July 2010 Archives

Jamaican-born Juliette Giscombe, the mother of comedian and radio DJ Richard Blackwood, has commenced legal action against the Hilton hotel group for constructive dismissal and alleged race and age discrimination.

Ms Giscombe, 57, of Streatham, worked as a telephonist claims manager at Hilton's flagship Park Lane hotel in London. She alleges managers "bullied and patronised" her, treated her like a "skivvy", and repeatedly overlooked her for promotion in favour of younger, less experienced white workers.

The National Archives launched a new website this week -- www.legislation.gov.uk -- which brings together every single piece of UK legislation, from the Magna Carta (1215) to the present day, in one place for the first time free of charge.

The new site contains a massive 6.5 million PDF documents and shows both original versions of UK legislation covering all jurisdictions (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) and details of any amendments so that you can see how laws have evolved. It also showcases special features including an interactive browse facility and timeline.

The government has announced proposals to phase out the Default Retirement Age.

A Default Retirement Age (DRA) of 65 was introduced in the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006. It allows employers to set retirement ages of 65 or higher and force staff to retire at 65 regardless of their circumstances.

Under government proposals revealed yesterday, from 6 April 2011 employers will no longer be able to issue any notifications for compulsory retirement using the DRA procedure.

Left- and right-leaning libertarians alike have joined together this week to lampoon the decision by council officials in Bristol to interrupt a family picnic and order the removal of a windbreak because it qualifies as a "semi-permanent structure."

Article 5 of the bylaws for Clifton Downs in Bristol states that: "No person shall on the Downs, without the consent of the Downs Committee, erect any post, rail, fence, pole, tent, booth, stand, building or other structure."

Apparently Jon Hacker was picnicking on the Downs with his wife, Claire, and daughters Sophie, 11, and Emily, eight, when council officers suddenly appeared in a 4x4, cited Article 5 and ordered them to take their windbreak down.

During a speech in south London yesterday, Home Secretary Theresa May said it was "time to move beyond the ASBO" in favour of criminal sanctions that are "rehabilitating and restorative rather than criminalising and coercive".

She criticised the "ludicrous list" of ASBO sanctions currently in use, which include the ISO [individual support order], the ASBI [anti-social behaviour injunction], the ASBO [anti-social behaviour order], the CRASBO [criminal anti-social behaviour order], crack house closure orders, dog control orders, litter and noise abatement orders, housing injunctions and parenting orders.

May said: "These sanctions are too complex and bureaucratic. There are too many of them, they are too time consuming and expensive, and they too often criminalise young people unnecessarily, acting as a conveyor belt to serious crime and prison.

"Just this morning, the latest ASBO statistics have shown that breach rates have yet again increased - more than half are breached at least once; 40% are breached more than once - and their use has fallen yet again, to the lowest ever level," she added.

June data from the Land Registry House Price Index shows an annual house price increase of 8.4%, which is the eighth month in a row in which the movement has been positive.

The average house price in England and Wales is now £166,072. The monthly change from May to June is an increase of 0.1%.

All regions in England and Wales experienced increases in their average property values over the last 12 months. The highest annual price change is London with an increase of 12.2%. The region with the smallest annual house prices rise is the North East with a movement of 0.7%.

Wales experienced the greatest monthly rise with a movement of 2.9%. The North East region experienced the most significant monthly price fall with a movement of -1.3 per cent.

House price movement by region:

New research from the TUC shows that at least half a million working families a year will lose more than £1,000 as a result of technical changes to tax credit allowances set out in last month's Emergency Budget.

Currently tax credit entitlements are calculated on a household's previous year's income. If a family's earnings fall during the course of a year -- for example due to unemployment, illness, a family break up, retirement, bereavement or a household member losing working hours -- their annual tax credit calculation is adjusted to take account of their new income.

However, changes announced in the June Budget mean that from 2012-13 households receiving tax credits who see their wages fall during the year will have the first £2,500 of income they lose disregarded when their new in-year tax credit entitlement is calculated.

115 former employees at 10 care homes owned by Excelcare in Essex have won nearly £1m in compensation for unfair dismissal.

Excelcare acquired the care homes from Essex County Council in 2005 for less than £50,000 each.

After the transfer, it claimed the running costs for the homes were higher than the council had led them to believe, which meant they had to impose new contracts on workers or the homes would have to close.

The government published nine consultation documents to promote discussion and solicit views on tax reform yesterday.

