A growing number of people are including gifts to charity in their Will, a major study has revealed.

The research, published by Remember a Charity, shows that not-for-profits are set to receive a “record” level of donations over the coming years.

According to the report, almost one in five (19 per cent) of charity supporters aged 40 and over have already written a gift to charity in their Will, up from 14 per cent in 2013.

One in ten supporters, meanwhile, intend to make a gift to charity in their Will or are preparing to do so.

There are many reasons why someone would want to leave a gift to a charity in their Will. Aside from supporting a good cause, any donation left to charity will be taken off the value of your estate before Inheritance Tax is calculated and in some cases it can reduce the Inheritance Tax rate on the remaining estate (from 40 to 36 per cent), providing 10 per cent or more of your estate is left to charity.

The study found, however, that just six in 10 (62 per cent) donors have written a Will. This falls to 46 per cent among those in their early 40s.

Should a donor die without leaving a Will, a charity would not automatically be entitled to anything, even if the deceased expressed intent to leave a gift to an organisation on their death.

The findings form part of Remember a Charity’s annual consumer benchmarking survey, which surveyed over 2,000 charity donors aged 40 and over to track their legacy giving attitudes and behaviour.

Commenting on the report, Rob Cope, director of Remember A Charity, said: “Leaving a gift in your Will is such a positive and empowering decision to make during end-of-life planning and the legal sector has been a major driver of this change.”

Helen Jago, a Director with Palmers Solicitors, who specialises in Wills and estate planning, said: “Ensuring that you have a valid and up to date Will is essential to avoid any issues further down the line and to give you peace of mind that your inheritance will be passed to your chosen beneficiaries. It can also be a very tax-efficient way of providing vital financial support to charities.”

For help and advice on matters relating to Wills, inheritance and estate planning, please contact our expert team.

On 6 April 2022, no-fault divorce will become law in England and Wales.

Family lawyers and others have been campaigning for decades for a ‘no-fault’ option to be available to people wanting a divorce. The legislation, described as the biggest ‘shake-up’ of family law in almost 50 years, was first announced in 2019.

The changes come after the 2018 Supreme Court case of Owens v Owens, in which a wife’s divorce petition was turned down after she failed to prove one of the five grounds, forcing her to live in an unhappy marriage until at least 2020.

Here, Surjit Verdi, a Director with Palmers and Head of our Family Law department, outlines the key points you need to know.

What is no-fault divorce?

Under current laws, a spouse must attribute one of five grounds for divorce – such as adultery, unreasonable behaviour, desertion, or two to five years of separation – before a court can legally grant a divorce, meaning couples could not fully disentangle their finances, re-marry, or make a fresh start. As a result, their lives were left effectively in limbo.

No-fault divorce will remove this obstacle, which has frequently been blamed for forcing couples to play the blame game and creating unnecessary conflict between divorcing spouses. Instead, people will simply apply for a divorce, either individually or jointly.

Will it also provide a ‘quickie-divorce’ option?

The no-fault divorce process will still provide time for couples to consider their decision to divorce. There will be a a six-month mandatory waiting period to give couples time to reconcile. It will also no longer be possible to contest a divorce and it will be sufficient for one party to the marriage to declare that it has broken down irretrievably. 

The language used on official documents and in the courtroom will also be changed to remove both outdated terms and those that have baggage associated with conflict. An example of the latter is ‘petitioner’, which will become ‘applicant’.

There will also be more general changes to the process, once again designed to lessen the chances of unnecessary conflict plus ones intended as a safeguard against people divorcing too quickly. These include the introduction of a 20-week minimum period from the start of proceedings to the issue of a Conditional Order (currently known as a ‘Decree Nisi’).

What is the benefit of no-fault divorce?

Experts argue that the requirement to attribute blame can often cause more harm than the divorce itself. It is expected that divorcing couples will be able to spend more time focusing on the future, such as the wellbeing of their children and how finances can be split.

To find out more about our family law services, including separation and divorce, please contact us.

We are delighted to have been accredited as a Living Wage Employer, which signals our commitment to paying all our staff at least the real Living Wage.

The real Living Wage is the only rate calculated according to the cost of living. It provides a voluntary benchmark for employers that wish to ensure their staff earn a wage they can live on, not just the Government minimum.

Across the region, more than 15 per cent of jobs pay less than the real Living Wage – around 392,000 roles.

Since 2011, the Living Wage movement has delivered a pay rise to more than 300,000 people and put more than £1.6 billion extra into the pockets of low paid workers.

Gina Newman, Practice Manager at Palmers Solicitors, said: “Every single member of our team plays an important role in providing first-rate legal services to businesses and individuals across South Essex and so it is right that they should be paid a fair wage.

“We have long been committed to being a great employer and a place where people want to work. We had flexible working arrangements in place long before the pandemic struck.  We invest in our staff in a variety of ways. We have had a number of Mental Health First Aiders and other wellbeing initiatives in place for several years.

“It is wonderful to be able to build on that commitment through accreditation as a Living Wage Employer.”

