British Airways settles long-running pensions battle with trustees April 9, 2019 British Airways has settled a long-running battle with the trustees of one of its staff pension schemes in a case that was set to go to the Supreme Court. The trustees of the nearly 25,000 member Airways Pension Scheme said today they had agreed to an out-of-court settlement to the dispute, subject to the approval of the [...]
Home Office tightens golden visa rules after earlier failed crackdown March 7, 2019 The Home Office announced reforms to so-called golden visas for wealthy investors today, following an embarrassing debacle last year when it announced their suspension before being forced to backtrack days later. Under reforms to the Tier 1 (Investor) scheme, applicants will be required to prove they have control of the £2m they are required to [...]
Home Office backtracks on plans to scrap ‘golden visas’ for rich investors December 11, 2018 The Home Office has rowed back on plans to halt visas for wealthy investors just days after the suspension was announced. Last week immigration minister Caroline Nokes announced that the visas would be suspended at midnight last Friday amid fears about money laundering and organised crimes. However, today the Home Office confirmed that the visas [...]
Serious Fraud Office trial against Tesco executives collapses December 6, 2018 The Serious Fraud Office’s case against two senior former Tesco’s executive has collapsed because of insufficient evidence. At Southwark Crown Court this morning Judge Sir John Royce instructed the jury to acquit both defendants, former UK managing director Chris Bush and ex-UK food commercial director John Scouler. The pair had both been charged with one [...]
City Moves for 28 November – who’s switching jobs at Irwin Mitchell, Capita and Wilko? November 28, 2018 Who’s switching jobs today? Irwin Mitchell National law firm Irwin Mitchell has recruited a new senior lawyer for its national real estate department. Michelle Beaumont has joined the firm’s Leeds office as partner. She joins from the Leeds office of Pinsent Masons, having joined that firm in 2006. Michelle has experience of working on a [...]
The probate debate: How will you be affected by the changes to the unpopular death tax? November 15, 2018 While most of us will be familiar with – or at least have heard of – inheritance tax (IHT), probate fees are a little-known extra cost that many families are forced to confront when their loved ones pass away. Both IHT and probate fees are often referred to as the “death tax” – although the [...]
City Moves for 1 November – who’s switching jobs at Oxx, Irwin Mitchell and Rabobank? November 1, 2018 Who’s switching jobs today? Oxx Oxx, the growth capital firm investing in B2B software companies, has appointed Daria Danilina as associate. Daria has joined Oxx with venture capital experience at Balderton and consulting experience at Bain & Company. Daria also has operational experience from her time at Dropbox, where she helped build the European sales [...]
European Court rules that UK pension lifeboat must lift compensation cap September 6, 2018 The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled today that pensioners should receive at least 50 per cent of the value of their pension in the event that their employer goes bust. The UK’s pensions lifeboat, the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), had capped compensation for those that had lost their pensions when their employers [...]
Child trust funds: Should you trust your teenager with their financial future? September 6, 2018 On the surface, a product that is designed to encourage parents to save money for their children sounds ideal. But child trust funds (CTFs) are riddled with problems. The first CTFs reached maturity at the beginning of this month, potentially giving some 16-year-olds partial control over a big pot of cash. Introduced by the then [...]
Clifford Chance breaks ranks with magic circle to include partners in its gender pay gap figures March 27, 2018 Clifford Chance has included its partner pay in its gender pay gap report, the first magic circle law firm to do so. The firm revealed today that it had a mean hourly pay gap of 66.3 per cent, falling to 27.3 per cent in its partnership ranks, 27.7 per cent among its business services staff [...]