 weeks of pregnancy would appear to fall...