Katherine Chapman, Director, Living Wage Foundation, said: “We’re delighted that Palmers Solicitors has joined the movement of almost 9,000 responsible employers across the UK who voluntarily commit to go further than the Government minimum to make sure all their staff earn enough to live on.

“The join thousands of small businesses, as well as household names such as Burberry, Barclays, Everton Football Club and many more.

“These businesses recognise that paying the real Living Wage is the mark of a responsible employer and they, like Palmers Solicitors, believe that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has resulted in further disruptions to the UK’s supply chain, following on from the disturbances cause by both Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Many contractors are reporting shortages and price hiking of materials and deliveries, which could bring the supply of major products to a halt in the coming months.

Recently, industry analysts warned that the invasion could cause a spike in inflation in the cost of products used within construction sites and jobs in the UK.

Additionally, oil prices have hit a 14-year high as world leaders have banned imports to Russia that benefit Vladimir Putin’s control. The construction sector has already felt the impact of higher oil prices, but will likely see another rise, according to experts.

Chris Seaton, a Policy and Public Affairs Consultant at the Scaffolding Association, believes one of the pinch points will be lack of access to vital commodities for the construction sector, with many SMEs locked into fixed-price contracts that rely on these resources:

He said: “If a contract can’t progress because a supplier can’t provide or afford a key product, a principal contractor would have to look at it. Unless they do something they would have no scaffolders to do their work.

“Do they pause a contract, do they allow suppliers to re-bid for work? About 99 per cent of businesses in the construction sector are SMEs, but they keep the sector going. The other one per cent can’t function without them.

“Main contractors need to talk to their suppliers, see what is coming and work out what they can do. They need to consider where they may need to pay more to make work viable for smaller guys.”

Adam Davis, a Director with Palmers Solicitors and Head of our Construction Law Department, said: “The continuing materials shortage will inevitably lead to a number of contractors failing to meet their completion deadlines.

 “If a project does not run as planned and a dispute arises, our expert team can advise on resolving the issue, often without the need for litigation, through alternative dispute resolution and mediation.”

To find out more about our dispute resolution service, please contact us.

Employers need to make sure they are not caught unawares by a change to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) which comes into force this month.

With effect from 24 March, as part of the Government’s ‘living with Covid’ policy, current COVID-19 related statutory sick pay (SSP) rules have ended.

Workers’ right to claim SSP due to sickness or self-isolating from the first day of absence has also come to an end.

Samantha Randall, an Associate Solicitor with Palmers, who specialises in employment law, said: “The three-day wait for SSP was suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Government saying that employers must pay it from the first qualifying day. The amendment to the SSP rules was made in the Coronavirus Act 2020.

“These changes mean that Covid will now be treated like any other illness, so anyone unwell with the virus will only be paid SSP from the fourth day of their absence.

“As mandatory self-isolation is no longer required, the onus is now on employers to provide guidance to their employees if they have tested positive.

This is already causing headaches for employers with the potential for the virus to spread within the workplace and put other workers at risk.”

Samantha added: “It may be helpful, when advising workers, to keep in mind the continuing public health advice which, regardless of the relaxation of legislation, is for anyone who tests positive should stay at home and avoid contact with other people.”

For help and advice on employment matters, get in touch with our expert employment law team.

Housing developers have been told they have until the end of March for the industry to come up with a plan to pay for cladding remediation.

Despite an inquiry by a cross party group of MPs into the ongoing battle over how the estimated £4billion cost should be split, Mr Gove appears unwilling to back down, insisting that construction companies should shoulder the entire cost via a levy.

The original deadline of early March, set by Mr Gove back in January, has now been extended until 31 March but he has made it clear that by this date he expects a firm plan to be tabled.

Under the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ (LUHC) proposals, any developer who fails to sign up to the legally binding agreement – which commits them to pay for cladding remediation work on buildings between 11-18 metres – will be barred from participating in the market.

Making his position to the sector clear, Mr Gove has now written to the Home Builders’ Federation’s Executive Chairman, Stewart Baseley, stating: “I am disappointed to see you have not proposed a funding solution to cover the full outstanding cost to remediate unsafe cladding on buildings 11-18m.

“I will therefore ask you to continue to work intensively with my officials in the coming weeks to agree a fully funded plan to fix unsafe buildings by the end of March. As part of this process, I expect developers to make public commitments.

“If an agreement is not reached by the end of March, I have been clear that government will impose a solution in law and have taken powers to impose this solution through the Building Safety Bill.”

The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities added that the sector’s “current proposal falls short of full and unconditional self-remediation that I and leaseholders will expect us to agree”.

Adam Davis, a Director with Palmers Solicitors and Head of Construction Law, said: “The issue regarding who should be liable for remediation costs has created a great deal of uncertainty for the sector and whilst it is understandable that safety issues are paramount, many smaller construction firms are understandably worried about the outcome and how it will affect the future of their businesses.

“We are here to provide support and advice to any developer or contractor who is concerned about the proposed changes.”

For more information, please get in touch with us.