New measures in Leicester to tackle rogue landlords – BBC News

Posted July 13th, 2022 in consultations, housing, landlord & tenant, licensing, local government, news by tracey

‘New licensing measures are being introduced in parts of Leicester to help tackle rogue landlords, the city council said.’

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BBC News, 13th July 2022

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Online Safety Bill: first indications of Ofcom’s regulatory approach – Panopticon

Posted July 7th, 2022 in bills, consultations, consumer protection, internet, news by sally

‘Ofcom has today published its “roadmap to regulation” if and when the Online Safety Bill becomes law, together with a “call for evidence” for the first phase of online safety regulation. Both are premised on the current version of the Online Safety Bill, which is acknowledged to be subject to alteration as the legislation goes through the Parliamentary process.’

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Panopticon, 6th July 2022

Source: panopticonblog.com

The UK Intellectual Property Office’s Consultation on Computer-Generated Works – City Law Forum

‘The UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 contains an odd section concerning ‘computer-generated works’. Section 9(2) of the Act states that when a work has no ‘human author’ and is generated by a computer, the work ought to be protected by copyright for 50 years, with the copyright owned by the person who made the necessary ‘arrangements’ for the work’s generation.’

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City Law Forum, 29th June 2022

Source: blogs.city.ac.uk

Civil Justice Council kicks off ‘holistic’ review of costs – Law Society’s Gazette

Posted July 4th, 2022 in civil justice, consultations, costs, news by tracey

‘The Civil Justice Council has set in motion a possible shake-up of the civil costs regime with the start of a wide-ranging consultation. The judicial-led group will look at the key areas of costs budgeting, guideline hourly rates, the impact of digitisation and portals, and the consequences of the extension of fixed recoverable costs.’

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Law Society's Gazette, 1st July 2022

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

CJC begins process for major reform of costs regime – Legal Futures

Posted July 1st, 2022 in civil justice, consultations, costs, news by tracey

‘A rethought costs system that puts digitisation, vulnerable court users and a properly functioning civil justice system at its heart is the goal of a Civil Justice Council (CJC) working party, which yesterday began consulting on four key areas for possible reform.’

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Legal Futures, 1st July 2022

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Land Value Capture Via CPO – Local Government Lawyer

Posted June 27th, 2022 in bills, compensation, compulsory purchase, consultations, local government, news by tracey

‘Simon Ricketts examines the Government’s proposed reforms in relation to compensation following compulsory purchase.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 24th June 2022

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

UK prepares for modernisation of Consumer Credit Act – OUT-LAW.com

Posted June 23rd, 2022 in consultations, consumer credit, financial regulation, news by sally

‘The UK government has committed to the modernisation of its consumer credit regime, and plans to give the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) more control over the rules that apply to the consumer credit market.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 22nd June 2022

Source: www.pinsentmasons.com

Judge rejects legal challenge to decision-making for distributor road serving 7,500-home scheme – Local Government Lawyer

Posted June 23rd, 2022 in consultations, judicial review, local government, news, planning, roads by sally

‘A judicial review challenging Wiltshire Council’s decision-making in relation to a major new distributor road serving a large-scale development project, the Future Chippenham programme, has been dismissed by a High Court judge.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 21st June 2022

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Criminal legal aid fees will increase ‘by end of September’ – Law Society’s Gazette

‘The government has revealed that it hopes to lay secondary legislation shortly that would see criminal legal aid fees increase by the end of September.’

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Law Society's Gazette, 17th June 2022

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Electronic signatures instead of witnesses for LPAs stay on the table – Legal Futures

‘The government has refused to rule out replacing the witnessing of lasting powers of attorney (LPAs) with electronic signatures despite widespread opposition in a consultation.’

