Sevenoaks Swimming Club swimmer, Jaedon Lynch 12 yrs, has been selected to the Jamaican National Squad for the Central American and Caribbean Championships to be held in Aruba over June 28th to July 4th 2018as part of the CCCAN Games 2018.With 37 countries competing in these games it is a huge honour and immensely exciting for Jaedon to be selected to compete at such an prestigious event.Jaedon has been a member of Sevenoaks Swimming Club since 2017 and this is the second National call up for our talented youngster.Sevenoaks Swimming Club wishes Jaedon the very best of luck during the competition and look forward to hearing of his success on his return. The whole Club is incredibly proud of his achievement.

Thursday 2nd August was our first ever Manak Solicitors Golf Day, held at Westerham Golf Club. On a beautiful sunny day with great course conditions, we had 30 clients and friends take part to win the “Claret Jug”!To start off the day, we had an excellent full English breakfast, served by the kitchen staff at Westerham Golf Club. At breakfast, all participants were provided with customised Manak Titleist golf balls, and a handful of tees to use in their round. The groups went out on the incredible 18 hole course between 09:44 and 10:15, and manoeuvred their way around the tricky greens and fairways. On a very warm day, the greens certainly played fast and firm, which made for some interesting putting! After the final groups finished on the 18th, everyone went into the clubhouse to cool down and get ready for the afternoon entertainment! Attending our first Manak Golf Day was golf trick shot artist Kevin Carpenter. Kevin put on a phenomenal show, hitting 300 yard drives off a unicycle, crushing golf balls from a chest high tee, and many more amazing acts. His skills had to be seen to be believed, and he even allowed the spectators to have a go with a few of the tricks. A big thank you to Kevin for attending and putting on the show, as well as sticking around for the award ceremony at the end of the day. After the excitement of Kevin’s display on the driving range, it was time for a late lunch. A special thanks to the staff at Westerham Golf Course who provided a wonderful three-course meal for all of our attendees. Next, it was time to announce the winner of the coveted “Claret Jug”. Congratulations to Dal who went home with the trophy, and we look forward to seeing him defend his title at our next golf day! Another special guest of ours was Steph Harrison from Breast Cancer Care. Steph gave an incredibly moving speech about the impact our donations can have on those living with breast cancer. We are proud to say that we were able to collect £500 for the cause. After the success of this event, we will definitely be planning bigger and better things for our next golf day. Thank you to everyone who attended and made this day very special. If you would like to read more about Kevin Carpenter and Breast Cancer Care, please use the links below.   Kevin Carpenter – http://kcgolfshow.com/ Breast Cancer Care – www.breastcanceruk.org.uk 

It is quite clear that we are in for a period of economic turbulence and 4th August 2016 saw the Bank of England cut its key lending rate to a record low of 0.25%. The Bank warned that there will be “little growth in GDP in the second half of the year”. In response, the Chancellor said “Alongside the actions that the Bank is taking, I am prepared to take any necessary steps to support the economy and promote confidence.”On the employment law front our Head of Employment Tony Bertin addressed major businesses in Kent in May 2016 at the Manak Breakfast Forums and said he expected few changes whatever the result.The majority of our employment law is actually home grown and the right not to be unfairly dismissed dates back to 1971 before the UK even joined the then Common Market. It is in fact our law on discrimination that has been widely adopted by the EU.In fact, since the referendum result Secretary of State for leaving the EU, David Davis has insisted there will be no major changes in employment rights. In a blog on the “Conservative Home” website he is quoted as saying “To be clear, I am not talking here about employment regulation. All the empirical studies show that it is not employment regulation that stultifies economic growth, but all the other market-related regulations, many of them wholly unnecessary.“Britain has a relatively flexible workforce, and so long as the employment law environment stays reasonably stable it should not be a problem for business.”In due course we at Manaks anticipate changes in the Immigration framework, but until negotiations begin with our European partners it is difficult to say what these might be.  However, we do not expect any serious issues for EU citizens already living and working here.Our Head of Immigration Kemesha Lynch will be writing on this topic when we know more.

