Children at a local primary school have been taking the law into their own hands.

Students at Morton Trentside Primary School have recently been busy preparing and submitting entries for a Writing Competition. The Competition organised by Burton & Dyson Solicitors involved children from every year group submitting a written piece of work for the competition. The children had the freedom to write about absolutely anything and in any format they wished but were encouraged to incorporate a ‘law’ theme into their work. Despite being optional for the Children to enter both the School and Burton & Dyson were overwhelmed by the number of entries received. Literacy Co-ordinator Kate Vaux said, “The competition has been a great way to give our pupils a purpose for writing and we are very grateful to Burton and Dyson for supporting our efforts to raise standards in writing throughout the school.”

The competition was held in conjunction with World Book Day on the 7th March 2014 when students from the school dressed as their favourite character from a book.

The competition winners were :

Reception Class Runner Up : Callum Staff

Reception Class Winner : Melody Jones

Year 1 Runner Up : Tudor Morris

Year 1 Winner : Darci Holtom

Year 2 Runners Up : Harrison Clarke and Jake Schweikhhardt

Year 2 Winner : Eve Wild

Year 3 Runner Up : Thomas Cutts

Year 3 Winner : Elise Rymer

Year 4 Runner Up : Georgia Liptrot

Year 4 Winner : Nathan Mcelroy

Year 5 Runners Up : Brody Bell and Jimmy Purdy

Year 5 Winner : Joshua Clarke

Year 6 Runner Up : Georgia Baines

Year 6 Winner : Georgia Smith

Winning entrants were presented with a Certificate and £10.00 book voucher by Partner at Burton & Dyson, Steven Hardy.

Governor at Morton Trentside School and Property Lawyer with Burton & Dyson Matthew Gleadell said ‘It has been nice to combine my work as a Governor and work as a Lawyer in a way that has benefited the Children. As Lawyers we rely heavily on our ability to write, and Burton & Dyson is proud to be able to support and encourage local children to enjoy writing. The standard of the entries was exceptional and very difficult to pick the winners.”

Court of Appeal criminal record ruling to be challenged

Following a ruling by the Court of Appeal that individuals should not be required to disclose every criminal conviction to employers, the government is seeking leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The case focused on a 21-year old man who had been cautioned by Greater Manchester Police over the theft of two bicycles when aged 11.

As an individual is currently required to reveal all convictions and cautions, including those that are deemed to be spent, when applying for certain types of employment, the man had been required to disclose these warnings on two occasions – which breached his right to a private and family life, according to the Court of Appeal.

This ruling has prompted calls for the government to reform the criminal records system so that the protection of children and vulnerable people is balanced with the right to privacy.

However, the Court of Appeal’s ruling will not take effect until after the Supreme Court has considered the government’s application for permission to appeal.

Rent arrears system set to change

A new process for commercial landlords to recover the rent arrears of tenants is set to be introduced alongside new rules to protect vulnerable people from aggressive bailiffs.

Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery (CRAR), which received Royal Assent in 2007, will now be implemented by the government. It replaces the right to distress and will only be available for pure rent arrears, including VAT and interest on the rent. However, service charges and insurance costs will not be covered.

Furthermore, landlords will have to give the tenant seven days’ notice before using enforcement agents, which could offer tenants the opportunity to remove goods before the enforcement agents arrive.

Consequently, the government will work with creditors and the enforcement industry to consider the consequences of the time period, as well as resolving other inadequacies in the current legislation, before preparing a final set of regulations.

Sickness absence advisory service for employers

The government has announced a new occupational health advisory service which will provide employers with bespoke, independent advice for cases of sickness absence lasting more than four weeks.

Currently, only 10 percent of employees in small businesses have access to an occupational health service, compared with more than half of the staff in larger firms.

The new service will enable businesses of all sizes to access expert advice to help them manage sickness absence. As a result, employers are expected to save up to £160 million a year in statutory sick pay, with an annual increase in economic output of up to £900 million.

As part of these proposals, the government is considering introducing tax relief for employers on the costs incurred in implementing the service’s recommendations as part of this year’s Budget.

Employment relationships begin before work commences

Certain employment rights are governed by the length of service at a company, such as the ability to claim unfair dismissal and to receive statutory redundancy payments.

In a recent decision at the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT), EAT president Mr Justice Langstaff ruled that, for the purpose of calculating length of service, employment relationships can be considered as “governed by a contract of employment” from when a job offer is accepted rather than when the work commences.

The appeal was brought by Mr Welton, who had his employment terminated after the Deluxe Retail store in Sheffield where he worked closed down. During what would have been the next working week, he accepted a job with the same company in Blackpool, with the employment commencing the following week and ending a few months later.

The Employment Rights Acts states that when an employment relationship is governed by a contract of employment for any part of a working week, that week is considered as part of an employee’s continuous employment with a firm.

However, the gap between the two periods when Mr Welton was actually working meant he would not have had sufficient length of service to claim unfair dismissal, unless the week during which the offer of work was accepted counted as part of his continuous employment.

Mr Justice Langstaff agreed that this was indeed the case. “The week in which the contract of employment was made is a week which counts,” he said. “There was no week during the whole of which his relations with his employer were not governed by a contract of employment. On this basis, there was continuity of employment.”

New employment compensation limits

From the beginning of February, the limits for certain employment tribunal awards and other payments governed by employment legislation will be increased.

As a result, when an event resulting in compensation or payment occurs on or after 1st February, the:

• Pay cap for calculating statutory redundancy payments and the basic award for unfair dismissal will be £450 a week
• Maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal will be £74,200
• Maximum guarantee pay per day will be £24.20
• Minimum basic award for unfair dismissal due to health and safety, employee representative, trade union or occupational pension trustee reasons will be £5,500

If the event occurs before the beginning of February, the old rates will apply, even if the compensation is awarded after the new limits have come into force.

Red tape costs to be cut faster

From this month, every new regulation imposing a new financial burden on firms must be offset by reductions in red tape that will save double those costs. The new One-in, Two-out rule will involve every government department and apply to all domestic regulation affecting businesses and voluntary organisations.

The new rule will replace the One-in, One-out regime, which the government says has reduced net costs on business by almost £1 billon since January 2011.

Announcing One-in, Two-out, Business Minister Michael Fallon said: “Every year businessmen and women still spend too much time and money complying with government regulations, when they should be developing and growing their businesses.

“That’s why we are upping the pace. It will require policymakers to make tough choices, and to think hard about how to get government off the backs of hard-working and hard-pressed businesses”.