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Legal Futures, 20th May 2022

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Proposed Reforms to the UK Human Rights Act – Oxford Human Rights Hub

Posted May 20th, 2022 in consultations, government departments, human rights, news by sally

‘In December 2021, the UK Government released its consultation document proposing changes to the Human Rights Act 1998. That document followed the report of the Independent Human Rights Act Review, established in 2020 to examine, first, the relationship between domestic UK courts and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), and second, the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 on the relationship between the three branches of state in the UK. Incidentally, the Oxford Human Rights Hub submitted evidence to that latter report. This article considers some of the most important proposed changes.’

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Oxford Human Rights Hub, 18th May 2022

Source: ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk

The Government’s Proposed Bill Of Rights Is A ‘Power Grab’ – Each Other

‘On the same day Prince Charles declared in the Queen’s Speech that the government intends to replace the Human Rights Act (HRA) with a new Bill of Rights, civil liberties activists rallied behind a campaign in what may be a last attempt to protect it.’

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Each Other, 11th May 2022

Source: eachother.org.uk

SRA disciplinary decisions could stay in public domain for longer – Legal Futures

‘Details of disciplinary and other regulatory action taken by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) could be published for longer than the current three years to combat misinformation online, it said yesterday.’

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Legal Futures, 11th May 2022

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Doctors could soon face action over ‘misleading’ social media posts – The Guardian

‘Doctors who share “misleading” information on social media could face regulatory action, according to planned new guidelines.’

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The Guardian, 26th April 2022

Source: www.theguardian.com

Legal challenge sees decision to close hospital over staffing issues quashed – Local Government Lawyer

Posted April 26th, 2022 in consultations, coronavirus, hospitals, judicial review, news, statutory duty by sally

‘An NHS Trust has conceded, following a judicial review challenge, that its decision to close a hospital over staffing issues partly attributed to pandemic pressures was unlawful.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 25th April 2022

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

UK consumer law enforcement powers to be bolstered – OUT-LAW.com

‘Businesses that breach UK consumer protection laws will be subject to fines of up to 10% of their annual global turnover under changes to legislation the UK government has committed to making.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 21st April 2022

Source: www.pinsentmasons.com

Going backwards: statutory sick pay after the pandemic – by Dr Lisa Rodgers – UK Labour Law

‘The coronavirus pandemic has seen unprecedented interference by governments in many aspects of our working lives. In terms of labour law, some of the changes made by the UK government during the pandemic have been deregulatory and served to erode protection for workers (for example, through increasing flexibility in working time for key workers: Working Time (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020. For the most part though, these changes have increased worker protection and provided significant support for UK businesses and employees. The two furlough schemes, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and the accompanying Self-Employment Income Support Scheme have been widely judged as pandemic success stories, with the CJRS supporting 11.6 million people and playing a clear role in limiting job losses. Likewise, changes to the sick pay system during the pandemic have been positive, serving to increase access to the scheme and reduce the administrative burden on both employees and their employers.’

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UK Labour Law, 12th April 2022

Source: uklabourlawblog.com

Service and admin charges – from the Upper Tribunal – Nearly Legal

‘The First Tier Tribunal had been wrong to grant dispensation from section 20 consultation requirements on the basis that the freeholder “had started the consultation process and had kept the leaseholders of flats in the block informed until the works became sufficiently urgent that the respondent had had to carry them out without waiting for the consultation to be completed.”’

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Nearly Legal, 3rd April 2022

Source: nearlylegal.co.uk

‘Conversion therapy’: Ban to go-ahead but not cover trans people – BBC News

‘The government insists it will ban so-called conversion therapy for gay or bisexual people in England and Wales – but not for transgender people.’

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BBC News, 1st April 2022

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Greater Manchester: Bus firm appeals against public control ruling – BBC News

Posted March 28th, 2022 in appeals, consultations, judicial review, local government, news, transport by tracey

‘A bus operator that lost a legal battle to stop Greater Manchester’s bus network returning to public control is appealing against the ruling.’

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BBC News, 27th March 2022

Source: www.bbc.co.uk