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The decision by Chancellor Philip Hammond to abolish stamp duty for most first-time home buyers in England and Wales has met with a mixed reaction from property experts and analysts. In the Budget, Mr Hammond announced that the first £300,000 of the price of a property will be exempt from tax for people entering the
People who have paid fees to bring a claim to the Employment Tribunal can now start applying to get their money back. The refund scheme was introduced by the government after the Supreme Court ruled the charges for bringing a claim were unlawful. The fee system was introduced in 2013, with employees having to pay
The deadline for registering new trusts with the online Trusts Registration Service (TRS) has been extended from October to 5 January by HM Revenue and Customs. The TRS was launched in July to enable trustees to register their trust online and provide information on the beneficial owners. Trusts that have incurred a liability to income
A wife has lost her appeal against an unequal divorce settlement that gave her less than half the money awarded to her husband. The couple had been married for 23 years and had two adult children. At the start of the marriage, the husband had considerable wealth, while the wife had very little. During their
Two sisters who were cut out of their mother’s will after making allegations that they were sexually abused by their father have failed in their claim to inherit some of her estate. The mother and her late husband had 11 children. The two sisters and their brother became estranged from the rest of the family
The government is investing a further £10 billion to provide 135,000 new homes through the Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme. More than 130,000 properties have already been sold through the scheme, which helps people buy a new build home with only a 5% deposit. The new funding means that Help to Buy Equity Loan
Several leading judges and lawyers have backed a campaign in the Times newspaper for sweeping reforms to divorce law, which they describe as “unjust and outdated”. The campaign calls for the following changes: Scrapping of fault-based divorce laws, allowing divorce within a year where both sides agree, and two where they do not, as in
Deliveroo has won a dispute over whether its cyclists should be classed as workers or self-employed after inserting a ‘substitution’ clause into their contracts. The issue arose after the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) claimed union recognition for Deliveroo cyclists in Camden in London. For the claim to succeed, the union had to
The National Living Wage for those aged 25 and over will increase from £7.50 per hour to £7.83 per hour from April 2018. Chancellor Philip Hammond confirmed in his budget speech that the government would accept the new rates recommended by the Low Pay Commission. Over 2 million people are expected to benefit. For a
Uber drivers should be classified as workers even when they are waiting to accept new fares. That was the ruling of the Employment Appeal Tribunal in the highly publicised case involving Uber London Ltd and several of its drivers. The tribunal heard that Uber paid drivers weekly, based on the fares charged for trips undertaken,