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Pioneers Post: Philip Kirkpatrick comments on Anglian Water’s purpose-led business model

Philip Kirkpatrick, Partner in our Charity & Social Enterprise team, has spoken with Pioneers Post about the positive impact that embedding social purpose into a company can have but the need for better accountability mechanisms to ensure the value of doing so in the long term. Anglian Water, a UK water utility company, amended its …
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Bates Wells Announces Partnership with Making the Leap to Support Aspiring Solicitor Apprentices

Bates Wells today announces that the firm has partnered with leading societal change charity, Making The Leap, on the provision of assessment centre preparation and support for aspiring solicitor apprentices. Candidates who have been invited to the firm’s competitive apprenticeship assessment centres have been offered the opportunity to join Making The Leap for two days …
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Ethics washing – top tips to help protect your charity

Ethics washing, greenwashing, bluewashing, ethical laundering, eco washing… the list of terms continues to grow, and with it grows the risk of charities coming under scrutiny if what they do doesn’t align with their stated values. Simple mistakes, inaccuracies or misleading claims can have big consequences, risking lasting reputational damage among key stakeholders, loss of …
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Climate change – it’s everyone’s fight

“Climate change” and “climate crisis” have become synonymous with young people and their futures. But climate change is happening right now. A problem with talking about climate change in terms of young people only, is that it gives energy companies, unscrupulous governments and others who wilfully contribute to climate change, a reason to kick the …
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Are you sleepwalking into significant liabilities in relation to UK based consultants?

Many US organisations appoint self-employed consultants to scope out the merits and practicalities of carrying out operations in the UK. While this often makes good sense, if a decision is subsequently taken to actively carry out those operations, the consultant is often the person who takes that on and so their role evolves. This evolution …
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Phasing out of Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs) and other paper-based residence documents: what you need to know

What is happening? For nearly a decade, migrants in the UK have been issued with a plastic ID card called a Biometric Residence Permit, which they can use to prove their residence rights – this is now all about to change. By the end of the year, the Home Office is seeking to phase-out physical …
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Has your organisation been affected by the FTX fallout?

If you’ve been following the news over the last few months, and in particular the last couple of weeks, you’ll have seen the headlines surrounding Sam Bankman-Fried – the co-founder of the failed cryptocurrency exchange platform, FTX, who oversaw the high profile failure of the business that was initially said to have cost its clients …
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Face-to-face fundraising – Fundraising Regulator publishes market inquiry report

On 26 March 2024, the Fundraising Regulator reported the findings of its market inquiry into subcontracting in face-to-face fundraising. The inquiry, consisting of a series of fact-finding workshops held with representatives from charities and fundraising agencies, was launched following a rapid expansion in face-to-face fundraising post-pandemic, heightened media scrutiny, and an increase in complaints and …
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The future of litigation funding post PACCAR

On 19 March 2024, the Ministry of Justice published draft legislation to reverse the Supreme Court’s controversial July 2023 decision in R (on the application of PACCAR Inc) v Competition Appeal Tribunal [2023] UKSC 28 (PACCAR), where it was held that litigation funding agreements (LFAs) can be damages-based agreements (DBAs) in circumstances where the funder …
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Bates Wells and the EHRC supports Uber Eats driver who faced problematic AI checks

An Uber Eats driver received financial settlement following allegations that an AI facial recognition system, required to access the Uber Eats platform, was racially discriminatory. Pa Edrissa Manjang continuously experienced difficulties with Uber Eats’ verification system. In 2021, he was removed from the platform and told by Uber Eats that they had found ‘continued mismatches’ …
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Holiday pay for irregular workers (and some positive developments for employers)

The question of how to pay holiday pay to workers working irregular hours has for many years been a vexed one. Rolling up holiday pay has technically been unlawful (although as a matter of pragmatism it has remained a wide-spread practice). In 2022 the Supreme Court in Harpur Trust v Brazel cast doubt on the …
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EIIP and Bates Wells launch EDT Principles to address legal power imbalance

Bates Wells are delighted to announce the launch of the Equalising Deal Terms – Investor Key Principles (EDT Principles) today, an initiative co-led by Equality Impact Investing Project (EIIP) and Bates Wells (and supported by the Connect Fund) to address power imbalances and inequality in impact investing relationships. The EDT Principles are designed to support …
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