The documents cover: (1) PAYE reform; (2) furnished holiday lettings; (3) pensions tax relief; (4) associated company rules; (5) Inheritance Tax avoidance; (6) taxation of foreign branches; (7) controlled foreign company interim improvements; (8) modernisation of Investment Trust Company rules; and (9) National Minimum Wage regulations.

Details on each document/review are set out below.

John Vine, Independent Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency, has found "significant weaknesses" in current deportation procedures for asylum families.

In a report published today, "Family Removals: A thematic inspection", Mr Vine focuses on the efficiency and effectiveness of the Agency's approach to removing families who have no right to remain in the United Kingdom. The report also takes into account the Agency's obligation to have regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

His investigation reveals that arrests of families occur primarily at the family home between 6.30am and 7am. "While there were reasons for arresting at this time of day, there was no evidence that an assessment had been made of each family's individual circumstances to decide if this was the most effective or proportionate approach," the report states.

The attitude of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to the taxation of foreign endorsement income earned by non-resident sportsmen and women is "absurd", according to leading London tax lawyer Hartley Foster.

In a letter to the Financial Times, Foster, head of tax disputes at law firm Olswang, commented on Usain Bolt's recent refusal to compete at the Crystal Palace Diamond League athletics event.

In Foster's view, Bolt would have actually had to pay more in tax by competing in London than he would have earned.

A firefighter, sacked after he emailed co-workers asking if any of them had suffered back pain, has won £80,000 for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination.

Christopher Bennett, 46, who suffers from arthritis of the spine, worked for the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service for more than 25 years. He started suffering from back problems after the Service controversially replaced beds at the fire station he worked at with reclining chairs.

The Ministry of Defence will increase the limitation period during which troops can claim compensation for personal injuries suffered during active service, as part of a series of changes to the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme announced this week.

The change is just one of several recommended by the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme Review earlier this year. The majority of the changes that were recommended require legislative amendment to the Scheme and will be implemented by February 2011, but some changes can be made more quickly and will take effect from 3 August 2010.

The UK Border Agency has announced new rules for the UK student visa tier of the points-based system.

Minimum level of English

Back in February the government raised the minimum level of English required before a non-EU citizen can study in the UK to level B1 of the Common European Framework Reference, which is equivalent to a grade A* in a foreign language GCSE. As a consequence of the change, only people who are already proficient in English can come to Britain to study the language.

Two weeks ago, however, the high court upheld an appeal by English UK, a national association of accredited English language centres, against the tougher entry requirement. The court ruled the change was unlawful because Parliament had not been properly consulted before it was introduced.

The government has now gone back to Parliament to debate the change. Controversially however, it has pre-empted the outcome of the debate by also reintroducing the minimum B1 level of English requirement with immediate effect.

English UK estimates the decision puts more than 3,000 jobs and over £600 million a year in foreign earnings in jeopardy.

A Dutch court has fined Trafigura, an Anglo-Dutch oil-trading group, Ä1m (£840,000) for illegally dumping toxic waste in poverty-stricken CÙte d'Ivoire.

A report by an investigator for the United Nations Human Rights Council states that "15 people died[ and] 69 people were hospitalized" after a ship chartered by Trafigura -- the Panamanian-registered vessel Probo Koala -- dumped 500 tonnes of toxic waste belonging to the company at sites around the west African port of Abidjan. Ultimately, 31,000 people were affected by the incident.

1,000 employees at Japanese car giant Toyota have applied for voluntary redundancy, according to the Burton Mail. Two weeks ago the company, which currently employs around 4,000 workers in the UK, announced it was making 850 people redundant -- 100 at its Deeside plant near Chester and 750 at its Burnaston plant near Derby.

Those who participate in the scheme stand to be paid a minimum of one year's salary as a pay-off. And those who have worked for the company for five years or more will be entitled to one week's pay for every year they have been with the firm.

Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky has reportedly agreed to pay his second wife Galina £100m to settle their divorce. Many lawyers believe it to be the biggest divorce settlement in British legal history, smashing the previous record set in 2007 by insurance tycoon John Charman and his wife of 28 years Beverley.

A fifth of private-residential landlords have had tenants in rent arrears over the last three months, according to new research published by the National Landlords Association (NLA).

Between April 1st and June 30th, just over 21% of landlords experienced rental arrears. This represents a small improvement on the first quarter of 2010, when 24.5% of landlords reported tenants in arrears.

