According to recent research, millions of adults in Britain risk “dying intestate” because they have failed to draft or update their Will.
New immigration route to help British businesses recruit “best and brightest talent”
A new immigration visa route will help UK businesses attract the “best and brightest” students from around the world, the Government has suggested.
Call to invest in technology for hybrid working
HR teams must invest in technology to meet the demand of
hybrid working options, according to a new survey.
Margaret Sweeney, chief HR officer at Learning Resource Network, said an
internal survey of the educational testing service provider’s employees found
most employees want hybrid work post-pandemic.
But she warned the experience of a remote worker can be poor if there is a lack
of reliable tech or conference room technology is dated.
She said: “For example, if cameras aren’t set to capture faces, if software
doesn’t allow for multiple streams of content, if audio is impossible, or if
software licenses haven’t been set to allow for integration with office systems
for content sharing.
“These types of challenges may impact the choices your team leaders make about
when to be in the office and how to do meetings when some people are remote.”
During the pandemic, in-office employees lost 28 minutes of work due to
technology issues, according to research by software company Nexthink.
If these issues are not addressed, Sweeney warned senior leaders would be
more likely to say everybody must stay remote, or everybody must come into the
office.
“If you don’t have the technology or the acoustic environment to support
quality hybrid work, it’ll be your employees who will pay the price,” she said.
A lack of collaboration technology could also damage employee morale.
Intellectual Property Office urges customers to “claim earlier filing date” ahead of end of joint UK-EU IP scheme
Intellectual property rights applicants have just months left to claim an earlier filing date for EU trade marks and designs, it has been warned.
£100 billion summer housing market on horizon
House prices have been rocketing since the start of the
pandemic, as people have sought more space, saved more money and taken
advantage of tax breaks on buying a home.
Households have been unable to spend as much money as usual, allowing those
that have still been in work to save up for a deposit.
After the property market was temporarily paused in March last year, activity
surged, with record sales.
The average sale price of a home in England jumped 10.2 per cent in a year from
the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
Now the UK residential property market’s first £100 billion summer is on the
horizon.
A forecast, by consultancy UK Residential Research, which takes the current
trajectory of the housing market and applies it to the rest of summer months,
estimates that there will be 420,000 sales in the UK across June, July and
August at a total spend of a record £107bn.
This will make this summer the highest grossing quarter in UK residential market
history, and is in stark contrast to previous years. Throughout the past half
decade, total spend from buyers during the summer months has averaged £69 billion-per-year,
a figure that comprised a little over 300,000 sales.
Speaking on the forecast, Nick Whitten, head of UK living research, said: “It
is well-documented that the summer is the best time to sell a home, with
sentiment receiving a natural positive boost from the warmer weather. However,
our data suggests that this post-lockdown summer will set a new record.