Common Causes of Workplace Accidents

The common causes of workplace accidents revealed by the HSE’s data are slips, trips and falls, and manual handling injuries; all accidents that are potentially avoidable. According to the Health & Safety Executive’s (HSE’s) most recent figures, more than 3 million working days were lost to workplace accident and injury in 2012/13, and cost the […]

Bear Scotland v Fulton: A Landmark Judgment

Until now employers have argued that compulsory, but not guaranteed overtime i.e. where the employer did not have to offer the overtime but, if offered,  the worker had to work it, was not to be taken into account when calculating holiday pay. A landmark judgment in the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT), Bear Scotland v Fulton (joined […]

Do Tattoos Cause Hepatitis?

Do tattoos cause hepatitis? The risks of tourists acquiring hepatitis as a result of getting tattoos, piercings or pedicures while abroad has recently been emphasised by an Australian health organisation Helen Tyrrell, the CEO of Hepatitis Australia, warned in an interview with The Courier Mail that “any activity in which the skin is pierced can […]

NHS Staff Ratio Guidelines Fail to Set a Dangerlevel

New guidelines on NHS staffing levels have been criticised for failing to indicate a minimum nurse-to-patient ratio for high-quality care. The guidance, issued in July by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), is designed to flag-up dangerously low staff numbers in relation to patient need.

Treatment and Compensation for PTSD

More and more ex-service veterans are putting forward PTSD claims. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder can disrupt lives significantly, but Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing can be highly-effective treatments. Sometimes a range of treatments can be used including medication to achieve the right results. The charity PTSD Resolution are offering what has proved to be […]

PreNups to Become Fully Binding?

Couples are have been told by the Law Commission that pre-nuptial agreements (prenups) should be legally binding in UK divorce settlements – as long as the needs of any children and the couple themselves have been considered. The Commission says that new guidelines should be drawn up to offer couples a more coherent idea on how […]

Government to end right of appeal against refusal of family visit visas

As part of the coalition’s plans to cut family migration to the UK genuine family visitors will no longer be able to appeal the decision to refuse them entry to the UK to visit their family members in the UK. Last year the government drafted legislation to restrict certain family members from being classed as […]

Victorian Divorce Records Revealed

Historic divorce records revealed Information on how Victorian families lived, including details of their marriages, affairs and divorces have recently become available to the public. The UK Civil Divorce Records for 1858 to 1911 are now available online, thanks to family history website, Ancestry.co.uk. Divorce records unveiled The records have revealed details of around 70,000 […]

Immigration Law Update: Legacy Asylum and Migration Cases

The Border Agency has generally failed to deal with its legacy of unresolved asylum cases, according to a recent report by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration. This failure was, it says, largely due to inefficiency, poor customer service and a lack of security and data checks. Legacy cases The report, An inspection […]

Two Million Drive Unintentionally Uninsured

Almost two million people in the UK have driven a car belonging to someone else in the mistaken belief that they were insured to do so, according to recent research. If caught, both the driver and car owner could be fined and have points added to their licence Mistaken belief The research, carried out on […]

Will Writing Should be Regulated

All those offering will writing and estate administration services should be regulated, the Legal Services Board has recommended. The LSB was set up to regulate lawyers in England and Wales. Its goal is to modernise the provision of legal services by putting consumers at the heart of the legal system, and it has released a […]

Premier League TV Rights Case Raises Serious Intellectual Property Issues

The decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) released today is the outcome expected, but may have far reaching consequences comments Michael Forrester of Ralli’s iSolicitors team. These cases concerned the screening of live premier league football matches in pubs through foreign decoder cards, issued by a Greek broadcaster to subscribers […]

Leaving Money To Pets

So you read the news that Alexander McQueen left £50,000 to his pet dog and thought ‘only in the celebrity world’ – however leaving a cash inheritance to your pet is actually quite common. A survey conducted by More Than Pet Insurance found that British pet owners plan to bequeath a staggering  £26 billion to their pets […]

ACS:Law/Media C.A.T-Judge Birss allows wasted costs application to proceed

Judgment was today handed down in the Patents County Court in the wasted and third party costs actions brought by a number of defendants against ACS: Law and the sole principle of that firm, Andrew Crossley. National law firm Ralli represented a number of Defendants in these actions. Ralli represented a number of defendants in […]

Termination Payments & Income Tax (Amendment) Regulations 2011

Well its all change in Employment Law today, one of those changes is the Income Tax (Pay As You Earn) (Amendment) Regulations 2011 coming into force which will affect the PAYE treatment of termination payments made to ex-employees after a P45 has been issued. Previously, if a taxable termination payment was made after the P45 […]

Illegal File Sharer Consumers To Launch Harassment Case

Ralli are advising hundreds of consumers in relation to a group action for harassment following letters from ACS:Law accusing those individuals of illegal filesharing and copyright infringement. Ralli have been contacted by hundreds of consumers who wish to discuss whether letters sent to them alleging copyright infringement over “peer to peer” networks amount to harassment. […]