Publications

An overview of some of the legislative and case law changes to look out for in 2023.

There are approximately 700 PFI Contracts in operation across the UK. Typically, PFI Contracts provide for a Contract period of 25 to 30 years from contract signing. Whilst at the time of negotiating these contracts that appeared to be a very long time away, more than 150 of these contracts will reach their expiry date within the next 8 years.

In the case of Health & Safety Executive v Jowett the Employment Appeal Tribunal ruled that documents relating to the Claimant’s previous employment with the Respondent could be admissible evidence in assessing the time period of future losses.

The law recognises that employers need to be able to initiate settlement discussions with their employees without fear of those discussions being used as evidence against them.

Planning due diligence is essential when purchasing land with the benefit of planning permission.  Purchasers and lenders alike need to need to ensure that where property is sold with the benefit of planning permission, it has been or is capable of being implemented and is suitable for the proposed use.

As the war in Ukraine continues to escalate and the OPEC+ group of nations remain steadfast in their decision to limit oil production the cost of energy and utilities is becoming an increasingly pressing issue for businesses and retailers across the country.

Day one right to allow millions of employees the right to request flexible working in relation to when, where and how they work.

As more and more PFI funded and public private partnership projects approach expiry many public authorities and private sector partners will undoubtedly review their existing contractual arrangements and in some cases this may lead to a variation of the existing contracts.

This article considers the things Registered Provider (RP) treasury teams should be thinking about in relation to the recently announced rent cap.

Within the built environment, 2022 will be looked back upon as the year when building safety truly came to the fore: five years after London’s Grenfell tragedy, the Government ushered in its landmark Building Safety Act 2022 and new fire safety regulations come into force next month.

The Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) have published guidance to PFI procuring authorities on the steps they should be taking to plan for PFI expiry. As the guidance relates to expiry of the existing arrangements it naturally focuses on things like procuring final surveys to ascertain the condition of the PFI assets, employee / staff transfer issues and handback protocols.

In the recent case of Hilaire v Luton Borough Council the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) found that removing a disabled local authority employee from the redundancy interview process and placing him in a new role without needing to go through the interview process would have removed the substantial disadvantage caused by his disability.