The UK Government may have to award a rebate to tens of thousands of self-employed women after being accused of discriminating against them for taking maternity leave. The case is based on the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS), launched alongside the Furlough scheme after the outbreak of Covid-19, which based support grants on average profits between 2016-2019. Because it’s based on average profits with no consideration for other factors, around 75,000 self-employed women who took maternity leave since 2016 had reduced grants because of periods over the last few years where they weren’t earning as much due to pregnancy or maternity leave. The charity Pregnant Then Screwed (PTS) is bringing a judicial review against the government for indirect sexual discrimination. The claim is that the SEISS calculations breached the anti-discrimination provisions of the Human Rights Act to consider the position of women who did not or could not work for maternity or pregnancy related reasons. One of the cases cited was a woman who started working again after having her third child shortly before the Covid-19 outbreak and only received a third of what she would normally earn through the SEISS scheme. This was a stark contrast to her male partner, also self-employed, who received a full grant. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, defended the scheme, saying that self-employed people had “ups and downs” in earnings for “all sorts of reasons”. His statement was swiftly rebuffed by PTS:“For maternity leave to be dismissed as the same as being sick or taking a sabbatical is not only insulting, but it sends out a very dangerous message about how this government views mothers and the integral role we play in a well-functioning society.”Mr Sunak was backed up by a spokesperson from the Treasury who defended SEISS as “one of the most generous” schemes of its kind in the world. Because of the recency and context of SEISS, this case poses an interesting situation and will set an extremely important precedent for workers’ and women’s rights. Our team of expert employment solicitors will certainly be watching this one unfold keenly. If you have any questions about your rights in the workplace, or are self-employed and would like legal advice, our team is just a message or phone call away. 

Hong Kong police have recently arrested eleven people for allegedly helping pro-democracy advocates to flee the city under new national security law. The activists were caught trying to flee to Taiwan via speedboat last summer and were charged with illegally crossing the border and imprisoned, a move widely condemned internationally. Families of those detained claim that they have been denied access to independent legal representation as concerns for treatment of activists at hands of the Chinese government increase. More than 100 people have now been arrested under the new national security law, including Daniel Wong Kwok-tung, a lawyer who tried to help the twelve activists detained last summer and member of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party.On top of increasing arrests of pro-democracy activists, the new law has other implications for life in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Broadband Network admitted that it had blocked an anti-government website in order to comply with the law, believed to be the first time it has been used to censor online content without involving the courts.  Manak Solicitors have received numerous Visa applications from Hong Kong residents seeking to leave the city state and come to the UK, as well as conveyancing instructions. If you or anyone you know are looking to settle in the UK, our team of solicitors are accredited experts in immigration law and conveyancing and would be delighted to help with the journey.

ust over a year after his first impeachment, Donald Trump became the first president in US history to be impeached for a second time. Politically and legally, the US government and judicial system is now in uncharted waters so let’s try to unpack what impeachment means and what the potential consequences could be. Impeachment is a charge of misconduct brought before a holder of public office. In this second case, a single article of impeachment accused Mr Trump of inciting the riot which resulted in a group of his supporters breaking into the Capitol building.Impeachment proceedings need to pass through the House of Representatives, which only needs a majority vote to approve, and then the Senate, which requires a 2/3 majority vote to confirm articles of impeachment. Articles of impeachment have already been confirmed by Congress, with one of the stark differences to the first impeachment being that 10 Republicans broke ranks and voted against the president, as opposed to last year when none of them did. Proceedings now move to the Senate for confirmation. The Senate trial will likely bleed into the start of Mr Biden’s term as president, causing the President-elect a political and legal headache. Articles of impeachment, especially those as unprecedented as these, will take up a lot of time in the Senate, whom he needs to help enact his important first-100-day plan. It is being reported that in order to keep the country moving and ensuring as peaceful a transition as possible, he will request that the Senate work on this part time, allowing members of the Senate to work on appointments and legislation at times when they are not sitting on the jury for the impeachment. But what does all this practically mean for President Trump’s future? Due to the complex and often vague nature of the US Constitution, a lot of it will be open to interpretation by Congress. At present, it seems that if impeachment is confirmed, there will be further votes on what privileges Mr Trump will be disqualified from which would usually be afforded to former presidents. These include a £220,000 a year pension, security detail, paid office space, and others.Regardless of how impeachment proceedings are finalised, we can be assured of a lengthy legal battle from Mr Trump’s legal team over his treatment at the hands of his former colleagues. As experts in employment law who have seen our fair share of post-employment cases, we’re keeping our eyes on this one!

