On 8 February, the Employment Rights Act 1996 (Itemised Pay Statement) (Amendment) Order 2018 was laid before Parliament. The Order, which is due to come into force on 6 April 2019, makes changes to the information that must be shown on the payslips of employees whose wages vary depending on the amount of time they have worked.

Currently, payslips need only show details of the employee's gross wages or salary, any deductions made from the gross figure, and the net amount of wages or salary payable. From 6 April 2019, where the employee's wages are dependent on how much time they have worked, the total number of hours worked must be shown either as a single aggregate figure or as separate figures for different types of work or different rates of pay.

The change should make it easier for employees to check the accuracy of their pay and to easily identify if they have been paid the National Living Wage or the correct rate of the National Minimum Wage for the hours worked.

In addition, the Government has introduced the Employment Rights Act 1996 (Itemised Pay Statement) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2018, which extends the right to receive a payslip to all workers from 6 April 2019.

For help or advice on this or other related employment law matters, please speak to Samantha Glynn on 0121 698 2200 or email. s.glynn@sydneymitchell.co.uk

Judges do not flinch from enforcing contracts for the sale of land and that is a good reason why you should never sign on the dotted line before taking legal advice. In a cautionary tale that underlined the point, a man who reneged on a deal to buy a family home for £5 million was ordered to pay seven-figure compensation to the disappointed vendors.

The buyer had not viewed the property before contracts were exchanged and had dealt with the vendors through an intermediary whom he had never previously met. However, he had signed the contract in person and a judge rejected claims that the intermediary had acted without his authority or that the contract was rendered void when the latter agreed to accept a secret commission.

After the buyer pulled out and the deal was aborted, the vendors eventually sold their home for the lower price of £4.2 million. After lawyers launched proceedings on their behalf, they were awarded £800,000 to reflect the difference between the two figures and further substantial sums to cover their additional expenses, including the costs of bridging finance occasioned by the breach of contract. Although the precise amount of compensation had yet to be calculated, the vendors’ lawyers estimated their total award at £1.5 million.

For advice on residential property matters, contact Adam Oleskow, Partner 0121 746 3300 a.oleskow@sydneymitchell.co.uk or a member of staff in our conveyancing department.

Midlands Top Tier Award Winning law firm Sydney Mitchell LLP is delighted to announce that Sundeep Bilkhu has been promoted to Associate Solicitor in the Dispute Resolution Team. Sundeep has proven his strength in all types of property and professional negligence related matters within the firm.

Sundeep’s expertise, commercial and analytical approach to property and professional negligence disputes has been well received by so many of our commercial and private clients and he has obtained some great results for these clients.

said Dean Parnell, Sydney Mitchell Partner and Head of Dispute Resolution in Birmingham.

Sundeep Bilkhu commented:

I am delighted with my promotion to Associate Solicitor at Sydney Mitchell.  I really enjoy working within the litigation team who have some excellent lawyers and we are all highly motivated and keen to deliver a first class service to our clients.

 

Law firm Sydney Mitchell LLP has offices in Birmingham, Shirley, Sheldon and facilities in Sutton Coldfield.  The firm provides an extensive portfolio of legal services is listed in the Top Tier of the Legal 500, Lexcel accredited and won the Birmingham Law Society award for Law Firm of the Year (5- 15 partners) in 2015.  Sydney Mitchell employs over 100 people and has 10 partners.

Over 70 attended the Sydney Mitchell LLP ‘Movers & Shakers’ Midlands Networking event at Ginger’s Bar, Purnell’s Bistro in Newhall Street Birmingham.

Karen Moores, Partner said: “An excellent turnout; with many guests commenting on the relaxed atmosphere and the good cross–section of professionals joining in from the city. The food as always was superb; provided by Glyn Purnell and his team.”

Sydney Mitchell specialist teams include employment, commercial property, company and commercial services, litigation, insolvency, licensing and gambling law. Private client teams include family law, residential property, dispute resolution and wills and probate, tax and trusts and personal injury.

