MPs to review employment tribunal fees
An influential committee of MPs has launched an inquiry into employment tribunal and other court fees.
The Justice Committee announced the move on 21 July, in response to measures under the coalition government to reduce the cost of the courts and tribunal service that included introducing fees for taking a case to an employment tribunal, higher fees in civil cases and a mandatory charge on anyone convicted of a criminal offence.
It will look at the effect and levels of the fees and charges, focusing on issues including:
- whether increased court fees and the introduction of employment tribunal fees have affected access to justice
- whether they have affected the volume and quality of cases brought
- the effect on defendants of the criminal courts charge and whether it has been set at a reasonable level.
The Ministry of Justice launched its own review into employment tribunal fees in June, which is due to be completed later this year.
Depending on the type of case, it costs either £160 or £250 to lodge an employment tribunal claim, with a further charge of either £230 or £950 if the case goes ahead.
Experts call for cohabitation law reform
Family lawyers say that the current legal system does too little to protect people who live with a partner.
According to the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures, one in eight adults in England and Wales is unmarried and living with a partner.
Jo Edwards, chair of family law organisation Resolution, said on 9 July: “Cohabitation is the fastest growing type of relationship in the country.
“Despite this, the law doesn’t give people in this type of relationship any meaningful legal protection if they separate or if one of them dies.
“Too often I see people who are separating from their live-in partner, who come to me looking for help in accessing what they regard as being their fair share of the assets. All too often I have to tell them that they have no rights whatsoever.
“Even if one partner has given up work to care for children, or has contributed by supporting their partner in their career by running the home, often their contributions will not be recognised in law, especially if the children have already grown up and left home; and they end up in a very difficult situation when the relationship comes to an end. This is often compounded by a mistaken belief that unmarried couples have rights as ‘common law’ spouses, in fact not correct.
“Resolution would like to see the introduction of some form of legal protection for cohabitants to secure fair outcomes at the time of a couple’s separation or on the death of one partner.
“We don’t propose that cohabiting be treated the same as marriage. Under our proposals, cohabitants meeting eligibility criteria indicating a committed relationship would have a right to apply for certain financial orders if they separate. This right would be automatic unless the couple chooses to ‘opt out’.”
MEPs call for action on maternity leave
MEPs have called on European Union (EU) member states to restart negotiations in a bid to harmonise rules on maternity leave.
Currently, the duration of maternity leave in EU countries varies from 14 weeks to 28 weeks and in certain cases up to 52 weeks, although not all are fully paid. There are also differences regarding the length of the compulsory period.
Maternity leave at an EU level is regulated by a 1992 directive, which sets the minimum period for leave at 14 weeks, including two compulsory weeks and an allowance determined by national legislation.
The European Commission had proposed a revision of the directive in 2008, setting the minimum duration of maternity leave at 18 weeks, including six compulsory weeks and an allowance amounting to a full salary. In 2010, MEPs approved a proposal to extend maternity leave to at least 20 fully paid weeks after birth, of which six are compulsory. However, the European Council, made up of the heads of state of the 28 EU members, has been blocking the moves for more than four years.
On 20 May, MEPs approved a resolution urging member states to resume talks and calling on the Commission – which had threatened to withdraw its proposal – not to do so or to present new legislative proposals before the end of the year.
The MEPs also repeated a call for fathers to be entitled to at least ten working days’ paternity leave, in addition to the mother’s leave.
In the UK, shared parental leave was introduced in April 2015, giving eligible couples the right to share up to 50 weeks of maternity or adoption leave and 37 weeks of maternity or adoption pay.
Lawyers clash with insurers over deafness claims
Personal injury lawyers have hit back at insurance industry claims that industrial deafness is the “new whiplash”.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) issued a report on 16 June, which it said showed that insurers had seen opportunistic claims for noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), also known as industrial deafness, significantly increase in recent years.
The ABI said that since 2012, more than 200,000 claims for NIHL have been submitted but fewer than a fifth have been eligible for compensation. It said this was “mainly due to the poor quality of evidence provided because the claimant’s hearing loss cannot be linked to the workplace.”
