legal-services-reform.co.uk

Mothers in the workplace – changing times

Most of us know that there have been many employment law changes which have focused on mother’s working rights and these have caused major changes in the work environment in England & Wales. It is sometimes difficult to know how these changes impact in reality, so a new survey from the Office for National Statistics is very welcome. The headline facts to come out of this were :-

• In 1996, there was a 5.8 % difference in the number of women working with and without children. By 2010 this had reduced to just 0.8 percent.
• the percentage of women working part time has remained stable over the last 15 years.

Reasons could include ageing population, older mothers, recession or alternatively new employment rights such as maternity leave.

More controversy about data protection & accident & injury claims

This story is the proverbial “hot potato” at the moment. In developments this week :-

• Allegations that some police forces selling information to recovery companies who in turn sell onto claims companies who in turn sell onto lawyers. Police forces admit charging administration fees to recovery companies but deny deliberate data breach and claim that recovery companies involved due to necessity to clear accident scenes,
• One police force alleged to have collected £1,3 million in year through charging administration fees to recovery companies
• Jack Straw states that personal injury claims now worth £14 billion a year, having increased markedly in the last few years, despite injuries recorded as a result of car accidents decreasing
• Mr Straw also states that the number of claims companies has doubled to 3,400 in 2 years.

Malicious’ tribunal claims costing business

With the no costs presumption for claims made in the Employment Tribunal it is a  regrettable all too common occurrence for employees to take the view that the more categories of claim they lodge at the same time, the greater the chance they will succeed with one or some of them. Not only is this flawed thinking logically and legally, but it also wastes significant Tribunal time, paid for out of taxpayers money, and also unfairly causes significant cost, let alone stress (as no employer likes to be accused of discrimination) on employers.

According to a  survey commissioned by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development , 6 out of 10 employers  have faced a situation where in addition to an unfair dismissal claim, allegations of discrimination have been maliciously also added. The survey also found that over 2/3 of businesses asked stated that they felt the law currently offers  “ no effective protection” against this and this results in a much higher number, some 70% resorting to the use of compromise agreements to resolve claims which they believe are unfounded. Overall, some 55% stated that they believed they had been subjected to clearly malicious claims in the Employment tribunal from employees.

There are always 2 sides to every story, but employment law is such a political area that the Government may take action to at least look at this issue in the not too distant future; particularly as this Government are hell bent on reducing the budget for courts and tribunals anyway.

SFO in turmoil ?

The Serious Fraud Office is currently, and as always, dealing with some important and high profile cases, including the decades long sags of Adil Nasir. However, these cases may face further delay and problems bearing in mind the SFO seems to be in turmoil, with key staff leaving. This in turn appears to be at least partly due to government proposals to break it the SFO.

The planned break up will mean that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) will have responsibility for prosecuting complex fraud cases and a new organisation, the  new National Crime Agency would be responsible for other SFO’s other duties.

Change is not necessarily a bad thing, but change for change sake, based on possible false economy and prompted by a large organisation structure simply seeking to constantly restructure, can have serious implications, not least on public confidence, justice and may not assist in the vitak and ongoing fight against fraud.

For advice on fraud and fraud prevention or corporate investigation, Blackhawk Investigations can advise and assist.

Supermarket (or bookshop) law is just around the corner

The “big bang” for legal services is just 6 months away and market players are well and truly gearing up. In a move to squarely take on the likely entrants into the market such as banks and insurance companies, Quality solicitors have announced another piece added to their markeing jigsaw puzzle.

Quality Solicitors operates as a franchise. Whilst there may be some doubts on it’s claims to only partner up with the best firms of solicitors (as opposed to those willing to share revenue with it), the company has certainly made great strides in marketing terms and offers the only current realistic way for existing firms of solicitors to group together to challenge the power and spending ability of likely market entrants.

In another smart move announced today, Quality Solicitors have teamed up with WH Smith and will offer legal services within Smith’s large network of branches.

On the face of it, the alternative business structures concept for legal services is good for consumers. There are a number of services such as will writing, conveyancing and probate which can be largely commoditised and where technology can be leveraged to produce an excellent value for money product for the consumer. There are however many other legal areas where one size, or more accurately one case, does not fit all, and where it really matters whether the client chooses the right lawyers and where a cheap fixed price remains extremely difficult due to the inherent uncertainty of a case or the way in which the other party to the dispute or commercial transaction operates.

Interesting times are in prospect and there can be no doubt that lawyers are going to need to step up marketing efforts in a big way.

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