There have been a number of recent cases looking at the precise employment status of those working for employers who like their operatives to appear to clients as their representatives but who operate a model of self-employment. One such 'gig…
The squeeze on incomes which has been facing households for a number of years has led to severe problems in industries that depend on 'discretionary spending', such as the restaurant trade. A recent report by a large firm of chartered…
Customer databases are the lifeblood of many businesses, taking a great deal of time and money to compile. They can, however, be pirated in a matter of seconds and, as one High Court case showed, that can give rise to…
Copyright violation is rife on the Internet, with 'knock-off' copies of branded goods being regularly offered on trading sites and whole websites set up to offer imitations of name brands. The response of several luxury brands that are particularly affected…
The consequences of public authorities failing to observe fairness and transparency rules when conducting contract tendering exercises can be severe indeed. In one High Court case, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) suffered acute embarrassment after applying arbitrary criteria in awarding…
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have a variety of methods, both sophisticated and less so, for uncovering tax evasion and find sectors with substantial cash income, such as takeaway restaurants, a source of easy pickings. As well as having industry…
There are all sorts of things one can do with trading losses under Corporation Tax (CT), but the fall-back position is that losses can be carried forward and set against the next available profits 'of the same trade'. That sounds…
The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR) sit alongside the Data Protection Act and give people specific privacy rights in relation to electronic communications. There are specific rules covering: marketing calls, emails, texts and faxes; cookies (and similar technologies);…
When a landlord appointed agents to manage properties in London, it did so under an agreement for 12 months, which was specified to continue on a yearly basis until terminated by either party giving the required notice. The landlord failed,…
It is no real surprise that insurers are often not wildly enthusiastic about paying claims and will deny liability when they are able to do so. One condition which is normally present in a policy application is that the insured…