Moreover, the average amount of outstanding rent arrears has dropped significantly from £978 in Q1 to £799 in Q2. This could indicate that financial pressures on tenants have started to ease as the fragile economic recovery continues.

A lesbian couple have won £22,000 compensation after they were forced to quit their jobs as saleswomen following jokes about their sexual orientation.

Beth Moules and Sharleen Amos, both 25, claimed they felt "insulted and humiliated" by comments made by male co-workers at water purifier firm Aquatec Rainsoft.

They alleged that one colleague, Peter Thoburn, told staff the women had taken part in a threesome with salesman Stephen Rosenthal, who had been the "meat in the sandwich" between them.

Following the creation of a new Office for Budget Responsibility two months ago, George Osborne launched another supposedly prudential and nonpartisan arbiter of policy yesterday -- the Office for Tax Simplification.

In 1924, shortly before he died of tuberculosis, Franz Kafka wrote to his friend and fellow Jew Max Brod asking him to "burn unread ... everything I leave behind ... in the way of diaries, manuscripts, [and] letters".

Thankfully Brod did not comply. Instead, he published some of the manuscripts -- including The Castle, The Trial and Metamorphosis -- and Kafka became famous around the world.

Unpublished material

In 1939, Brod fled his native Czechoslovakia and moved to Palestine to escape the Nazis. He took two suitcases of unpublished Kafka material with him, which he subsequently deposited in a Swiss bank vault in Zurich.

The Freemasons face potentially hefty liability for lost wages and holiday pay after a bar worker in Edinburgh launched a claim for unfair dismissal this week.

Gillian Borthwick alleges she worked regularly for the Freemasons for five years at Beach Lane Social Club in Portobello, Edinburgh before being dismissed in January.

The Freemasons are arguing she was only hired as a casual worker and never qualified as a contracted employee. George Morton, club manager, said: "She has always been a casual worker, we phone her when we need her and that has always been the arrangement."

In a recent case before the Court of Appeal, James Jones, the owner of a shop called 'Grow Republic', which sold paraphernalia associated with growing and smoking cannabis, appealed against his conviction for incitement to produce the drug.

The shopkeeper was arrested following an undercover sting operation. A plain clothes police officer, posing as a would-be cannabis grower, went to the shop asking for advice. On the pretence that they were discussing how to grow 'tomatoes', that advice was freely given.

Jones was subsequently arrested on the basis that the advice and sale of equipment amounted to incitement.

Effective yesterday, 19 July 2010, the number of highly skilled migrants applying under Tier 1 (General) of the points based system has been capped and the number of points needed by non-EU workers who come to do highly skilled jobs has increased from 95 to 100.

The UK Border Agency has also announced changes to Tier 2. Also effective yesterday, the number of certificates of sponsorship that licensed employers can issue to those who wish to come to fill skilled job vacancies under tier 2 has fallen by 1,300.

1. Immigration cap

a. How big is the cap?

Today, I'm really excited to announce the official launch of a new website - FindLaw UK (http:/findlaw.co.uk/). I've been working on the development of the site since last September. It's been a really exciting project to work on and I hope people throughout the UK (and beyond) find the site a useful resource.

A former Co-op pharmacist has lost her case for unfair constructive dismissal after she was accused of bullying co-workers.

Ibolya Martin, 50, of Lairg in the Scottish Highlands, claims she was forced to resign last year after the company suspended her following a joint complaint from junior pharmacy staff members Heather MacLeay and Lindsey MacNeil.

Ms MacLeay told the employment tribunal that by the time of the complaint "we had just come to the end of our tether". "We felt that things were getting worse and worse for us," she added. "My family said I couldn't go on like this, not sleeping and being a nervous wreck."

Ms Martin denies any misconduct, however. She alleges the Co-op used the bullying allegations as an excuse to remove her from her post, as she had repeatedly raised concerns about the building's disabled access and fire safety procedures.

London, long described as the libel capital of the world, is now becoming a mecca for wannabe divorcÈes too apparently. It would seem the powers that be have taken notice, however, and this week Lord Justice Thorpe in the Court of Appeal criticised a pair of warring Russians whose "bitter and unruly" divorce battle landed before him.

