The government risks breaching its obligation to provide a criminal defence service unless it urgently comes to the rescue of struggling legal aid firms, the Law Society warned this afternoon. Without extra support on top of existing initiatives to help businesses survive Covid-19, the sector is facing collapse, Chancery Lane says. Writing for lawgazette.co.uk, president Simon Davis renews the Society’s appeal for further help with cashflow through the Standard Monthly Payment scheme, together with business rates relief. Chancery Lane also wants previous legal aid cuts reversed, and the restarting of work on criminal and civil sustainability ‘to give firms reason […]

Thousands of UK small businesses are missing out on business grants for two reasons (Report, May 18). Firstly, they operate in a shared premises such as a market hall, and secondly they are not the named business rates payer. Market traders — often the business owners themselves — have seen revenue drop to zero coupled with very low furlough support funds due to paying themselves in dividends. Just as many businesses are not the named rates payer even though they are the ones paying the rates as part of rent. My business, Chai Guys, has paid business rates on a […]

Small businesses will be able to open a single online store selling products through Facebook and Instagram thanks to a new feature launched by the tech giant today. Facebook Shops, which will be rolled out over the coming months, allows customers to buy products through a firm’s business Facebook page or Instagram profile, or through stories and ads. Read more: Facebook and Instagram launch digital gift cards for small businesses The social media firm said the free tool, one of a string of new features to be introduced this year, is aimed at supporting small retailers that have been impacted […]

At a time in one’s life that should be their “golden years,” women over 65 are 80% more likely than men to live at or below the poverty line (9% as compared with 5%). One reason for this: divorce. A woman can expect an almost 30% decline in her standard of living following divorce, while men often see an increase of 10%. Take for example, a woman we’ll call Catherine, whose 20-year marriage recently ended. Catherine received half of a seven-figure estate, which included the family home. While this may sound advantageous from the outside looking in, her settlement was […]

Home > News The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has announced a further £1.5million emergency response fund to provide victims of domestic abuse with safe accommodation and support if they need to flee their homes during the coronavirus pandemic. The Mayor’s newly established £1.5m emergency response fund will provide urgent crisis support to survivors of domestic abuse and violence against women and girls, and includes support for male and LGBTQ+ victims. This is additional to £59 million the Mayor has invested in tackling violence against women and girls. The new fund has helped secure new, urgently needed, safe accommodation across the […]

By Ryan Denison | Wednesday, May 20, 2020 America facing shortage of ‘economically attractive’ unmarried men, study says; expert suggests churches can help. | Getty images How have you and your significant other been doing lately? For many, the quarantine was a boon to their relationships initially, with couples reporting that the extra time together had been an overall positive across the first two weeks of the shutdown. Since then, however, a survey by the team at True Public reports around a 20% drop in satisfaction as events place an increasingly large strain on people’s relationships. While those results could certainly be […]

“For some couples, the equilibrium relied on the fact that that they didn’t see each other very often or they were able to see their lovers,” said Annamaria Bernardini di Pace, a divorce lawyer. Since lockdown began on March 9, she has taken on 12 new divorce proceedings. The loss of jobs and worries about money have exacerbated the tensions between many couples. The increase in couples splitting is no surprise to lawyers – most continued to work during the lockdown, communicating with clients via Whatsapp, Skype and other platforms. “It is too early to give precise numbers but we […]

Image copyright Smith Collection/Gado Facebook and New Zealand’s Prime Minister are the latest supporters of flexible working as companies mull back-to-office strategies. On Thursday, Facebook said it plans to shift towards a more remote workforce as a long-term trend. New Zealand’s PM Jacinda Ardern this week suggested a four-day working week, partly to boost tourism in the country. As offices gradually re-open after coronavirus lockdown, more employers are looking at new ways of working. Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg told staff it was “aggressively opening up remote hiring” in July. He expects half of its workforce to do […]

Cycling legend Sir Bradley Wiggins and his wife Cath are separating after 16 years of marriage. The British Olympic star tweeted the sad news of the split last night and said their two children remained ‘a priority’. The Olympian – who lives with the Trough of Bowland, north of Preston with Cath – wrote: ‘It is with deep sadness my wife Cath and I have decided to separate. Our two children remain our priority and we ask for privacy at this time. Brad & Cath.’ Wiggins is believed to have three children – Ben, Rebekah and Isabella – but only two were […]

The majority of the British workforce would not have imagined working from home this year, with the majority used to working in offices and commuting. Around 1.7million people worked from home in 2019, or five per cent of the work force, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics  But the coronavirus pandemic has forced millions into lockdown and working from home – without time to prepare properly or having any knowledge of how to make a success of it. It is likely that a larger chunk of people may be expected to work from home in the future, […]