January 2011 Archives

Today is dealine day for anyone who still has not submitted their self-assessment tax return online.

The HMRC expect to issue a £100 penalty to around 900,000 people who will miss the deadline. The UK has a total of 9 million people in the self-assessment system.

With the deadline looming, taxpayers who have waited until the last minute to deal with their returns may now be too late to get the appropriate login information together to file on time.

Last week was Data Protection Day (28 January), and it has hopefully raised your awareness about what the UK law is concerning email privacy online.

The annual event is run by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), a government-funded body serving UK online users.

The ICO enforces and oversees the Data Protection Act, Freedom of Information Act, the Environmental Information Regulations and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations.

Firms intend to recruit fewer new employees and work their current staff harder in 2011, says a Bank of England report.

The research, conducted by the Bank of England's UK agencies, asked 370 companies about their plans for the year ahead.

Here are some of the findings as quoted on the Daily Telegraph website:

A new government-funded scheme, in which low-level offenders will swap tough manual labour for a prison presentence, is being piloted in Scotland.

The move will see offenders taken from the dock, assessed and ordered to work with a community payback team.

Criminals will work under the supervision of community service and social work staff. The team will be responsible for allocating each offender to a community reparation project.

A court ruling this week which denied volunteer workers equal anti-discrimination employment protection enjoyed by staff has come under fire.

In a landmark judgement the court of appeal ruled against a woman, named only as "X" who claimed she had been discriminated against because of disability.

Instead Lord Justice Elias ruled in favour of Mid-Sussex Citizens Advice, who had told the woman to cease volunteering for them.

One of the biggest UK high street lenders has unveiled plans to let customers use their savings as deposit for securing a mortgage.

The Equity Support Scheme is being launched by Lloyds Banking Group in February 2011.

The mortgage deal is aimed at homeowners who are caught in a negative equity trap but want to move property.

The law concerning unfair dismissal claims may change under new proposals from the Coalition government.

Business secretary Vince Cable outlined reforms this week that, if they go ahead, will increase the qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims from one to two years.

It is hoped the move will lessen the deterrent for small businesses to take on workers.

The ex-girlfriend of a marine killed on duty while serving in Afghanistan is contesting his £300,000 will, claiming she is entitled to a larger share.

Sgt John Manuel died in 2008 when a 13-year-old suicide bomber detonated explosives.

Sunderland county court heard that Sgt Manuel made his will in 2002 and left his entire estate to his mother, Pauline. But his legacy is being challenged by his former lover.

A Bournemouth woman has finally tied the knot after 10 unsuccessful wedding attempts in the past three years.

Nicky Pretty finally married Trevor in Edinburgh in December 2010.

The couple have suffered a number of setbacks that included:

Football commentator Andy Gray faces an uncertain future after being sacked by Sky Sports this week.

Gray has been at the centre of a sexism row after he criticised a female referee. Gray was disciplined earlier this week alongside work partner Richard Keys.

His employers said they sacked him after "new evidence of unacceptable and offensive behaviour" emerged.

Businesses in the UK face the threat of losses and even bankruptcy in 2011 as the latest figures show the economy shrank in the last three months of last year.

Construction slumped 3.3 per cent compared with the third quarter in 2010, while services shrank 0.5 per cent.

The news sent the pound sliding and shares fell in the City.

Scottish defamation law is under review after a landmark petition by a Scottish couple has led to a Scottish government consultation paper.

The campaign was led by James and Margaret Watson. They are the bereaved parents whose daughter, Diane, was killed in a playground row at a Glasgow school 20 years ago. It is believed their surviving son, Alan, committed suicide after reading a news story alleging Diane was a bully.

Scottish defamation law differs from the law in England and Wales. Legal expert David Banks, writing for the Guardian, says:

Alan Johnson headed home to his wife today for the first time after his ten-year affair with a single mother was exposed.

It has not been a good month for the MP for West Hull and Hessle. Both his career as a politician and his marriage are in tatters.

Worse was to come after it was revealed last week that Johnson's wife Laura faces a police investigation for her alleged affair with one of her husband's bodyguards, Pc Paul Rice.

A US pilot so drunk he did not know which destination he was flying to was jailed for six months and his actions labelled 'potentially catastrophic'.

George La Perle, 49, arrived at Heathrow airport more than four times over the legal limit for pilots.

After boarding his flight, the Delta Airline first officer was approached by airport officials. La Perle thought he was heading for New York when in fact the plane was set to touch down in Detroit.

A model and former Oxford University graduate has won her case for unfair dismissal after being fired for accusing a charity of siphoning off public funds.