Ilya Golubovich, 24, whose mother owns "the Russian equivalent of Tesco" and father is a (former) Russian oil baron, met his wife Elena, 26, during the mid-noughties. He had just graduated from Stanford University and was seemingly midway through a European Grand Tour of sorts, while she was studying fashion in London. In 2007, the couple married and a year later had a child, who they named Maya.

HM Revenue & Customs has issued an urgent reminder to tax credit claimants that they need to renew before the 31 July deadline or their payments will stop.

Renewing tax credits is simple - you need to check the accuracy of the information in the renewals pack you've been sent, and let HM Revenue know of any changes in your circumstances you haven't already reported during the year, such as your working hours, childcare costs or pay. You must also provide details of your previous year's income.

The Native American descendants of the people who first invented the sport of lacrosse over 1,000 years ago have been denied entry to the UK because they refuse to travel under U.S. or Canadian passports.

According to the Guardian, the Iroquois lacrosse team -- which represents the Six Nations of Oneida, Seneca, Mohawk, Tuscarora, Cayuga and Onondaga -- have travelled using handwritten Iroquois passports for nigh on 30 years.

Despite tough new security requirements for international passports, the team received special dispensation from the U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Lawrence Cannon to travel to the UK using these passports for this month's lacrosse world cup.

In a speech at London South Bank University today, Business Secretary Vincent Cable is expected to an announce a new 'graduate tax' to replace tuition fees at state-funded universities.

As things stand, some universities may charge students up to £3,225 a year in tuition fees. The fees become repayable after graduation, as soon as the borrower starts earning over £15,000.

The graduate tax, as the name implies, would also be payable after a student obtains a degree. However, a graduate would have to start paying it much sooner -- i.e., on any income earned above the personal income tax threshold (currently set at £6,475 per annum) -- and may potentially have to continue paying it over the duration of his or her working life.

Trainer and former champion jockey Pat Eddery has successfully defended a claim of unfair dismissal brought by his brother Paul.

Paul Eddery told an employment tribunal in Reading he worked "24/7" at Pat's Musk Hill stables in Berkshire from October 2008 until November 2009, after Pat's daughter -- his niece -- Natasha reported her father was struggling to cope after the collapse of his 25-year marriage to her mother Carolyn.

Six members of a gang who used high-tech equipment to turn out 24 fake bottles of vodka a minute have been jailed for more than 56 years following a complex international investigation by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

Gang ringleader Harvey Conroy was sentenced to 12 years; Steve Davis, Michael Oliver, and Geoffrey Hall to 10 years; Alan Saunderson to 8 years; and Christopher Hill to 6 1/2 years.

The gang made more than 1.3 million litres of the illegal vodka in a rat infested warehouse in Hackney, East London in an attempt to avoid nearly £16m in duty and VAT. They spent the money on powerful cars, luxury Docklands apartments and lavish holidays in exclusive hotels, including a £4,000 three-day jaunt to Dubai.

Polish workers, brought to the UK solely to work in the warehouses, were housed in filthy on-site accommodation, enabling the gang to run a 24/7 operation.

The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission has begun using tough new powers to halt or reverse the sale and transfer of assets by parents attempting to dodge financial responsibility for their children.

In the first case of its kind, a father in the northwest of England has been prevented from selling a house he was advertising on a popular property website. The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, owes over £78,000 in unpaid maintenance. He has paid nothing to his former partner for almost twelve years while failing to respond to letters or phone calls from the Child Support Agency - now part of the Commission.

The Commission applied for a 'freezing order' after the man put his house on the market, raising fears he would try to put the proceeds beyond the Agency's reach. The particulars of sale for the four-bedroom property boasted of numerous costly improvements, including a luxury fitted kitchen and home cinema. It noted there was "no chain" to hold up a quick sale.

A former National Trust employee has won £30,000 in compensation for unfair dismissal after an employment tribunal in Wiltshire ruled that the trust made him redundant in "bad faith".

IT architect James Laver, 54, joined the trust in 2002 and was laid off last year as part of a departmental "restructuring exercise". Leading up to his dismissal, he voiced concerns about the way the IT department was managed, and even complained about "wasted expenditure" and "inadequate back-up procedures".

This seems to have counted against him during the subsequent reorganisation. The employment tribunal ruled that the trust failed to properly consult him about the redundancy and unfairly neglected to consider offering him a trial for a new role that was created within the department.