Pictures - link below

https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/118282019319079940924/+SydneymitchellCoUkOfficial

Wishing all clients, contacts, family and friends of Sydney Mitchell LLP a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Sydney Mitchell is recognised in the Top Tier of the Legal 500 and ‘punches above its weight’ for contentious and non-contentious matters. The firm is recognised for thoroughness and good commercial approach to cases.

Sydney Mitchell has again been recognised as a Tier 1 firm for its Contentious Wills and Probate work; handling a variety of high-value complex cases.

In total the firm has obtained recommendations in 13 areas of legal practice; Contentious Probate, Commercial Litigation, Debt Recovery, Insolvency and Corporate Recovery, Employment, Clinical Negligence, Personal Injury, Professional Negligence, Family, Personal Tax, Trusts and Probate, Health, Commercial Property and Property Litigation.

The firm’s clients have made some excellent comments on the work undertaken by the legal teams.

Div Singh, Senior Partner, Sydney Mitchell commented:

    We have had excellent results again this year with the firm maintaining its ranking in Tier 1 for our Contentious Probate work.

    We were especially pleased for some of our young solicitors Hayley–Jo Lockley and Preena Lal who have been recognised for their hard work and dedication. Our clients and referrers have made fantastic comments on the work we have undertaken for them including…

    ‘One of the strongest of the smaller city centre firms in commercial litigation’;  ‘experienced and sensible with sound judgement and a particular skill at negotiating very good deals…; ‘superstar and a joy to work with’; ‘very tenacious …’ ‘attention to detail and thorough approach’. Karen Moores is highlighted in her position as Head of Family and the Private Client team is led by Tracy Creed who is said to be 'extremely professional and efficient in all engagements and dealings.'

    What more can you ask for than recommendations from your clients for the excellent service received for work undertaken by our legal teams.

The joint heads of the Dispute Resolution team, Dean Parnell and Kamal Majevadia were recognised for their high-value and complex claims undertaken with Dean recognised for his “technical knowledge that is second to none and is a solicitor you would want on your side’ and Kamal ‘… is very thorough and applies a good commercial approach to his cases’.’

Karen Moores, Head of the Family Law Team, commented:

It is good to see the firm recognised for the quality of work we do in the Legal 500.  We pride ourselves in providing a first-rate service and our staff are committed to getting the best resolution we can for our clients.

Tracy Creed, Head of Private client added:

Exceptional service and attention to detail is at the heart of our services for clients.  It is great that our clients feel strongly enough about the quality and level of service they receive to endorse us in this way.

Leading Midlands Law firm Sydney Mitchell is ranked in 13 Legal 500 categories, has 21 laywers recommended in the Legal 500 and has won Birmingham Law Firm of the Year 4 times in the last 9 years.

A full breakdown of the Sydney Mitchell recommendations and comments on Legal 500 are shown below.

Legal 500 2017 - Link - http://www.legal500.com/firms/3216/746

A full breakdown of the Sydney Mitchell recommendations and comments on Legal 500 are shown below.

West Midlands: Dispute resolution

Commercial litigation: Birmingham

Commercial litigation: Birmingham - ranked: tier 3

Sydney Mitchell LLP

Sydney Mitchell LLP is ‘one of the strongest of the smaller city centre firms in commercial litigation’, and thrives under the leadership of Dean Parnell, who is ‘very experienced and sensible, with sound judgement and a particular skill at negotiating very good deals for his clients’. Parnell is an experienced mediator and is also qualified to act as a supervising solicitor for search orders. The practice represented clients in a number of multimillion-pound claims and noted an increase in injunctive relief, SWAP claims, shareholder disputes and civil fraud. Kamal Majevadia, who co-heads the team with Parnell, has ‘good technical knowledge and is particularly good at insolvency, restructuring and financial professional negligence cases’.

