HLAS

The UK government has supported the recently introduced “Predictable Terms and Conditions” Bill, which will bring forward changes for tens of millions of workers across the UK. The move, which would apply to all workers and employees including agency workers, comes after a review found many workers on zero hours contracts experience ‘one-sided flexibility’. This means people across the country are currently left waiting, unable to get on with their lives in case of being called up at the last minute for a shift. With a more predictable working pattern, workers will have a guarantee of when they are required [...]

From Monday last week, households across Great Britain who don’t use mains gas for heating started to receive £200 towards their energy bills as the Alternative Fuel Payment (AFP) scheme launched. Most will get the £200 AFP automatically as a credit on their electricity bill, but some customers will need to apply for the support later this month. Nearly 2 million households who use alternative energy sources such as heating oil, biomass, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to warm their homes will receive the support. The vast majority, including many homes in rural areas, will get it automatically through their electricity supplier [...]

With ever increasing supplier prices, a recent rise in interest rates, and a looming recession, managing your business’s cash and understanding the flow are now vital tools in maintaining resilience and being able to adopt flexible strategies for success. Cash flows reflect all the cash that is flowing in and out of a business. Owners can look at the direction of the cash flows for insights about the health of specific products or services and overall market patterns. Some types of business are more likely to run into cash flow problems, while other types appear to be more resilient. If [...]

The Business Charity Awards provide the perfect platform to reflect on your efforts, share best practice and reward your achievements within the community. The Awards recognise the outstanding contribution made by UK businesses to good causes. The awards not only recognise the role that individuals, teams and entire companies play in supporting charitable activity both at home and abroad, but also help to educate the wider business community about the best ways to support good causes. Charities may enter on behalf of their corporate partners and joint entries from companies and their corporate foundations will also be accepted for their [...]

Developers have received legally binding contracts that will commit them to pay to repair unsafe buildings. The government has set a six-week deadline for developers to sign the legal agreements and is warning that companies who fail to sign and comply with the terms of the contract will face significant consequences. Legislation will be brought forward in the spring, giving the Secretary of State powers to prevent developers from operating freely in the housing market if they fail to sign and comply with the remediation contract. The contract, which has been drawn up by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing [...]

The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has set out detailed plans for the nation’s farming sector, “supporting farmers to be profitable and resilient as they produce food sustainably while protecting nature and enhancing the environment”. The accelerated roll out of the Sustainable Farming Incentive - a key part of the Government’s Environmental Land Management schemes - will provide farmers with a diverse range of paid actions to manage hedgerows for wildlife, plant nectar-rich wildflowers and manage crop pests without the use of insecticides. These incentives are designed to make food production more resilient and efficient over [...]

The UK Minister for Pensions Laura Trott has announced a shake-up of private pensions to create fairer, more predictable, and better-run pensions. Measures include consultation on new Value for Money framework, defined contribution scheme charge cap reforms, further work on small pots, and extension of Collective Defined Contribution (CDC) pension schemes. These plans will help address the pension inequality gap which has risen since the decline of Defined Benefit (DB) and the emergence of Defined Contributions (DC). This consultation seeks views on policy proposals to require trustees and managers of DC relevant occupational pension schemes and the providers and Independent [...]

Plans to protect consumers and grow the economy by regulating cryptoasset activities have been announced by the UK government. Cryptoassets – commonly known as ‘crypto’ – are a relatively new, diverse, and constantly evolving class of assets that have a range of potential benefits, as well as posing risks to the consumer. As is common in emerging technology markets, the crypto sector continues to experience high levels of volatility and a number of recent failures have exposed the structural vulnerability of some business models in the sector. Under plans set out by the government last week, it will seek to [...]

The UK fishing industry is to benefit from an initial £2 million investment to trial new, greener engines and help create a safer, more sustainable fishing fleet as the latest round of the £100m UK Seafood Fund opens. Older vessel engines are some of the industry’s biggest polluters and, according to a report by MARFISH, over half of the boats across the UK fishing fleet are now more than 30 years old, meaning that the annual energy use of the fleet is equivalent to that of 110,000 homes. From today, vessels in the small-scale coastal fleet can bid for up to £40,000 [...]

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is holding a series of workshops to listen to your feedback on the International Data Transfers Assessment, the Addendum and the Transfer Risk Assessment tool. The ICO would like to hear about your practical experience in using these tools, perhaps as a data protection professional or small organisation. This will be an opportunity for them to understand how the tools are working in practice and to listen to your feedback. These online workshops will take place on 14, 16 and 21 March 2023. See: Snap Surveys (welcomesyourfeedback.net)