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Bates Wells to give oral evidence to the House of Lords committee on the Charities Bill

As charities recover from the worst of the pandemic, a set of reforms that will result in estimated costs savings of £28 million over 10 years is a welcome development. A decade after the Law Commission’s Eleventh Programme of Law Reform was published, the Charities Bill is currently being examined by a House of Lords …
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Covid jab: what do you need to know from an HR perspective?

Since the announcement of the government’s Covid-19 vaccination programme, several UK employers have stated that they will be setting up systems to track which of their staff have received the vaccine. Others have gone a step further and announced that they will be amending their contracts of employment to include a requirement that their staff …
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What impact will Companies House reforms have on charities and CIOs?

As BEIS proposes changes to the powers of Companies House, and company filing requirements, Bates Wells asks: are the needs of small and medium sized charitable companies being taken into account? The government has proposed a wide range of reforms to Companies House procedures – and opened three consultations on aspects of the reforms in …
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Top five legal tips for rebranding

Rebranding is a big step for any organisation. We can help you to plot your course and avoid legal pitfalls. The benefits of a rebrand extend far beyond a smart new logo or colour scheme.Your rebrand could tie in with your company ethos, the tones of your communications and many other things. Our branding and …
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Should an employer just dismiss an under-performing employee who has less than two years’ service?

Lucy McLynn and Kyle Hefford recap ten practical issues when planning to terminate an employee before they reach two years’ service One employment-related by-product of the pandemic which has not received much attention yet is that a lot of performance management and monitoring has not taken place since the start of 2020 as it would …
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Statutory demands and winding-up petitions are back – but with restrictions…

We summarise the changes and what they could mean for your business. The prohibition on the use of a statutory demand as a basis for serving a winding-up petition on a company was lifted on 1 October 2021. However, until 31 March 2022, winding-up petitions cannot be presented when the debt is less than £10,000 …
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Samaritans’ branch restructure

We took on a large project with Samaritans. It had around 200 branches which were all unincorporated separate charities. The trustees wanted to restructure this to allow the branches to either merge into the main charity, or to incorporate as separate but affiliated CIOs. This was to help the local trustees with the risks of …
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Governance review for The Jewish Museum

The Jewish Museum has an income of around £2m a year and the trustees wanted a health check to make sure their governance arrangements were up to date, compliant and good practice. We helped them with: Modernised articles of association  incorporating good practice recommendations from the Charity Governance Code and the Accreditation Scheme for Museums. …
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Does monitoring remote workers online bring out the best in them?

Electronic monitoring can carry legal risk. Last week, a BBC article on electronic monitoring of home workers by companies spotlighted some extreme cases of monitoring employees who are working from home (WFH). Some of the practices reported might be rare, but monitoring emails, screen time and keystrokes are not. One can understand the concern businesses …
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Contractual obligations and Covid-19

Despite England’s so-called ‘freedom day’ and a rosier picture in the country in general, Covid-19 continues to affect businesses in all sectors. Click below to read our latest guidance on how Covid-19 affects contractual obligations, and what you can do to protect yourself.
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Updated on Travel Restrictions in England

What’s the latest UK Covid-19 travel restrictions? Read our latest update for information. On 7 May 2021, the government gave an update on easing travel restrictions and announced that a traffic light system will be introduced from 17 May 2021 to regulate international travel to and from England. Countries will be put on the Green, …
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Queen Street Group Annual Report for 2019/20

The Queen Street Group has recently published its annual report for 2019/20 on multi-academy trusts, sponsored by Bates Wells. The Queen Street Group of multi-academy trusts (MATs) exists so that the leaders of MATs can enhance their joint effectiveness through sharing information, exchanging insight, identifying the operational goals they share with regulators and undertaking data analysis. Bates Wells has …
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