Debt recovery

Debt recovery - ranked: tier 3

Sydney Mitchell LLP (Birmingham)

Sydney Mitchell LLP’s ‘very efficient’ team has a ‘light touch’ and is led by Kamal Majevadia, who is ‘adept at spotting the wood for the trees and combines this with a user-friendly sense of humour for very experienced officeholders such as liquidators, who are his staple clients’. Majevadia’s recent caseload includes acting on behalf of the administrators of Blakemores in relation to the collection of several large debts from former clients. Another name to note is insolvency specialist Leanne Schneider-Rose, who leads on debt recovery matters for business lenders such as AIB Group (UK) and West Bromwich Commercial. The practice also acts for secondary lenders on mortgage repossessions.

West Midlands: Finance

Insolvency and corporate recovery

Insolvency and corporate recovery - ranked: tier 3

Sydney Mitchell LLP (Birmingham)

Sydney Mitchell LLP’s practice offers ‘exceptional value for money’ and is also noted for its ability to ‘quickly grasp the instruction and work with the officeholder to implement (and refine as necessary) the strategy’. Practice head Leanne Schneider-Rose has a loyal following of lenders and insolvency practitioners, such as AIB Group and Smith & Williamson, and wins praise for her ‘attention to detail and thorough approach’. In one example, Schneider-Rose acted for a bankrupt in the Court of Appeal in a claim against receivers for breach of duty regarding a property owned by the bankrupt.

West Midlands: Human resources

Employment

Employment - ranked: tier 5

Sydney Mitchell LLP (Birmingham)

Sydney Mitchell LLP’s diverse practice ‘punches above its weight’. The practice acts for employers and individuals in contentious and non-contentious matters, and Birmingham-based team head Dean Parnell attracts praise for his ability to ‘focus on solutions rather than conflict for the sake of it’. He represented an individual in a complex disability discrimination and victimisation claim against their employer, as well as a shareholder who was dismissed on the grounds of gross misconduct following a health and safety audit. Jade Linton is ‘a superstar and a joy to work with’; she acted for an individual in sexual harassment and sex discrimination claims under the Equality Act 2010, which was complicated by the fact the claimant and respondent had previously been in a relationship. She also handled a whistleblowing claim brought by a high-ranked executive whose employment was terminated due to suspicions of fraudulent activity. Associate Tina Chander left the firm to join Wright Hassall LLP.

West Midlands: Insurance

Clinical negligence: claimant

Clinical negligence: claimant - ranked: tier 3

Sydney Mitchell LLP (Birmingham)

Sydney Mitchell LLP is ‘a small firm that really punches above its weight’, and clients rate it for ‘having the skills and knowledge to handle a vast array of negligence and personal injury matters’. Mike Sutton leads the clinical negligence practice; he ‘has an excellent manner with clients’ and his experience ‘allows him to focus on the key issues in the early stages of a case’. Sutton is representing the wife of a man who died of a pulmonary embolism following the hospital’s alleged failure to appropriately treat him during the post-operative recovery period. Stephen Jesson acted for a claimant seeking compensation in light of the alleged delay in diagnosis of cancer, and is acting in a group claim filed against a consultant urological surgeon for alleged improper treatment of prostate cancer.

Next generation lawyers

Stephen Jesson - Sydney Mitchell LLP

Personal injury: claimant

Personal injury: claimant - ranked: tier 3

Sydney Mitchell LLP (Birmingham)

Sydney Mitchell LLP acts for local clients on a wide range of personal injury work – much of which consists of multi-track claims – and ‘has a strong reputation in the West Midlands’. Team leader and ‘very tenacious lawyer’ Mike Sutton ‘does not shy away from difficult, complicated or messy cases’; he recently represented a man who suffered career-ending injuries following an accident at work, and acted on behalf of the family and financial dependents of a man killed by careless driving. Other key names include Stephen Jesson, who assisted an elderly client in her claim against a restaurant which allegedly failed to provide the duty owed by the manager to a disabled customer.

