Palmers Solicitors Blog

Peers sitting overnight last night (March 25th) in the House of Lords voted for emergency legislation blocking up to £130m in compensation payouts to jobseekers, which is now set to become law.

As of the beginning of next month (April), the cut-off point to get legal aid will be a household income of £32,000 and those between £14,000 and £32,000 will have to undergo a detailed means test.

Earlier this week the House of Lords rejected Government proposals for the so-called “rights for shares” scheme, under which employees would be able to sacrifice certain employment rights for shares in their company.

Last week a judge in the High Court ruled in favour of the Government’s proposed high-speed rail link project between London, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds.

Last week Employment Relations Minister Jo Swinson announced new rules aimed at streamlining the Employment Tribunal process. These changes will make tribunals easier to understand, more efficient and will help weed out weak claims.

Overnight talks between representative of the three major political parties have resulted in an agreement to regulate the press in the wake of the Leveson enquiry, according to the Labour party’s Deputy Leader Harriet Harman.

An 88-year-old campaigner with no criminal record has won a landmark legal case to have his details removed from the police’s National Extremism Database, where he had been labelled a “domestic extremist”.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced that gagging clauses stopping departing NHS staff from speaking out about patient safety or care have been banned by the Government.