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15 March 2024 / Stephen Gold
Issue: 8063 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Civil way
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Civil way: 15 March 2024

Employment awards up; Annulment discretion; Supreme 40% hike; Opponent’s costs budget relevant; Northampton troubles; Exceeding statement of value; Manchester defeats London; Company law reforms

LAW BITES

‘Hold on boss’ Employment tribunal awards are increasing by 8.9% where the axe, or other appropriate event, falls on or after 6 April 2024. The Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2024 (SI 2024/213) does the annual inflationary favour to employees and will see, for example, the unfair dismissal compensatory award limit rising to £115,115 and the notorious one week’s pay—used for the calculation of the basic and additional unfair dismissal awards and redundancy payments—up to £700.

Patience for the patients Fixed recoverable costs in unissued clinical negligence claims look almost certain to wait until October 2024. They are expected to be up for consideration at next month’s rule committee meeting.

Police disclosure There is a new protocol for police disclosure of information between family and criminal agencies and jurisdictions in cases of alleged child abuse and linked criminal and care proceedings. It applies

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

Fieldfisher partner appointed president as LSLA marks milestone year

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Firm promotes two lawyers to partnership across employment and family

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Firm promotes five lawyers to partnership across key growth areas

NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
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