Consumer groups across many countries are challenging Amazon on their cancellation procedures for Prime membership, saying they are purposefully difficult and off-putting. Cancelling Prime membership involves scrolling through many pages of text with multiple prompts to retain membership, often described as a ‘dark pattern’. These are techniques of features in a system designed to manipulate the user. In a study of 1000 Norwegian consumers, a quarter of them reported difficulties in cancelling their membership of digital content services, indicating that this issue is far wider than Amazon alone. The online retail giant has refuted these claims, saying that the process is straightforward and that all information being cited is simple giving “a full view of the benefits and services that members are cancelling”.Here in the UK, the Advertising Standards Authority ruled that one of Amazon’s page layouts was misleading and meant that many people could have easily signed up for Prime membership without meaning to.The Norwegian Consumer Council are one of the loudest voices on this issue and have filed a complaint with Norway’s consumer protection authority, claiming that it violates EU consumer law. They claim that it should be just as simple to end a subscription as it is to start one and that Amazon should stop “hindering customers and tricking them into continuing a paid service”.Consumer rights are becoming more of a hot topic, especially as our purchasing habits and shopping processes adapt to new technologies and markets. If you have any questions about your right as a consumer or customer, our experienced team of solicitors are here to answer any questions you may have about your situation.

Manak Solicitors are delighted to announce the acquisition of My Sevenoaks Community from Mountain Marketing Ltd.We are equally pleased to announce that Steph Harrison will be managing the business from today, independently and outside of Manak Solicitors. She will be amalgamating her incredibly successful ‘Sevenoaks Community’ social pages into the ‘My Sevenoaks Community’ brand with immediate effect, bringing everything under one cohesive brand.Steph commented on the move, “I’m absolutely over the moon to be taking on the My Sevenoaks Community’ role again; with the backing and technology behind me from Manak this is going to be extremely exciting for the town. They’re committed to making sure this brand grows and benefits every single person in and around Sevenoaks. I have a great relationship with the guys there and know that there is huge potential with this to do some amazing work for Sevenoaks. It’s also brilliant that we all have one community brand now- far less confusing!”.MSC has launched today with a new and improved look, more streamlined website and big plans for 2021. Head of Marketing at Manak Solicitors, Ben Frost, is looking forward to helping the brand go from strength to strength: “The town has been fantastic to us since we arrived in 2018 and we have always worked very closely with My Sevenoaks Community as their main sponsor. We have worked extensively with Steph personally too, through our work with Breast Cancer Now. So, when the opportunity arose to acquire this brand we knew instantly that it was a perfect fit and having Steph in place to run it is the final piece of the jigsaw. She will have the freedom to run My Sevenoaks Community just as before and we will be working behind the scenes to improve the website functionality and content offering over time for the benefit of everyone. We see this as an opportunity to give something back to this town and we will do everything we can to support Steph, ensuring this is a real community hub that everyone can be proud of”.mysevenoakscommunity.com is live now and will be updated extensively over the coming weeks.

