December 2023 Newsletter
Kerseys Solicitors December 2023 Newsletter
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Legal Updates
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Legal Updates
Key Dates
1 January 2024 – Working time record-keeping – “adequate” records of daily working hours and rest periods need to be kept. Working Time Regulations 1998.
Carry over of annual leave – Workers will be able to carry over annual leave.
The full 5.6 weeks of Regulation 13 and 13A statutory annual leave into the following leave year where it cannot be taken due to family-related leave (such as maternity or shared parental leave);
The four weeks Regulation 13 annual leave where it cannot be taken due to sickness absence, for a maximum of 18 months from the end of the leave year in which the entitlement arose;
The four weeks Regulation 13 annual leave where there has been no reasonable opportunity to take it or the employer has failed to notify that any leave not taken, which cannot be carried over, will be lost.
17 January 2024 – Reforms to the right to request flexible working – The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill received Royal Assent on 20 July 2023 – regulations required to bring this in force. Anticipated late 2024. ACAS is consulting until 17 January 2024 on its draft statutory code.
1 April 2024 – National Living Wage:-
age 21 and over – £11.44
age 18-20 – £ 8.60
age 16-17 – £ 6.40
apprentice rate – £ 6.40
1 April 2024 – Rolled-up holiday pay for irregular hours workers and part-year workers (leave years beginning on or after 1 April 2024). This will have an accrual rate of 12.07% of hours worked in each preceding pay period (12.07% uplift to pay, as long as it is paid at the same time as normal pay and itemised pay statements specific the amount pf holiday pay).
1 July 2024 – TUPE transfers on or after 1 July 2024 – businesses with fewer than 50 employees and businesses of any size undertaking a transfer of less than 10 employees, will be able to consult directly with their employees if there are no existing worker representatives in place.
26 October 2024 – The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act will come into force. Places a proactive duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.
Legal Updates
Digital Assets
We are currently living in a digital age with many of us active online both financially and with social media accounts.
Social media forms a part of our day-to-day life with us uploading photos and connecting with family and friends online.
Digitally our financial estates are slowly being shifted to online platforms and we are moving away from the days where people would have savings accounts with bank and building societies and hold physical passbooks.
There are a lot more online banks and financial institutions out there and we now need to shift our thinking when it comes to our estate to incorporate this digital element to include digital assets.
In general digital assets is a broad term and can be separated into 3 categories:-
- digital assets with financial worth for example solely online bank accounts or online businesses. These days many investments (such as stocks and shares) are held electronically.
- digital assets with sentimental value for example photographs stored online or on a hard drive. Please also be aware that sometimes these assets can have a monetary value in terms of rights and royalties.
- digital assets which divulge personal information for example a Facebook account which gives name, date of birth and address details.
To read more about considering your digital assets when making a Will please click here
Legal Updates
Will the Leasehold Reform Bill give more rights and protections to homeowners?
The Government confirmed their plans to give greater rights and protections to leaseholders when the bill was introduced in the Kings Speech to Parliament at the end of November. The intention is to make it easier and cheaper for leaseholders to buy the freehold, and also to be able to extend their lease. Currently leaseholders have the right to extend a lease to 90 years, whereas the government plans to increase this to 990 years. Other planned measures are to remove the requirement to pay the freeholders costs when making an application to extend the lease and removing the concept of “marriage value” which makes it more expensive to extend the lease when the lease has less than 80 years.
The Bill also plans to give leaseholders greater rights to challenge poor practice by managing agents or freeholders, and also setting time and costs limits on the amount that managing agents and freeholders can charge when preparing the information pack needed on leasehold sales.
The Bill however needs to be passed through Parliament so we do not know when these changes will become law or if the Bill will be amended.
It can be difficult to sell a property with less than 80 years left on the lease and you would usually have to agree an extension of the lease with your freeholders just to be able to sell.
It will almost certainly be cheaper to wait for the Leasehold Reform Bill to come into force so this is a change that cannot happen soon enough for many leaseholders.
2023 at Kerseys Solicitors
Kerseys Solicitors Management Team changed on 1 July 2023 as Peter Awad retired from his position as Managing and Senior Partner and Clare Thomas retired as Consultant Solicitor. The Management team is now Kimat Singh as Managing Partner with Jane Riley as Senior Partner and Matt Clemence.
We have welcomed Kim Clements and Danielle Ryder as legal assistants along with Amanda Erskine as an Associate Solicitor in the Family team and Alison Brown as a legal secretary in our Private Client team.
Awards
The Residential Property team were delighted to be shortlisted in the Modern Law Conveyancing Awards 2023 after having won the ESTAS award previously.
‘Law Firm of the Year‘ 2024 Zylpha Innovation Award.
Kimat Singh Managing Partner of Kerseys Solicitors says “We are an innovative and dynamic law firm based in East Anglia. We are delighted to have won the 2024 Zylpha Innovation Award for ‘Law Firm of the Year‘.”
We were nominated for this award by Zylpha and we were deemed as overall champion across all metrics including creativity in deployment, working with the Zylpha team, providing valuable feedback, and being a great organisation to work.
2024 Zylpha Bundling Innovation Award Winners – Announced
Supporting Local Charities
2023 year, Kerseys supported MIND, raising money for a charity who are “on a mission to make Suffolk the best place in the world for talking about and taking care of mental health!” and we are delighted to hand over £913.95 from raffles, dress down day and bake sales that our staff have taken part in throughout the year.
Along side this we are delighted to support Karen Skene who runs for team “Stewart” in the Leeds marathon in May 2024, to support The Darby Rimmer MND Foundation.
On 8 September 2022, Marcus Stewart ex Ipswich Town Footballer was diagnosed with motor neurone disease. If you would like to support Karen and team “Stewart” please visit their Just Giving page.
The future is bright at Kerseys
Managing Partner, Kimat Singh would also like to recognize the tremendous support our staff have shown to one another. The collaboration, teamwork, and willingness to lend a helping hand have fostered a positive and inclusive work environment that is the envy of many other firms. The camaraderie and mutual respect are an integral part of our success story.
Whilst the firm continues to expand, our objectives will continue to remain the same. Our approach to our work is based on our core values which are;
- To give our clients the best possible service and a positive experience of working with us.
- To develop the skills and enthusiasm of our employees and partners, so that they can all fulfil their maximum potential.
- To be a part of, and contribute to, the character and spirit of the local community.
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and Prosperous New Year.
Senior Management Team at Kerseys.
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