Insights
The Winds of Change are Cold
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The General Economy
Following Jeremy Hunt’s first budget back in October the changes, or lack thereof, of previous Chancellors will really begin to bite for taxpayers in 2023. The UK, and global, economy is still recovering from the major impacts of a global pandemic and the ongoing war in Ukraine. Although we may manage to stave off a technical recession it is likely the UK economy will contract for at least one quarter. Inflation, the measure which tracks the general price of goods and services over time, remains one of the highest in Europe, threatening to push more people into poverty and erode wealth for those with significant assets.
Agriculture and the climate change challenge
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In this comprehensive review of climate change and the challenges and opportunities it represents for farmers and land managers partner, David Marshall, suggests that the same open-minded, innovative, technological and scientific approach which has resulted in the huge increase in food production in the UK over the past 70 years will help farmers to adapt and ultimately overcome the climate change challenge which farming is facing.
National Minimum Wage 2023/24
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The Government has announced that the National Living Wage and the National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates will increase from 1 April 2023. The rates will increase as follows:
What's New for 2023
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There are a number of Bills proposed to come into force in 2023 which, if enacted in their currently proposed format, would have a significant impact on employment law. These include:
- The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill 2022-23
Currently at the committee stage in the House of Lords, this Bill seeks to ‘sunset’ all retained EU law by the end of 2023, unless restated or replaced into UK domestic law (click to see our previous article).
2022 Holiday Pay Updates
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Full-time workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday under the Working Time Regulations 1998 (“WTR”). However, calculating what constitutes a weeks’ pay can be difficult where workers work variable hours or have variable elements of pay such as commission or overtime pay. This has been the subject of a series of litigation over the last decade, with the two most recent case were heard by the Supreme Court in 2022.
Succession
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Nominated for 25 Emmy Awards this year, the HBO series ‘Succession’ has captivated audiences and may well have prompted clients to contemplate how best to plan for succession to their estates.
Drafting a Will for lead character, Logan Roy, would require a bespoke approach, to take account of his vast wealth across multiple countries. Here we consider an appropriate Will structure, together with some other key points to explore when creating a fitting testamentary writing for Logan.
Retained EU Law
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Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill
Following the UK’s exit from the European Union, the post-Brexit European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 incorporated former EU law into UK law as ‘retained EU law’. Essentially, retained EU law was captured at the point of Brexit and forms part of our legal framework. Retained EU law touches many areas of law, including employment, data protection and environmental law. On 22 September 2022, the government introduced the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, which would amend the existing position in relation to retained EU law as follows:
Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land: Are you Affected?
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Registers of Scotland have introduced a new Land Register – the Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land (or the “RCI”) – which went live on the 1 April 2022. This is an additional register, sitting alongside the Register of Sasines (which is being phased out) and the Land Register of Scotland, with the aim of identifying those individuals, who cannot be identified through the existing land registers, who have a “significant influence or control” over the named owner or long tenant (20+ years) of the land or property in question. The aim of the RCI is to improve transparency in who actually owns or tenants Scottish land.
