Posted by Anna Arakcheeva, Marketing Manager
Employment legal update #43 | March 2021

Our Employment & HR team brings its monthly review of new legislation, guidance and case law.
At Royds Withy King we are still able to serve all your legal needs during the Coronavirus pandemic. Find out more.
Our Employment & HR team brings its monthly review of new legislation, guidance and case law.
A Care Quality Commission consultation on a new regime of regulating care providers will close on 23 March. It proposes a radical reform of care home assessments, including the prospect of changes to ratings without inspections.
Law firm Royds Withy King has advised the shareholders and management team of data centre owner and operator Amito Ltd on its significant minority investment from Harwood Private Equity.
What does the ‘detached worker’ exception mean? Our Employment and Business Immigration lawyers look into the rules for making social security payments when UK employees are seconded in EU countries.
The government has delayed making a decision on introducing a new tax on online sales in its March Budget following dramatic growth in online sales during the COVID pandemic. It had been widely anticipated that this would be accompanied by a shake-up of the business rates regime and throw a much-needed lifeline to struggling high streets.
From the vote on 23 June 2016 to the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020, it took three and a half years, but Brexit has happened. With the no deal scenario prevented at the last minute, what has the fallout been so far?
A poll by social care experts Royds Withy King reports that almost three quarters (73%) of social care providers would like to make a Covid vaccination a condition of employment for new members of staff. That condition would include exceptions for those who can’t have the vaccine on medical or other protected grounds.
Restrictive covenants are an essential tool for retaining goodwill and value in any business that you are looking to acquire. This is particularly so where the seller is intrinsically linked to the business or has the skillset to immediately compete with the target business, and could therefore quickly diminish its value.
The Supreme Court (“SC”) has found that Uber’s drivers are to be classed as workers and not, as Uber has tried to argue, self-employed contractors. There is a lot of commentary in the employment law world that hails this as a really big decision; one piece said the decision creates “waves and not just ripples” in employment law. But putting aside the technicalities, is the hype justified? Is this really a big decision that employers and HR professionals need to take seriously?
The government has set out its eagerly awaited roadmap to re-opening a locked-down country. Shops and hairdressers together with outdoor hospitality will reopen from 12 April, with all restrictions hopefully removed by 21 June.
Energy Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan this week announced the Government’s plan to set up a Centre for Greening Finance and Investment (CGFI), supported by £10 million of funding from UK Research & Innovation. The intention is for this organisation to have a joint physical presence “research hubs” in London and Leeds.
The Supreme Court has unanimously dismissed Uber’s appeal and upheld the previous decisions that their drivers are workers, and not self-employed contractors. The following is a summary of the decision, and we will be giving a fuller account shortly.