A husband has successfully challenged a divorce settlement arrived at through arbitration and has been allowed to have the issues reconsidered in court. The wife had applied for financial relief following the marriage breakdown. After an unsuccessful financial dispute resolution hearing, the case was listed for trial. However, no district judge was available, so the
The government has launched an £11.5 billion programme to build 180,000 new homes across the country over the next five years. It’s hoped that the move will unlock a further £38 billion in public and private investment in affordable housing. New homes will be made available from next year. Around half of the new homes
The government is planning changes to the shared ownership scheme to make it easier for people to buy more of their own home, including allowing them to buy in 1% increments. At present, they have to buy an increased share in 10% chunks, which can be as much as £45,000 each time. This process of
A grandmother who failed to get permission to have her grandson live with her can now apply again because she’s moved to a bigger house. The case involved a two-year-old who was referred to in court as J. He had three siblings. The local authority became involved with the family before his birth due to
The Court of Appeal has ruled that a child should be returned to her father in France rather than remain with her mother in England. It said that even though she had only lived in the country for a few weeks, it had become her habitual place of residence. The case involved a family that
A director has been ordered to repay more than £188,000 after his business went into liquidation. Michael Edward Belcher was the sole director of BM Electrical Solutions Ltd. The company had filed one set of accounts for the period to 31 January 2012. These disclosed a net asset position of £6,465, of which the profit
A landlord has been ordered to pay damages to a church organisation that was unlawfully evicted from its rented premises. The case involved Jesus Sanctuary Ministries Ltd and Ruby Triangle Properties. The church had started occupying the property under a rental agreement in 2009. The property was later sold to the current landlord. In 2019,
A gender-fluid engineer who endured insults and jibes from fellow workers has won a discrimination claim against Jaguar Land Rover. The case involved Ms R Taylor who had worked for Jaguar for 20 years and had initially identified as male. She began identifying as gender fluid in 2017 and started dressing in women’s clothing. This
The government is introducing a series of changes to increase the flexibility and capacity of the employment tribunal system during the Covid-19 pandemic. The new measures will also allow tribunals to deal with increasing caseloads, following the abolition of employment tribunal fees in July 2017. It means there will be more remote hearings so tribunals
The Administrative Court has made a declaration clarifying that the legal definition of “”employment”” includes people who provide their services on a self-employed basis as an independent contractor. The declaration was made after the Simply Learning Tutor Agency Ltd and eight other similar agencies applied for a declaration that the Employment Agencies Act 1973 does