Professional negligence

Professional negligence - ranked: tier 4

Sydney Mitchell LLP (Birmingham)

Sydney Mitchell LLP handles high-value and complex claims regarding property and banking issues for clients such as Hertford Solutions and West Bromwich Building Society. The ‘commercially astute’ Dean Parnell has ‘technical knowledge that is second to none and is a solicitor you would want on your side’. He leads the practice with Kamal Majevadia, who is singled out for insolvency, restructuring and financial cases. Assistant solicitor Sundeep Bilkhu supports the partners with regards to negligence claims against solicitors and construction professionals, and recently represented a professional client in a case against his governing body for allegedly failing to adequately represent him in court resulting in significant liability costs. The ‘hardworking and responsive’ Preena Lal is also recommended.

West Midlands: Private client

Contentious trusts and probate

Contentious trusts and probate - ranked: tier 1

Sydney Mitchell LLP (Birmingham)

Sydney Mitchell LLP’s contentious trusts and probate team is based in Shirley and demonstrates ‘sound knowledge of the law, which it applies for the practical benefit of the client’. The team, led by Kamal Majevadia (who ‘is very thorough and applies a good commercial approach to his cases’) handled an Inheritance Act dispute in which a significant portion of the assets was held overseas. Solicitor Hayley-Jo Lockley supported the team in obtaining a grant of probate, forcing the removal of caveat and removing an individual from the deceased’s property, and led on the advice on the recovery of monies due to a client as per the deceased’s will. Tracy Creed is also a key contact.

Family: Birmingham

Family: Birmingham - ranked: tier 3

Sydney Mitchell LLP

At Sydney Mitchell LLP, Karen Moores leads the firm’s family team alongside Mauro Vinti, who works out of the Shirley office. The partners are supported by legal executive Jayne Gregg, who is ‘very positive and firm with her advice’. Recently, the team represented clients in the Birmingham family court in connection with financial remedy and child arrangement proceedings. Solicitor Teresa Mannion joined the firm in Shirley from Alsters Kelley LLP...

Personal tax, trusts and probate

Personal tax, trusts and probate - ranked: tier 2

Sydney Mitchell LLP (Birmingham)

Sydney Mitchell LLP’s clients find the wills, trusts and probate team, led by Tracy Creed, to be ‘extremely professional and efficient in all engagements and dealings’. The practice has substantial experience acting on behalf of vulnerable elderly clients in connection with care work and funding. Solicitor Ravinder Sandhu (whose ‘knowledge in this field is wide and deep’) recently assisted a client with the removal of an executor from an estate, and handled the administration of an estate according to a will, which was complicated by unclear paternity links and genealogical evidence. Clients also recommend ‘very good and helpful’ solicitor Nicholas Bennett, who is based in Shirley and acted for clients with regards to locating missing wills and applications for grants of probate.

West Midlands: Public sector

Health

Health - ranked: tier 3

Sydney Mitchell LLP (Birmigham)

Sydney Mitchell LLP’s public-sector healthcare practice is headed by Fahmida Ismail in Birmingham, closely supported by consultant Tony Harris, who splits his time between Birmingham and Shirley and acted for a retiring senior partner with regards to the cancellation of his GMS contract and the negotiation of his retirement agreement. Areas of expertise include advising on sales, acquisition and mergers of GP practices, partnership disputes, and LIFT and non-LIFT projects. Harris and Ismail recently advised on the changes to partnership agreements in the context of retiring and incoming partners and the re-mortgaging of freehold surgery premises through a complex borrowing scheme requiring safeguarding and indemnity clauses to protect each individual partner. In another mandate, Ismail oversaw the retirement of a GP partner who wished to remain an owner of the leasehold premises. Associates Stewart Coles and Roy Colaba recently represented a GP partnership in connection with the lease of its surgery premises, while Dean Parnell handled a commercial dispute between dentists working in the same practice where the relationship had completely broken down but a fee-sharing agreement remained.

West Midlands: Real estate

Commercial property: Birmingham

Commercial property: Birmingham - ranked: tier 5

Sydney Mitchell LLP

Sydney Mitchell LLP’s team includes the ‘knowledgeable, prompt and efficient’ Stewart Coles, who has particular expertise in dealing with property transactions involving pension schemes, and regularly acts on behalf of SIPPs and SSASs on the purchase, sale and leasing of commercial premises. Coles also represents clients in the retail and hospitality sectors and in 2016 he advised investors on a number of hotel acquisitions. Head of practice Div Singh and finance specialist Fahmida Ismail are the other main contacts.

