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Complying with data protection regulations remains a problem for many companies and organisations. In a recent case, Stoke-on-Trent Council was fined £120,000 after one of its employees emailed sensitive information about a child protection case to the wrong person. An investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) found that the employee breached the council’s guidance
The Government has announced a new blitz on bureaucracy that should see red tape slashed at twice the present rate. Business Minister Michael Fallon said that from January 2013, every new regulation that imposes a financial burden on a company will be offset by reductions in red tape that will save double those costs. Currently
The UK has experienced a boom in the birth rate recently and this has led to many employers having to navigate through the complex law of considering making members of their workforce redundant, some of whom may be pregnant or on maternity leave, during a tough economic climate. In employment law, a woman has a
The chances of a home sale falling through can be reduced if buyers and sellers act early. When a sale or purchase falls through both the buyer’s and the seller’s time and money can be wasted. We are an accredited member of the national Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS), says that buyers and sellers
The Government is now finalising its plans to introduce a new employment status next April in which some workers will be able to become ‘employee owners’. The scheme was announced by Chancellor George Osborne on 8th October. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is now conducting a consultation on the plans which are
The High Court has ruled that a group of engineering consultants were not negligent when advising on a major development – even though they failed to predict some important issues. The consultants had been asked by the commissioners of a drainage authority to explore options for upgrading a pumping station. They carried out research with
A total of 300,000 new businesses have been set up in the UK, according to the latest figures from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The number rose from 4.5million at the beginning of 2011 to a record 4.8million at the start of 2012.Those 4.8 million businesses employ an estimated 23.9 million people and
Rent control is one several ideas being considered by a Commons Select Committee looking into the quality and regulation of rented housing. The committee is inviting interested parties to submit views on issues such as the quality of rented housing and how to ensure that standards remain acceptable. It will look at levels of rent,
The number of firms going out of business reached its highest level for two years in the first quarter of 2012 as the economy hit a “period of stagnation”. Figures released by the financial services firm RSM Tenon showed that more than 400 companies became insolvent every week. This was a 5% increase on the
Businesses are being urged to make sure their websites comply with consumer protection law ahead of the Christmas period. The warning from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) comes after it carried out a review of 156 websites to check if any were in breach of the Distance Selling Regulations (DSRs). It found that 62