Consumers now have a statutory right to access a copy of their credit report online for a nominal fee of only £2 from all three major UK credit reference agencies: Experian, Equifax, and Callcredit. Previously, statutory credit reports for £2 were only available by post, which could take seven days to arrive.

Credit reports allow consumers to monitor their financial commitments by viewing, for example, what credit commitments they have outstanding and any late payments they have made. It is important as the information held on their credit reports may affect their ability to access further credit or get the best deals in the future.

Two gay asylum seekers from Iran and Cameroon have won their fight against deportation after the Supreme Court ruled that they have the right to asylum in the UK.

The Home Office told the pair they could avoid persecution in their home countries, where homosexuality is still illegal, if they were "discreet" about their sexual orientation.

This argument did not find favour with the court, however. Lord Hope said: "To compel a homosexual person to pretend that his sexuality does not exist or suppress the behaviour by which to manifest itself is to deny him the fundamental right to be who he is."

Former Welsh First Minister Rhodri Morgan has come out against granting the Welsh assembly tax-varying powers.

Following a UK government-commissioned review by the Holtham Commission, which earlier this week recommended the Welsh assembly be allowed to vary income tax by as much as 3p in the pound, BBC News reports Mr Morgan as saying there is "no mandate" for the change.

The Tribunals Service reports that employment tribunal claims increased 56% over the past year. It is not unusual for claims to rise during a downturn -- as workers are laid off or made redundant, and face other problems in the workplace due to increased pressure/tension -- but the report suggests that the increase is also down to a rise in the number of so-called "multiple claims".

• "Multiple claims" occur where two or more people bring cases, involving one or more claims (e.g., unfair dismissal, race discrimination, etc) usually against a single employer but not necessary so, for instance in cases involving business transfers and takeovers, and always arising out of the same or very similar circumstances. As a multiple, the cases are processed together.

Increase/decrease in claims by type between 2008-9 and 2009-10

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) has advised the government that the chemical naphyrone, marketed as the legal high NRG-1, should be made a Class B drug. It is also calling on the Home Secretary to implement an immediate import ban on naphyrone.

The review into naphyrone is part of an ongoing review of the legal high market and follows advice already made to government in recent months and the subsequent bans on mephedrone, SPICE, GBL and BZP.

A former vice president at bankrupt financial services firm Lehman Brothers has alleged the company's administrators, PricewaterhouseCoopers, sacked her while on maternity leave because they only wanted 'staff who were there'.

Elizabeth Spencer, 35, is now suing Nomura Holdings - the company that acquired Lehman following its spectacular collapse during the September 2008 banking crisis - for unfair dismissal and sex discrimination. She is claiming £150,000 in damages.

Ms Spencer formerly worked as an officer in the Army Intelligence Corps. She joined Lehman in 2006 as part of their security team and won quick-fire promotion to vice president in December 2007.

Less than a year later the investment monolith was declared bankrupt and Ms Spencer started maternity leave. Soon afterward, however, the company laid off 800 workers. Ms Spencer claims bosses overlooked her for alternative roles and dismissed her purely because she was away caring for her newborn son.

Last week, before an employment tribunal in Stratford, east London, Daphne Romney, QC, representing Ms Spencer, said: 'There isn't a single piece of paper that shows [the company] made any discussion of the claimant and what she could do.'

The Forced Marriage Unit, a joint initiative between the Foreign Office and Home Office, has announced a big jump in the number of cases of men being forced into marriage over the last two years. It received over 220 emails and calls to its helpline in 2009 about suspected forced marriages involving male victims -- up from 134 in 2008, an increase of 65%.

While the majority of victims are women, 14% of the cases handled by the Forced Marriage Unit last year involved men. A number of these cases involved male victims being forced to marry women because their families know or suspect they are gay or bisexual.

In the dying days of the last Labour government, the landmark Equality Act was passed. The Act is scheduled to be implemented in October.

What is the Equality Act?

It is intended to narrow the gap between rich and poor by imposing a legal duty on public bodies, including central government and local authorities, to consider the impact their strategic decisions have on fairness and socio-economic inequality.

The Act will also require businesses to report on gender pay; allow businesses to positively discriminate in recruiting and promoting people from under-represented minority groups (as long as they are as well qualified for the job as the other candidates); and significantly strengthen and harmonise UK anti-discrimination law.

I thought I heard the Conservatives wanted to scrap the Equality Act?

Well, that's an over-simplification. During the election campaign, they said they'd implement the Act except for the socio-economic duty. The Liberals, however, favoured implementing the Act in full.

