News

Bates Wells is the first law firm to adopt the Halo Code

The Halo Code explicitly protects employees who come to work with natural hair and protective hairstyles associated with their racial, ethnic, and cultural identities. Hair discrimination continues to be a source of racial injustice with serious consequences for Black people in the UK. By adopting the Halo Code, we are proactively taking a stand to …
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Employers must ‘tread extremely carefully’ when hiring EU nationals before 30th June 2021

As it stands, citizens of the EU, EEA and Switzerland who are working in the UK are eligible to apply for the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS). This allows workers and their families to continue living in the UK after 30th June 2021 – when the scheme ends.
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Our climate commitments: annual report 2020

In 2019, we made a commitment to take practical action to fight the climate emergency and biodiversity crisis. Here’s how we’ve done so far. Since September 2019, we’ve been working hard to deliver on our climate commitments. We promised to achieve net carbon zero in 2019 and work to reduce our scope 3 emissions. We …
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Supreme court rules small businesses can claim Covid losses on insurance

The one where the big insurance companies lose (again)… Has your business lost income during the COVID-19 pandemic? Perhaps the government’s restrictions meant you had to close your premises to customers? If so, you probably dug out your business insurance policies. You may even have tried to claim. And your insurer probably told you you …
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Bates Wells in The Future of UK Journalism

Lawrence Simanowitz, partner, Bates Wells has been referenced numerous times by The House of Lords in a recent report. The House of Lords has published the report from its inquiry into The Future of UK Journalism. The report referred several times to the submission by Bates Wells partner Lawrence Simanowitz, who made the case for …
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Right to Rent scheme – what new changes do landlords need to be aware of?

Under the revised Draft Code of Practice on right to rent, the Right to Rent scheme now also applies to EEA and Swiss citizens, as of 1 July 2021. We summarise the key changes to the scheme and explain how to carry out a check below. EEA and Swiss citizens will now be required to …
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VAT implications from the Colchester Institute Corporation case

Were the sums received from the government funding agencies grants, or payments for services? Charities, and those providing education in particular, may find the outcome of this dispute helpful to keep in mind when reviewing their own activities. Colchester Institute Corporation (“CIC) v. HMRC As background, the taxpayer was a Further Education college, which provided …
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Our B Corp reaccreditation results are in…

We are delighted to share our B Corp reaccreditation results for 2020. Click the link below to view.
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Bates Wells advised SafetyNet Technologies Limited on its recent seed investment round

Bates Wells’ corporate team advised SafetyNet Technologies Limited (“SNT”) on its seed investment round securing its first debt and equity investment from sustainable impact investors Mirova (an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers), Conservation International Ventures and Mustard Seed VC. The funding will enable SNT to take the next important steps in commercialising its pioneering light …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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