From 1st January 2021, the Immigration system, as we know it, will be changed. The Government plans to overhaul the current Rules with the aim of boosting the UK economy. The focus is greatly on attracting skilled workers, global talent and innovators who could enhance the UK economy. Changes have been made to almost all entry routes.Re Workers:The main condition appears to be that they must be able to speak English at level B1The Cap on number of applicants will be Suspend and as such there will be no limit on the number of skilled workers who can come to the UK The Resident Labour Market Test (RLMT) will be abolished Re Students:The applicant must be able to speak English at level B2 unless they are coming to study in UK Schools at pre graduate levelThe main routes will be as follows:- Skilled Workers – Tier 2 Visas Students (Adults & Children)Start-Up and InnovatorGraduate VisitorsShort-Term Study to Learn English Language Intra-Company Transfers (ICT) Intra-Company Graduate Trainees (ICGT)Youth Mobility Scheme (YMS) – Only available to people from participating countries with an opportunity to experience life in the UK to live and work for 2 years. Sports PersonCreative PersonCharity Ministers of Religion & Religious Workers Government Authorised Exchange (GAE)International Agreement UK AncestrySo far, the Home Office has only published vague details of the new proposals. We will be avidly monitoring the situation and providing updates in due course. Our Immigration team is committed to ensure your matter is dealt with smoothly and accurately. Please send your enquiries to [email protected] or call 01474 324 529. 

We at Manak Solicitors have a specialised legal team working with a number of Landlords across the South East.With the introduction of the new stamp duty rates which came into force on 8th July 2020; now may be the perfect time to look at your portfolio in order to carry out tax efficient planning for the future.From April 2020, Landlords with portfolios in their personal names rather than a limited company will only be able to claim a tax credit of 20% of mortgage interest payments. Contrasting this to tax year 2017-18 this figure was 75% mortgage relief.Therefore, it is evident from April 2020 many Landlords have been adversely effected financially.It can be more advantageous from a tax efficient standpoint for Landlords to hold their portfolio in a dedicated limited company although, many landlords have been hesitant to transfer their properties to a limited company due to the Stamp Duty implications. In view of the new rules; any properties valued under £500,000.00 will only be liable for 3% stamp duty rather than the higher rates before July 2020 providing a much welcome relief to Landlords at such turbulent times.We recommend Landlords speak to their financial advisors before taking any decisions to transfer their portfolio but on the face of the new rules this does seem like a glimmer of hope. We invite you to contact our qualified team with regards to any property law questions you might have.

After the past few days, the leaks from the Treasury about the SDLT changes/holidays/exemptions have caused trepidation and effectively slammed the brakes on the recovery of the conveyancing market for residential transactions.The other concern was that the rumoured “delay in the implementation” of any such changes until Autumn would have frozen the market completely.We are glad that today, the Chancellor has now clarified those issues and implemented the changes “effective immediately” in order to keep the wheels of the market turning.We will be reviewing in detail the scale of the proposed changes but are hopeful it will encourage potential Buyers and that we see a thawing of the market which has been slow to recover following the Covid19 Lockdown.The noted 31 Mach 2020 timeframe will undoubtedly cause a “rush” and this brings back memories of the SDLT changes to the Buy to Let market which were brough in at the same time in April 2016. Many of our clients will recall that we worked tirelessly with them to get deals through and were successful in 100% of all matters.Manak Solicitors therefore have proven experience in working to such deadlines and we are proud that we have highly qualified staff, state of the art technology and solid infrastructure to cope with such demands -even during times of pandemic and unforeseen circumstances.Furthermore, as our Conveyancing Teams are all working in the office, this once again makes transactions far easier to deal with from a client’s perspective – as will be noted from recent feedback.Jas JanduDirector of Conveyancing

UK confirms new path to British citizenship for millions of Hong Kong ResidentsThe UK government has confirmed it will offer new residence rights to 2.9 million Hong Kong residents with British National Overseas (BN (O) status, following China’s imposition of a national security law. Under the new route, those who hold BN(O) status and their dependents will have access to limited leave to remain in the UK on a 5-year work or study visa, removing the current six-month time limit. After five years, individuals will be able to apply for settled status and, after a further 12 months, apply for British citizenship. Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, has confirmed that there will be a simple application with no limit on numbers or quotas. Further, he commented that there will be no minimum salary threshold to obtain the visa.The government will announce further details of the eligibility criteria, conditions of leave and application fees in due course.Visit our service page to find out more about immigration law and do not hesitate to contact us with any legal questions you might have.