Updates

Harpur Trust v Brazel: what you need to know and what you need to do

The Supreme Court has delivered its judgment in the long-running case of Harpur Trust v Brazel. Paul Seath, Damian Ward and Olivia Woodward consider the impact for employers. Background Mrs Brazel is a visiting music teacher at a school run by the Harpur Trust. She is employed on a permanent contract which is ongoing throughout …
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Government closes capital flexibilities “loophole”

The government has issued a new direction regarding the flexible use of capital receipts for transformation costs. The direction, and updated guidance, clarifies that assets sold to entities which are part of a local authority’s group do not qualify as disposals resulting in capital receipts which are eligible to fund the revenue costs of projects that …
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B Corps: What should you be asking your banks?

We surveyed our B Corp network to understand their borrowing habits, and how important their bank’s ESG credentials are to them. While many B Corps don’t borrow from an impact-focused lender, they see their lenders as an important part of their supply chain. Here’s what we learned. Following the research, we asked Dave Waters, Executive …
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How to improve your job ads (and what not to do)

Getting job ads right is important; the job ad is likely the first impression a prospective candidate will get about your organisation. A recently published study by Chatter Communications has looked at over 200 jobs ads from FTSE 100 companies and found that only 5% of these ads were completely gender neutral in their wording. …
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Setting up a charity

We have helped countless organisations to establish themselves as charities. There’s no ‘one size fits all’ approach to setting up a charity. However, there are common steps and issues to consider that we see every time. From choosing the right legal form and charitable purposes to settling on the right name and getting the charity …
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The Data Protection and Digital Information Bill and the government’s legislative programme – lowering privacy standards

The government’s vision of developing a “world-leading data policy” and “unleashing the power of data” may be undermined by its own legislative agenda.  Together, the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, the ‘Brexit Freedoms Bill’ and the Bill of Rights are likely to lower data protection standards in the UK by undermining the central underpinning …
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What ESG lessons can businesses learn from impact investing firms?

Nirav Patel, our new Corporate Partner, shares some thoughts on how businesses can learn Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) best practice from impact investing firms. Nirav Patel is a corporate partner at Bates Wells and has experience advising on Corporate M&A (including with deals featuring international / cross-border elements), Corporate Real Estate M&A, corporate structuring …
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UK Covid-19 Inquiry: New documents uploaded to the website

The Inquiry’s website was updated late last week with several new documents. Among these were the Chair’s opening statement, the scope for the first element of the Inquiry’s investigations, and the core participant protocol. The opening statement sets out the Chair’s intention to address the breadth of the Terms of Reference by grouping different aspects …
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Volunteers – Top tips for creating a volunteer agreement  

Volunteers are a crucial resource for charities, and voluntary organisations often heavily rely on their volunteers to provide the assistance and services that they seek to deliver. Accordingly, organisations can find themselves in difficulties if those volunteers do not deliver what is expected of them and this has a knock-on effect on the charity’s services …
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Blog: Data Protection and Digital Information Bill introduced in Parliament

Our head of Data Privacy, Eleonor Duhs, considers the implication of a new Bill being introduced at this time, flouting the usual conventions. A Data Protection and Digital Information Bill is being introduced in Parliament today, 18 July 2022. This is surprising in terms of timing. Parliament rises on Thursday for summer recess. The Institute for Government …
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Employing shared staff

If you are thinking of collaborating by sharing employees with another organisation you need to understand the two options – secondments and joint employment contracts. Here we look at the differences between them.
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5 Top Tips on competition and collaboration

You want to collaborate with another organisation and create positive impact but are worried about falling foul of competition law? You shouldn’t be. In this mini guide we set out five competition law tips to follow when embarking on a collaboration. From understanding what competition law prohibits, through to what is likely to get a …
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