James Dalton, the ABI’s director of general insurance policy, said: “Thousands of people who worked in noisy environments in the 1960s and ’70s without the right protection were rightly compensated in the decades which followed. These claims naturally tailed off following the introduction of better health and safety measures across British industry.”
He said the recent surge in cases could “only be a result” of lawyers and claims management firms spotting the potential for earnings from deafness claims after a reduction in those for whiplash, “irrespective of whether the claims they put forward are genuine.”
But Bridget Collier, a senior litigator with the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, said: “The insurance industry seems completely unable to accept that a higher number of industrial deafness claims is simply that. Instead, insurers are crying out that there must be an injustice (to them) and reforms must be made to stop their profits from dwindling.
“The suggestion that lawyers’ fees are out of proportion to the work done on these cases is a total disregard of the complexities of these claims.
“The Association of British Insurers says that many claims are fraudulent. How likely is this, given it is extremely difficult to fake an audiogram test and no claimant solicitor wants to run or can afford to run a case that is not likely to succeed let alone where the claimant appears untrustworthy?
“Even if a claim fails, it does not mean that there wasn’t good reason for seeking legal advice. As I said, these claims are complicated. Trying to prove exposure to noise from years ago is not an easy task.
“The insurers need to shoulder the responsibility that they took on when they were paid handsomely by employers for the risk of these claims. The risk of industrial deafness is as real today as ever before.”
Personal liberty hearings must involve people lacking capacity, court rules
People lacking the mental capacity to make decisions for themselves should always be directly involved in court hearings about their personal liberty, the Court of Appeal has ruled.
The 16 June judgment affects people being cared for in hospital, care homes or supported living with conditions, such as Alzheimer’s, autism or learning disabilities, which mean that they cannot consent to restrictions on their liberty.
It means that streamlined procedures recently introduced in the Court of Protection – which makes decisions on financial or welfare matters for people who cannot do so for themselves – should not prevent people who lack capacity from participating in or having legal representation at hearings that involve measures affecting their liberty, such as restraint, restrictions on their movements or on visitors or enforced medical treatment.
The procedures, introduced in the Court of Protection to reduce pressure on the court, will now need to be reconsidered.
Welcoming the news, Law Society president Andrew Caplen said: “When someone is living with dementia or a learning disability, it is essential that the care and treatment which they receive is in their best interests.
“Sometimes that means providing treatment to which they are unable to consent. More and more families with elderly relatives are having to face that reality.
“The Law Society lodged an appeal because the fundamental rights of patients to participate in legal proceedings about their liberty were at risk. We are grateful for being given permission to appeal.
“We recognise the resourcing pressures on the Court of Protection, but anyone facing court proceedings which concern their liberty must be able to participate effectively in or be legally represented at those proceedings. We hope to work closely with the Court of Protection to resolve the issues brought to light by the judgment.”
New rights on way for victims of crime
The new Conservative government has set out plans to increase the rights of victims of crime.
Measures were included in the Queen’s Speech, delivered on 27 May, which set out the government’s policies and proposed legislative programme for the new parliamentary session.
It included plans for legislation designed to support victims of crime “so that the most vulnerable in our society get the support they deserve”.
It is planned that measures will build on the existing Victims’ Code to guarantee greater protections for victims and witnesses in the criminal justice system.
They include giving victims of crime the right to make a victim personal statement and read it out in court at sentencing and at parole board hearings.
The government said the reforms would give “victims a voice in the criminal justice system and the opportunity to explain how a crime has affected them”.
Zero hour exclusivity clauses banned
New rules have come into force banning exclusivity clauses in zero hours contracts.
The reform, contained in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015, took effect on 26 May. It stops businesses preventing staff employed on zero hour contracts from working for other employers.
Business, Innovation and Skills Minister Nick Boles said: “Exclusivity clauses in zero hours contracts prevent people from boosting their income when they have no guarantee of work.