Immigration Minister Caroline Nokes sets out the commitments that the government has made to support the ‘Windrush’ generation.Click here for the full detailsContact Manak Solicitors for any Immigration queries you may have.

A short video of our brilliant Virtual Reality experience at the Orpington 1st Christmas lights event in November 2017!

Manak Solicitors had an ‘out of this world’ presence at the Orpington Christmas Lights event this year- literally! We decided to do something special for the town and provided residents with the opportunity to experience the best virtual reality (VR) available today. A team of experts set up two HTC Vive headsets for people to use free of charge throughout the night. The demand was constant, if not overwhelming, and seeing the faces of those taking off their headset after having a snowball fight in a utopian winter street was brilliant.There were two experiences available during the evening. We had our featured game, Merry Snowballs, which was chosen for it’s Christmas theme and fun gameplay. Then we had Audioshield, chosen to really show off what VR is capable of. They both went down very well with the public.Our attraction caught the attention of people of all ages which was great to see. Younger ones were particularly keen, but parents were often just as eager to have a go. We have some great images and footage of the event and will be posting a video montage in the coming days on our brand new YouTube channel, so look out for that.We also ran a competition to win an M&S Christmas hamper. We had almost 100 entries which was fantastic. The winner of this will be announced very shortly- good luck to all!Overall, the night was a big success and we would like to extend our thanks to Orpington 1st for improving this showcase event year after year. We are already looking forward to 2018 and thinking up ways of enhancing our offering!

The weather is getting colder, the days are getting shorter and – dare we say it – Christmas is around the corner. At Manak Solicitors we understand that not all children are fortunate enough to be receiving presents at this festive time of year. That is why we are proud to support the Samaritan’s Purse (International Relief UK) “Operation Christmas Child” initiative.Samaritan’s Purse provides shoebox gifts to children suffering the consequences of war, famine and poverty. The purpose of the initiative is to enable children across the world to open a gift on Christmas day. “Operation Christmas Child” works to ensure that children receive a little ray of positivity at this cold time of year. And the figures speak for themselves – over 146,000,000 children have received shoebox gifts over the past 27 years that this initiative has been running.The Manak Solicitors teams based in Gravesend and Orpington prepared beautifully wrapped gifts for children of all ages. The turnout for this initiative was outstanding, with all members of staff based at the two offices contributing towards the initiative. Gifts included toys, educational supplies and daily essentials and a donation was also made to the Samaritan’s Purse charity, to meet the cost of transporting the gifts to the children in time for Christmas.Speaking about the initiative, Aneeta Kang, Family Solicitor and Director at Manak Solicitors said “It was such a pleasure to see everyone at the office pitch in for such a good cause. The entire team at Manak Solicitors pulled together to make a concerted effort to ensure that disadvantaged children would receive a little something to make them smile at this festive time of year. Well done Team Manaks!”If you would like to donate to the Samaritan’s Purse “Operation Christmas Child” initiative, or if you’d like to read more, please click here.

We’re delighted to reveal Surinder Singh Manak, our Managing Director, is profiled in the Winter edition of the Orpington 1st Magazine.Read his interview in full on page 13 here!

