Q&A: PAYE May 20, 2010 Q. I have recently started my business and I am in the process of hiring staff, what should I know about PAYE? A. Pay As You Earn (PAYE) is the way that HMRC collects income tax and national insurance. As an employer once you start hiring people you have a legal obligation to collect PAYE [...]
How Herbert Smith’s new boss will take on the big boys of global law May 16, 2010 THIS WEEK Jonathan Scott takes up his five-year post as senior partner for venerable City law firm Herbert Smith, and many observers bet that somewhere on the desk of his fourth floor office at the practice’s Primrose Street headquarters there is an A4 sheet of paper with just two words on it – overseas expansion. [...]
Majority of City lawyers support Tories May 4, 2010 HERE’S a thought: if our electorate comprised City lawyers – okay, maybe not that most appealing thought – the Tories would storm to an election win on Thursday. Legal Week magazine recently reckoned that almost two thirds of City partners (63 per cent) were backing Cameron. A survey by DLA Piper of 545 senior UK [...]
Repatriation costs deemed a benefit in kind April 21, 2010 LAWYERS warned yesterday that tax bills for both employees and employers associated with the disruptions caused by the Icelandic volcano are to sky rocket as the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) takes a hardline on repatriation costs. Commercial law firm EMW Picton Howell said yesterday that the HMRC will demand tax payments on any expenses [...]
Employment tribunal claims to jump after parliament passes Equality Bill April 7, 2010 EMPLOYERS in the UK are bracing themselves for a jump in employment tribunal claims after parliament yesterday passed the Equality Bill. The Bill is expected to be turned into law by October and brings together a number of equality laws to form a single Act. “The new law has been a long time coming and [...]
Malpractice rules tougher on employers April 5, 2010 CHANGES to whistleblowing procedures implemented today will place an increased burden on employers, who are now set to face joint scrutiny by employment tribunals and regulation bodies. Today’s changes will allow whistleblowers who make malpractice complaints against their employer to now involve the relevant regulator, including the Financial Services Authority (FSA), the Information Commissioner, Health [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 31, 2010 RBC Wealth Management The wealth manager, part of the Royal Bank of Canada, has appointed Sarah Macdonald as a director, focusing on UK entrepreneurial clients. Macdonald has worked for over a decade in the financial services industry at both Barclays Wealth and Morgan Stanley. She specialises in advising high net worth clients on asset management [...]
TRIBUNALS March 25, 2010 Q. I am being taken to a tribunal by my employee, how can I best prepare for it? A.The earlier you take advice the better, according to Martina Murphy, a barrister and also a member of the Federation for Small Businesses’ employment committee. And you don’t have to go to a lawyer to get advice. [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 21, 2010 THE SUNDAYS The Sunday Telegraph ITV’S NEW CHAIRMAN: UK FACES ‘NATIONAL CRISIS’ Archie Norman, the chairman of ITV, has said that the UK is facing an economic “national crisis” worse than that faced by Margaret Thatcher at the end of the 1970s. In his first interview since becoming chairman of the broadcaster, Norman also revealed [...]
Young lawyers stung by overspecialised market March 21, 2010 OVERSPECIALISATION in the legal profession should be dismantled as young solicitors trying to find work have been hit the hardest by recent cutbacks at commercial law firms, said The Law Society. Young lawyers specialising in banking, property and commercial law are having a harder time finding employment as a result of the global recession, said [...]