Robina Husain-Naviatti, 38, was deputy director of Forensic Therapies when she noticed alleged irregularities in the finances of the charity. The charity offers prisoner counselling.

The Daily Express website claimed Husain-Naviatti first alerted trustees that a £535,000 government grant had only been recorded as £240,000 in a business plan.

Changes to the UK student visa system are currently being looked at by the government and are set for change.

New proposals currently under consultation want to:

• clamp down on the number of bogus colleges offering foreign students places;

• reduce the number of UK student visas awarded to people wanting to attend sub-degree courses;

• raise the English language requirements for overseas students;

• tighten regulations around foreign students working while in the UK.

A teenage girl has been awarded £5.3 million 15 years after she was left brain damaged during birth.

A judge at London's High Court ruled St Marys Hospital, Milton, guilty of medical negligence against Sophie Taylor from Portsmouth.

Ms Taylor was left with cerebral palsy as a result of being starved of oxygen while her mother, Lynn, gave birth at the hospital.

HMV, the last UK high street chain, received a boost this week after chiefs of several major record labels rallied round the under-pressure high-street retailer.

Those supporting the troubled chain include Ged Doherty of Sony Music UK, David Joseph, chairman of Universal Music UK and Christian Tattersfield, chief executive of Warner Music UK.

The news comes a day after it was revealed some of HMV's suppliers were having their credit insurance reduced due to low confidence over the HMV group's trading position.

A boatyard worker has won a £7 million payout this week after he was injured during a work shift in Bembridge on the Isle of Wight.

Kevin Cleightonhills, 26, was hit by falling metal as he attempted to store a boat for his employer Bembridge Outboards.

In September 2006 Cleightonhills was standing on a metal gantry which collapsed under him and fell 15ft (4.6m). Although he landed on his feet, he was hit on the head by falling metal.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is under fire from UK business after outlining his proposals to expand paternity leave regulations.

Clegg wants to allow fathers to be able to take part of their partner's maternity leave, in a move that has been deemed unworkable by business groups and employment lawyers.

Clegg wants the fathers to have the choice to share parental leave, taking the role of primary care-giver from as early as six weeks after a baby's birth. In effect, this is the point where the higher-rate of maternity leave ends, and the lower rate pay of £125 a week starts.

A gay couple were awarded over £3,000 compensation after they were refused a room by two Christian hotel owners.

Judge Andrew Rutherford ruled Peter and Hazelmary Bull were acting unlawfully when they refused Martyn Hall and his civil partner Steven Preddy a room in September 2008.

Hall and Preddy, from Bristol, were awarded £1,800 in damages after the ruling at Bristol County Court. They were claiming sexual orientation discrimination under the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007.

It's set to be the most public divorce 'bout' of the year, as Katie Price gets prepared to end an 11-month marriage to her cage fighter husband.

The former glamour model and Alex Reid are in dispute after he refused to sign a financial agreement and move out of their marital home in Surrey, Southern England.

Sources close to Price say she never signed a prenuptial marriage agreement and rumours abound Reid is asking for a £700,000 divorce settlement.

UK pensioners are six times more likely to go bankrupt than ten years ago, says data released by the Insolvency Service.

People over 65-years-old are applying for bankruptcy at a 50 per cent higher rate than any other age group.

From 2000 to 2009 the percentage of women over 65 going bankrupt rose from 2 per cent to four percent.

UK tax inspectors are clamping down on some of the Premier League's highest-earning footballers over a controversial tax avoidance scheme.

Players are exploiting income tax charges by taking advantage of loopholes in the UK's complex tax system.

Leading newspapers have claimed the full amount saved by the stars could be costing the Treasury as much as £100m.

Four out of five people in the UK are behind cuts in the level of immigration into the country, a government survey has revealed.

The Communities Department Citizenship Survey, undertaken by the Communities Department, found over 50 per cent of the public asked wanted to see less immigrants coming from overseas to live in Britain.

70 per cent of people from England and Wales want to see cuts in UK immigration. Only 3 per cent surveyed thought there should be an increase in immigration numbers.

Families minister, Maria Miller has pledged her support for rapid changes to be made to the UK child support system.

The new proposals urge separating parents to find a financial solution without state intervention. Any parents who cannot, will face having to be a fee.

Miller showed her support for change by stating: "[T]he most effective and enduring arrangements are ones which parents come to themselves."

Reality TV star Jack Tweed has been arrested following an incident outside an Essex nightclub.

Tweed, 23, was taken to Ilford Police Station, east London where he was questioned for several hours about his part in a brawl. He arrived at the station with his solicitor and was released on bail until the end of January.

The star's arrest follows a police investigation following a fight that involved Tweed's brother Lewis, 20, and friend, nightclub owner, Mark Wright.