Following weeks of speculation, it would seem the Liberal viewpoint has won out. Last week, BBC News reported that the coalition would move ahead with implementing the Act in full in October.

Home equity release arrangements, such as "reverse mortgages," can be useful tools for retirement planning. Before entering into such an arrangement, however, you need to understand that there are both advantages as well as disadvantages.

What is a reverse mortgage?

A reverse mortgage, sometimes referred to as a "lifetime mortgage," is simply a loan secured by your primary residence which is repaid after you die.

How do reverse mortgages work?

You will own the property subject to the reverse mortgage during your lifetime, but when you die it will be sold, with the proceeds used to repay the loan. To the extent that the sale proceeds exceed the amount required to repay the loan, the surplus will form part of your estate (and be distributed in accordance with your will or, if you do not have a will, the intestacy rules).

[Continued from What Everyone Needs To Know About Reverse Mortgages - Part 1]

Some points to consider (contd)

You should also bear in mind that a reverse mortgage might make it more difficult for you to relocate, since you will need to pay off the loan when you sell your house. In those circumstances, you may find that the remaining equity is not sufficient to finance the purchase of another property.

Home reversion plans

A home reversion plan is similar to a reverse mortgage in that it enables a retired person to swap home equity for cash or income. The way that a home reversion plan works is, however, very different to a reverse mortgage.

The Family Justice Review Panel, appointed by the Ministry of Justice, the Department for Education, and the Welsh Assembly Government, has launched a 'Call for Evidence so that anyone with an interest in the family justice system can contribute their views on how it can work better in the future.

This is part of a fundamental review of the system announced by the Government in the coalition agreement. The Review will be comprehensive in scope including looking at how to improve use of mediation and provide better access rights to non-resident parents and grandparents.

The 'Call for Evidence' is seeking views on key areas of the family justice system including how to have a more user-friendly and child-focused system; the best methods of resolving family disputes, using alternatives to legal process, and how the system is governed, managed, and funded.

Questions the Panel is seeking views on include:

A 'super complaint' from consumer champion Consumer Focus has won key concessions from ISA providers, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has announced.

The Consumer Focus super-complaint argued that consumers are attracted with good headline rates, which disappear within months. Banks then fail to keep consumers informed about current interest rates and make transferring accounts an ordeal. 

After a 90-day investigation, the OFT has secured agreement from the industry to:

The Supreme Court ruled this week that Article 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) does not extend to members of the UK Armed Forces on off-base operations overseas.

The judgment follows an appeal by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) following the case brought by Catherine Smith, mother of Private Jason Smith, a reservist who died of heat stroke while on duty in Iraq in 2003.

Mrs Smith contended that her son's right to life had been breached by the failure of the Government to take steps to prevent his death and that his inquest did not meet the standard of investigation required by Article 2 (right to life) of the ECHR.

The Independent reports that "not in my backyard" protestors, or "Nimbies", will receive "economic incentives" to drop opposition to controversial development projects, like wind farms, power plants, and transportation improvements (e.g., new roads, passenger railways or highways).

Apparently Chancellor George Osborne told business leaders in London earlier this week that the Nimby incentives, which could include tax breaks, will form just one part of a complete overhaul of UK planning rules, which he hopes will make it easier to get controversial schemes approved.

The main spur for "incentivising" Nimbies appears to be the abolition of the Infrastructure Planning Commission and the return of planning powers to local people. This move has caused developers to worry because it increases the likelihood of Nimbies holding up projects. The Chancellor hopes to ward off this risk by offering Nimbies incentives - which many activists have described as "bribes" - to win support for large infrastructure developments.

Most people might answer "yes" to this question, but they should think again...

Mandy Frith, 49, of Chesterfield, doted on her Staffordshire bull terrier 'Buster' for over 15 years and was so devastated when he died that she took a day off from her job at Royal Mail to grieve.

When she returned to work, however, the company commenced disciplinary action for "unsatisfactory attendance". Despite only averaging two days sickness a year over a period of eleven years working at Royal Mail, they decided to sack her in August 2009.

She then decided to sue the company for unfair dismissal, claiming they failed to treat her case on its merits and failed to take into account her feelings after Buster died. But a Sheffield employment tribunal disagreed and dismissed her claim, finding that Royal Mail fairly sacked her under its disciplinary procedure.