Blogs & opinions

Vicarious liability for independent contractor held established
Beauty therapist akin to employee of salon, which exercised control

No precautions held necessary over stone in path
Occupier's liability case fails over likelihood of harm

New Scottish tax rates, bands and reliefs in force
Taxpayers' affairs become more complex with extra bands

Commissary and OPG fees about to rise
Inflation increases in force from 25 April

Styles agreed for confirmation declarations
Society and SCTS settle post-2016 Act forms

GDPR: check you are ready for May start date
Guidance issued on stronger personal data protection rules

Beneficiary distribution: best practice to check insolvency
A simple search could avoid making the wrong payout

Letter: belief in the soul
Is it right that a doctor's letter should be given less weight if not "on soul and conscience"?

Mind the gap
Do the Gender Pay Gap Regulations provide enough useful information to justify their approach?

Holiday pay: average over what period?
Strict 12 weeks in regulations preferred to annualised sum

Award limit annual increases about to come in
Inflation linked rises apply to claims lodged from 6 April

Is a change of care provider a TUPE transfer?
EAT refers important case back to new tribunal

Forty year old rule called into question?
Burchell test queried in Supreme Court, but no early threat

Employers should consider “bumping” in redundancy cases
Duty is to look at possibility rather than to carry out

Letter: SLCC ignorance
We have to educate SLCC investigators, and pay for the privilege

Letter: judicial appointments – more debate
Comments on the article in the February edition

Case to be made
If the independent legal aid review could not find evidence to support a general rise in fees, what should the response be?

Scottish Legal International comes to fruition
Joint initiative aims to promote Scottish profession internationally

Fairness still the test where both cohabitees wealthy
£912,000 award made to partner in legal firm

Sheriff goes with usage in child surname dispute
Both parents’ names adopted where both already in use

Non-parentage order refused despite absence of forms
Sheriff holds clinic lost forms signed by both parties

Should council have appealed permanence order refusal?
Court’s criticism contrasts with approach in English decision

No expenses awarded despite permanence order refusal
Authority entitled to act on report discredited at proof

Crunch time
The independent reports due in the next few months will be an indication of how the profession is seen from outside