“Banning these clauses will give working people the freedom to take other work opportunities and more control over their work hours and income. It brings financial security one step closer for lots of families.”
The move was also supported by the CBI, whose director for employment and skills, Neil Carberry, said: “Banning exclusivity clauses in zero hours contracts is a proportionate response to tackling examples of poor practice.”
But Steve Turner, assistant general secretary of Unite, dismissed the reform as a “token measure”, adding: “It misses the key point that zero hours confer fear and misery of those forced into them – no security, no protection and little dignity.”
More motorists brought to court
New figures from the Ministry of Justice show that prosecutions for motoring offences shot up by 25,000 last year.
The data for 2014, published on 21 May, revealed that there were 591,000 prosecutions in 2014 compared with 566,000 the previous year.
The largest increases in prosecutions were for speed limit offences, which rose by 26 per cent to 159,000 in 2014 and vehicle insurance offences, up by eight per cent to 144,000.
Meanwhile, prosecutions for vehicle registration and excise licence offences, drink-driving, careless driving, using a mobile phone whilst driving and driving licence offences all fell.
Among the most serious motoring offences, prosecutions fell for causing death by careless driving (down by 29 on the previous year to 205 in 2014) but prosecutions for causing death by dangerous driving rose to 176 from 144 in 2013, reversing a decreasing trend since 2007.
Only around one per cent of offenders were given a custodial sentence with 94 per cent of those convicted receiving a fine.
The number of drivers who were disqualified decreased from 65,000 in 2013 to 58,000 in 2014, but the number receiving points on their licence without a disqualification rose for the first time since 2009, increasing by seven per cent from 291,000 in 2013 to 311,000 in 2014.
In April, road safety charity Brake and insurers Direct Line released the findings of a survey of 1,000 drivers revealing that 49 per cent admitted breaking traffic laws. Of those, half said it was due to inattention and the other half admitted doing so deliberately, because they thought they could get away with it or did not agree with the law.
Julie Townsend, deputy chief executive of Brake, said: “As these figures make clear, law breaking on our roads is not just down to a minority but endemic. For whatever reason, many seem to feel they are beyond the law or that traffic laws are somehow optional.
“Traffic laws exist to save lives and prevent injuries and terrible suffering. No matter how experienced or skilled a driver you believe yourself to be, you cannot break them safely.”
4 in 10 Brits plan charity gifts in wills
A new study has revealed that more than 40 per cent of people intend to use their will to benefit a charity.
A study of 2,000 people commissioned by the British Heart Foundation revealed that 43 per cent of the UK public intend to leave money to charity in their wills.
The research, published on 7 April, also asked respondents about their motivation
for leaving a gift in a will to charity.
A total of 52 per cent said it was having a personal link to the organisation, 28 per cent that they would feel good about giving something back to society and 16 per cent simply that they believed it was important to leave donations to charities in wills.
According to the Institute of Legacy Management, around £2 billion is left to voluntary organisations through gifts in wills each year, making them a key income source for many charities.
Charitable donations can also be valuable as part of inheritance tax planning for larger estates.
An estate worth more than £325,000, making it liable to inheritance tax, will pay a reduced IHT rate of 36 per cent instead of the usual rate of 40 per cent if ten per cent or more of its value is left to charity.
Digital service launched for minor motoring offence pleas
A new digital service has been launched, enabling people charged with minor motoring offences to make a plea online at a time and place of their choosing.
A rollout of the new Make a Plea service across England and Wales is now underway, following a successful pilot in Greater Manchester.
People charged with summary motoring offences – those heard in magistrates’ courts, such as speeding, failing to identify the driver or using a vehicle without insurance – will be able to respond to charges against them via a user-friendly website.
Some of the highest volume work that the police, prosecution and courts deal with involves low level traffic offences, with the latest annual statistics showing that proceedings were taken in relation to more than half a million summary motoring offences.
The new digital system means defendants will be able to make their plea from any suitable device 24 hours a day through the secure website and is being offered as an alternative to a postal plea or attending court.
During the pilot in Manchester nearly a third of people used the digital service to make a plea.
