Where an individual is providing services under a consultancy agreement, the first question to be determined is whether the individual concerned is genuinely self-employed. The various considerations that should be brought to bear in determining the individual’s true status in law are covered in Practice Note: Deciding appropriate employment status. Further detail relating to whether or not an individual is in law an employee are found in Practice Note: Employee status. If, on applying those tests, the individual is in fact an employee in law, the relationship

Automatic enrolment does not apply to workers under age 22. But if a worker is aged between 16 and 21 and has qualifying earnings of £6,032 or more (in tax year 2018–19), they can still opt in to their employer’s automatic enrolment scheme and benefit from employer pension contributions. Under limb a of the definition of ‘worker’ in section 230(3) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996), a 'worker' is defined as 'as an individual who has entered into or works (or worked) under a contract of employment’. Under ERA 1996, s 230(2), ‘contract of employment' means a contract of service or apprenticeship. An apprenticeship agreement (provided it meets the requirements under the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009) is to be treated as a contract of service (and not a contract of apprenticeship). See Practice Notes: Employee status and Apprenticeships. Enrolment duties The auto-enrolment regime, established under Part 1 of the Pensions Act 2008, imposes three key enrolment

The Building (Approved Inspectors etc) Regulations 2010 (the 2010 Regulations), SI 2010/2215, Pt 2 empowers the Secretary of State to designate approved inspectors. The Construction Industry Council (CIC) is the body designated by the Secretary of State in England and Welsh Ministers in Wales for these purposes, and approved inspectors must be registered with the CIC. A requirement of registration is that the applicant agrees to abide by the Code of Conduct for Approved Inspectors and any subsequent amendments. The Code of Conduct also includes a requirement to abide by the Building Control Performance Standards and all approved inspectors are required to operate in accordance with both documents. The Building Control Performance Standards set out the requirements for site inspection regime, which include: ‘Building Control Bodies shall deliver

The community infrastructure levy (CIL) is charged by ‘charging authorities’ in respect of development of land in their area. Section 206 of the Planning Act 2008 (PA 2008) specifies that a local planning authority is the charging authority for its area, although there are exceptions. Charging authorities must spend the money raised by CIL on funding the provision, improvement, replacement, operation or maintenance of infrastructure to support the development of their area. Where some or all of a chargeable development takes place in an area for which there is a ‘local

Ownership position By operation of law in the UK, most intellectual property rights in materials created by an employee in the course of their duties belong to the employer. This includes designs, copyrights, and inventions (which may be patentable). For example, see the following statutory provisions: • sections 39–41 of the Patents Act 1977 (PA 1977) • section 2(1B) of the Registered Designs Act 1949 • section 215(3) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988) • CDPA 1988, s 11(2) The duty of fidelity means that an employee should disclose the existence of such material to the employer to allow it to benefit from the relevant intellectual property rights. For further information, see Practice Notes: • The duty of fidelity and fiduciary duties • ETS • Securing intellectual property rights from employees and contractors • Patents—employee rights and compensation For further reading, see Commentaries: • Employee inventions: Roughton, Johnson and Cook on Patents [9.15] • Teachers and researchers: Laddie,

Yes, bank holidays are excluded when calculating the time period in an adjudication under the Scheme for Construction Contracts. The Scheme for Construction Contracts (the Scheme) contains certain default provisions for the right to commence, and conduct of, an adjudication. Pursuant to section 108(5) of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (HGCRA 1996), the provisions of the Scheme are implied into a construction contract if it is silent on, or contradicts, any of the requirements in subsections 108(1) to (4). In addition, some contracts that are not subject

Bereavement damages are entirely a creature of statute, governed by the provisions of the Fatal Accidents Act 1976 (FAA 1976). The entitlement to make a claim derives from FAA 1976, s 1A(1) (an action under this Act may consist of or include a claim for damages for bereavement). The narrow category of individuals who are entitled to claim bereavement damages is defined in FAA 1976, s 1A(2) and is limited to the wife, husband or civil partner of the deceased and, where the deceased was a minor and never married or a civil partner, the parents or the mother if the child was

Directive 95/46/EC (Directive) Article 2 of Directive 95/46/EC (Directive) provides that ‘personal data’ is information relating to an identified or identifiable natural individual, an identifiable individual being one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular, by reference to an identification number or to one or more factors specific to the individual’s physical, physiological, mental, economic, cultural or social identity. Recital 26 of Directive 95/46/EC states that in determining whether an individual is identifiable, account must be taken of all the means reasonably likely to be used by the data controller or any other person to identify the said individual. In case Patrick Breyer v Bundesrepublik Deutschland, the ECJ held that the means reasonably likely to be used by the data controller or ‘any other person’ does not require that all the information enabling identification be in the possession of one person. Articles  2–3 of Directive 95/46/EC provides that Directive 95/46/EC applies to the processing of personal data wholly or partly by automatic means. Data

Members' voluntary liquidation (MVL) is a procedure for winding-up an entity on a solvent basis. If the directors of a company make a declaration of solvency under section 89 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (IA 1986), the company can enter into a MVL. In either case, the resolution must be put to a meeting of the members for consideration. If it is passed, it must be advertised within 14 days in the London Gazette. The penalty for failure to advertise is a fine for the company and every officer in default (IA 1986, s 85). Before a company passes a resolution for voluntary winding up, it must give written notice of the resolution

Pursuant to most leases, a landlord will have the right to re-entry or forfeiture upon a breach of a tenant’s covenant. Even where the lease is silent as to forfeiture, it may be shown that a breach is so serious that it goes to the root of the contract between the parties, and the right to forfeit automatically arises. Save for in certain cases including the nonpayment of rent, a landlord cannot enforce a right to forfeit for a breach of covenant unless and until it has served a section 146 notice pursuant to the Law of Property Act 1925. This must give the tenant a reasonable time in which to remedy the breach, if the breach is indeed capable of remedy. A

IP & IT analysis: Does the Ofcom code allow broadcasters to protect their own investments by turning down adverts from competitors? Tom Moody-Stuart, a barrister at 8 New Square, discusses BT’s current dispute with BSkyB over the promotion of rival sports channels in what could prove a test case.

Part I of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 (LRHUDA 1993) gives qualifying tenants of flats either: • a collective right to buy the freehold of the block (collective enfranchisement) if the flats are contained in premises that satisfy certain conditions • an individual right to a new lease expiring 90 years after the termination of an existing lease There are several conditions that must be satisfied for the right to collective enfranchisement to arise. These relate to the building, the leases and the tenants. Of relevance to this question is the LRHUDA 1993, s 96, which provides as follows: ‘There shall be no right under Chapter I or II to acquire any interest in or lease of any property which for the purposes of the Care of