February ReportThe gig economy has been high on the agenda for some months now culminating in today’s decision in the Court of Appeal in the case of Pimlico Plumbers and Charlie Mullins v Gary Smith.The Manak Employment Relations Breakfast Forum today at Côte Brasserie Bluewater happened to be looking at the gig economy and the ramifications for employers.  At Breakfast Time this morning the Pimlico decision had not been handed down but it was a keen conversation point for our employers at the forum led by Tony Bertin.The phrase gig economy has been taken as referring to freelancers taking assignments using technology platforms like Über.   In fact, Uber BV (based in Holland) had been the Respondent in a tribunal case in the Autumn whether it was held the drivers were “workers” and, as such, were entitled to be paid at the Minimum Wage and receive Holiday pay.  Uber argued that they just offered a technology platform to their 40,000 drivers.  Uber’s position was that it acts as an agent for the drivers through the use of the Uber smartphone app, and that the contract for the provision of the taxi service was between the individual Uber driver and passenger.  As a consequence, Uber treated its drivers as being genuinely self-employed, and therefore not entitled to the employment rights applicable to workers.The tribunal had little truck with that and analysed the key factors and found ÜberInterviews and recruits drivers, and subjects them to an induction process.Controls the passengers’ key information and does not share this with the driver.Requires drivers to accept fares, and it issues warnings and ultimately locks drivers out of the app if too many fares are refused.And found that the drivers were workersThey have the app switched on.They are in the territory in which they are authorised to work.They are willing and able to accept fares.And as such were entitled to be paid at the minimum wage rate and be paid for holidays.The decision has potential implications for all businesses which seek to offer customers the type of job-by-job services provided by Uber through the engagement of independent contractors. It is clear that arrangements between the business, the individual and the customer will be closely scrutinised, and contracts will be disregarded if these do not reflect the reality of the arrangements. In fact, the more the company tries to regulate the activities the more likely it is that the operatives are Workers.What is worker?Section 230(3) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 defines workers to include individuals who undertake to perform personally any work or services for another party to the contract. There is an exclusion for circumstances where the other party to the contract can be considered a client or customer of any profession or business carried out by the individual. An individual who does not fall within this definition will usually be regarded as genuinely self-employed.Practically speaking the only difference between a worker and an employee is that the Worker cannot claim unfair dismissal.   Common distinctions are:Is the individual integrated into the business?Is there was anything to indicate that he played any part in that company.Did he come and go as he chose and determine how and when he worked subject to any practical exigencies such as emergencies and deadlines?Was he involved in company procedures such as appraisals?Was he paid when he did not work.Did he have specialist skills which gave him a stronger bargaining position in the market place,Is a courier a worker?Another tribunal case with QCs on both sides.  She was claiming 2 days’ unpaid holiday and that she was a worker. The Citysprint contract was headed Confirmation of tender to supply courier services to CitySprint (UK) ltd.  Remember this is one woman and her push bike.   Decision not surprisingly, was that the courier was a worker.Pimlico PlumbersAll of this now is reinforced by the Court of Appeal case Pimlico Plumbers and Charlie Mullins v Gary Smith which is binding on the lower courts and tribunals.  What were the key characteristics.? Bear in mind that this is not some put upon cycle courier.  The Claimant was on any basis well paid; by all accounts £80,000 per year.  It was the application of the law to the facts and a working pattern that would be familiar in construction, professional services and insurance.  At the heart of the case was the assessment of whether it was a contract for personal services and the Appeal Court held it was and that fairly and squarely made it Worker status. To quote from the facts outlinedYou shall provide such building trade services are within your skills”; in sub-paragraph 2.2 that “You shall provide the Services for such periods as may be agreed with the Company … The actual days on which you will provide the Services will be agreed between you and the Company …”; in sub-paragraph 2.4 that “you will be competent to perform the work which you agree to carry out”, and “you will promptly correct … any errors in your work …”; in sub-paragraph 2.5 that “If you are unable to work due to illness or injury … you will notify the Company”; and in sub-paragraph 3.9 that “You will have personal liability for the consequences of your services to the Company”Conclusions Common sense dictates that if an individual depends on your business for all or most of their income then, that person will be a worker. In the name of workplace standards, you may well impose methods of working and provide equipment and tools.  you will probably and rightly have health & safety protocols which you apply. unless the individual is a professional or tradesperson conducting business on their own account and for a number of clients then assume that person will be a worker.Please get in touch with our qualified team of employment solicitors should you seek for professional advice.