A number of companies have announced plans to cut back on staff benefits to cope with the cost of the new national living wage.
But is this legal? Could there be alternative ways to manage the hike in staff salaries?
At one time only musicians looked to get a 'gig'. The rest of us found 'proper jobs' that paid a fixed monthly salary with holidays and let us plan for the future with some legal rights.
Today more of us have left this traditional job model to try to make a living working for ourselves on one-off 'gigs' –as temporary workers, independent contractors or people selling their skills through websites. The 'gig economy' has firmly entered employment vocabulary, becoming a catch-all term for anything from Uber taxi drivers and Airbnb hosts to freelance professionals.
Read more: What does the highly flexible 'gig economy' way of working mean for HR?
In March 2015, the Government launched the next step in their strategy to make the Court Service largely self-funding by increasing Court Fees for civil claims to recover money.
The personal information of employees at 280 UK businesses may have been compromised following a data security incident at Sage.
Anyone even remotely familiar with the legal system will be aware of the necessity to prove a case beyond what is known as ‘reasonable doubt’ in order to substantiate a charge being brought.
Such a standard requires prosecutors to advance evidence capable of overcoming any objection if they believe that an offence has indeed been committed.
Read more: Rugby, a Run-In with the Law and 'Reasonable Doubt'
