header-logo header-logo

13 December 2018
Issue: 7821 / Categories: Features , Civil way , Procedure & practice
printer mail-detail

Civil way: 14 December 2018

Invoice assignment bar goes; disbursementless bills; no child support, no passport; latest service charge wars

ROLL UP, ROLL UP

So you are a small or medium sized business and you need the cash flowing in. Then assign the right to future payment of your invoices to a finance company. Around 40,000 businesses in the UK use invoice finance at a typical cost of 20% of value. It would be more but for the common contractual prohibition against assignment.

To the rescue come the Business Contract Terms (Assignment of Receivables) Regulations 2018 (SI 2018/1254) (made under s 1 of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015) which apply to any contractual term made on or after 31 December 2018, five years since the idea of legislation in the area was floated with a government discussion paper. The regulations extend to England, Wales and Northern Island. Any term prohibiting or imposing a condition on the assignment of a receivable (invoices and other rights to be paid money under a contract) is to have no effect.

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

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’ 
back-to-top-scroll