Decision due on World Cup opening hours

Pubs and other licensed premises across the country are awaiting the outcome of a government consultation on a blanket relaxation of licensing hours during the FIFA World Cup.

The consultation, which ran from 13-26 March, sought views on whether there should be a national order to relax licensing hours during the event, which runs from 12 June to 13 July, or to leave it as a local decision, using the existing temporary event notice (TEN) system. Each TEN costs £21 and lasts for seven days.

Home Secretary Theresa May said that any relaxation of licensing hours nationally would “relate to the sale of alcohol for consumption on the premises and the provision of late night refreshment in licensed premises at specified dates and times only.

“The government is mindful of the need to strike a balance between the risks that late night drinking can lead to increased crime and disorder and public nuisance and reducing the burden on those wishing to celebrate the FIFA World Cup.”

Licensing legislation allows the Home Secretary to make an order relaxing opening hours for licensed premises to mark occasions of “exceptional international, national or local significance”.

Issues raised in the consultation included the dates the order might cover and whether licensing hours should be relaxed for three, three-and-a-half or four hours after kick-off.

Brigid Simmonds, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, which represents Britain’s brewers and pub companies, warned: “If we don’t get a positive decision from the government, we will end up with the hassle and cost of tens of thousands of temporary events notices, and no guarantee of extra hours.”

New guidance issued on Sharia wills

The body that represents solicitors in England and Wales has issued pioneering guidance to its members to assist them in work involving Sharia law succession rules, including the drafting of wills.

This is the first time guidance has been published for solicitors to assist them with succession rules under Sharia law, the code of law derived from the Quran.

Clients in England and Wales can legally choose to bequeath their assets according to Sharia rules, providing their will is signed in accordance with requirements set out in the Wills Act 1837.

The Law Society’s guidance focuses on the Sunni rules and its procedure for directing inheritances.

The society said that solicitors drafting a Sharia-compliant will needed to take three key steps that are significantly different to traditional probate processes. Firstly, the cost of the burial and any debts must be paid. Secondly, a third of the estate may be given to charities or individuals who are not obligatory heirs. Finally, the remainder is given to a defined set of “primary” and then “residual” heirs.

It said the main difficulty for solicitors preparing a Sharia-compliant will was the inability to state in advance who the Sharia heirs would be, as their identity and respective entitlements could only be determined at the date of the death of the person making the will.

Issuing the guidance on 13 March, Nicholas Fluck, president of the Law Society, said: “This is the first time such advice has been published and we hope it will assist solicitors with Sharia probate matters.

“’There is a wide variety of spiritual, religious and cultural beliefs within our population and the Law Society wants to support its members so they can help clients from all backgrounds.

‘We hope this guidance will help solicitors assist their clients and go some way to forming an idea of good practice when it comes to applying Sharia succession rules within the legal profession.”

Service targets employment disputes

A new initiative designed to help employers and employees resolve workplace disputes will be on offer from 6 April.

Using Early Conciliation, provided by employment relations service Acas, will become mandatory for claims made on or after 6 May.

Under the new initiative, before someone lodges an employment tribunal claim, they will need to notify Acas by completing a simple online form.

Acas will then quickly get in touch to gather information on the dispute, which will be passed to a conciliator. They will aim to make contact with both parties and talk through the issues to see if a solution can be found.

Both parties must agree to take part before the process can start, and either can change their mind at any time.

If no agreement can be reached, a tribunal claim can still be made. Using Early Conciliation will “pause” the usual three-month time limit on making an employment tribunal claim.

All conversations conducted during Early Conciliation will be on a without prejudice basis, so that nothing said during the process can be used later in a tribunal.

Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that the maximum compensatory award that a claimant employee can be awarded in an unfair dismissal claim will increase from £74,200 to £76,574, where the effective termination date falls on or after 6 April 2014, or one year’s pay, whichever is the lower.

The maximum statutory redundancy payment will increase from £13,500 to £13,920 from 6 April, while the maximum amount of a week’s pay to be used when calculating redundancy payments will also increase from £450 to £464.