Karen Collins

National press covers Chetal Patel’s comments on ‘Right to Rent’ checks

Chetal Patel from our Immigration team has commented on the new Home Office push on “right to rent” checks. Comments from Chetal have been picked up by a variety of publications, including Property Wire highlighting Chetal’s comment that “the new push the Home Office is putting behind these checks could give rise to even greater …
Read more

Right to Rent – what has changed?

New legislation, in force since 2 November 2020, has introduced new measures to modernise the ‘Right to Rent’ checks required by landlords and letting agents, intended to simplify the process of carrying out those checks and for individuals to demonstrate their right to rent in the UK. In our article of 17 June 2020, we …
Read more

One way to make the UK’s pretensions for global climate leadership a reality

David Hunter explains why he feels the publication of the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill could mark a turning point in the fight against the climate emergency. It is a bitter irony that humanity has for some precious time known how to address the causes of climate change, but has lacked the collective will to …
Read more

What does Net Zero mean for Bates Wells?

Angela Monaghan, our Senior Operations and General Manager, explains the practical steps we’re taking to mitigate our carbon footprint. I was lucky enough to join Bates Wells’ operations team just after they had made a commitment to go carbon neutral from 2019 onwards. It can be hard to understand what going net zero means so …
Read more

Law Society Gazette: Mindy Jhittay on how the ‘New normal’ shines light on need for change

Mindy Jhittay, senior associate in our dispute resolution team, has recently written an article for the Law Society Gazette. In the article, Mindy explores our ‘new normal’ and how we might make a sustainable shift from the ‘old normal’ towards a better normal. She highlights how the coronavirus has shined a light on the need for a …
Read more

Bates Wells part of group calling on Government to prioritise green recovery as PM prepares to lead the UK into a new normal

Bates Wells is one of 60 other businesses, environmental organisations and youth leaders urging the government to put nature and climate at the heart of decisions for the recovery effort, for healthy communities and a resilient economy, in an open letter addressed to the Prime Minister. Along with the other signatories, we are calling on …
Read more

Case update from Bates Wells’ Real Estate team

Megan Vick reports on the latest case law developments.
Read more

On 22 October 2020, the Home Office published a lengthy Statement of Changes setting out the ‘Future Points-Based Immigration System’. We examine the key changes to the Skilled Worker route.

Intended as a roadmap for post-Brexit immigration, some changes are coming into effect early, at 09:00 on 01 December 2020. The Skilled Worker route fully replaces the current Tier 2 (General) migrant category. The government’s ambition to streamline the visa categories remains in question, but a key takeaway is the potential for employers to leverage …
Read more

Constitutional and Human Rights reforms remain on the agenda

The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee has recently launched a survey to gauge people’s views on what topics and issues the new Constitution, Democracy and Rights Commission should focus on. This is a chance for the public to highlight the elements of the UK political system that were most in need of reform. The …
Read more

Covid-19 immigration concessions for family and private life applications

The Home Office recently updated its Covid-19 related concessions for those applying to enter or remain in the UK on the basis of family or private life. The key concessions are now: Switching into a family or private life route from within the UK Up to 31 August 2020 those in the UK as a …
Read more

FAQs on the UK Government’s coronavirus quarantine rules

Since 8 June 2020, many people arriving in the UK need to provide their contact details and self-isolate for the first 14 days of their entry to the UK.   There are separate regulations in place in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. More information about the different rules for each nation is available here. Who …
Read more

Landmark decision of the Supreme Court that charities can justify a restriction to their beneficiary class under the Equality Act

Update On 16 October 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that in certain circumstances, charities are able to restrict their beneficiary class under the Equality Act 2010 (“the Act”) even if it would otherwise be discriminatory.  The case will be of interest to faith-based organisations and other charities that provide services to limited groups of beneficiaries …
Read more