Property litigation

Property litigation - ranked: tier 6

Sydney Mitchell LLP (Birmingham)

At Sydney Mitchell LLP, senior solicitor Sundeep Bilkhu is a ‘good driving force’ for cases and continued to be particularly active in landlord and tenant issues for lenders and receivers: Bilkhu represented Hertford Solutions in enforcing a possession order against a tenant in occupation, and also acted for a receiver in obtaining vacant possession of a property following the borrower’s default of a legal charge. In other highlights, the team is defending Property Link Midlands in a claim alleging breach of a landlord repair covenant in a lease. Kamal Majevadia heads the practice.

21 lawyers are recommended in The Legal 500 United Kingdom 2017 editorial (listed below)

WEST MIDLANDS

Dispute resolution - Commercial litigation - Birmingham
- Dean Parnell
- Kamal Majevadia

Dispute resolution - Debt recovery
- Kamal Majevadia
- Leanne Schneider-Rose

Finance - Insolvency and corporate recovery
- Leanne Schneider-Rose

Human resources - Employment
- Dean Parnell
- Jade Linton

Insurance - Clinical negligence - claimant
- Mike Sutton
- Stephen Jesson

Insurance - Personal injury - claimant
- Mike Sutton
- Stephen Jesson

Insurance - Professional negligence
- Dean Parnell
- Kamal Majevadia
- Preena Lal
- Sundeep Bilkhu

Private client - Contentious trusts and probate
- Hayley-Jo Lockley
- Kamal Majevadia
- Tracy Creed

Private client - Family - Elsewhere in the West Midlands
- Jayne Gregg
- Karen Moores
- Mauro Vinti
- Teresa Mannion

Private client - Personal tax, trusts and probate
- Nicholas Bennett
- Ravinder Sandhu
- Tracy Creed

Public sector - Health
- Dean Parnell
- Fahmida Ismail
- Roy Colaba
- Stewart Coles
- Tony Harris

Real estate - Commercial property - Birmingham
- Div Singh
- Fahmida Ismail
- Stewart Coles

Real estate - Property litigation
- Kamal Majevadia
- Sundeep Bilkhu

The NHS has admitted a second massive data loss with over 162,000 documents going missing, on top of 702,000 documents that are already known to have been lost in February 2017.

The revelation that even more records related to patients’ health have been lost came to light during a parliamentary inquiry into the loss of the original 702,000 documents. NHS managers have now admitted the loss of a further two tranches of missing medical papers, which has left MPs “dumbstruck”.

The latest lost documents are thought to include child protection notes treatment records and plans, drug plans and the results of various kinds of diagnostic tests. it is not yet known if the patients involved are at risk.

The National Audit Office found that NHS Shared Business Services (SBS), (the firm co-owned by the government that lost the documents) first recognised in January 2014 that patients may have come to harm as a result of what was at the time a fast-rising backlog of undelivered paperwork. However, despite staff raising concerns, the firm did not alert the department or NHS England until March last year – over two years later. SBS was then “obstructive and unhelpful” to NHS England in the inquiry it then instigated, the NAO found.

During an evidence session of the Commons public accounts committee, which is investigating the original data loss in February, Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, a Conservative committee member, said: “You tell us the bombshell that whilst on a trawl of local trusts you find another 12,000 and then you found another 150,000 [missing] items….Until you have sifted through them, you don’t know if there is a serious case out there where someone is dying because the notes haven’t been transferred…”

An NHS England spokesperson said: “These new cases have come to light as a result of our determination to leave no stone unturned and all these documents will be returned to GPs for clinical review where needed within the next 10 weeks. People should be reassured that despite reviewing over 97% of the records that SBS failed to process not a single case of patient harm has been identified.”

Adam Hodson, a specialist clinical negligence solicitor with the law firm, Sydney Mitchell, said, “This is another shocking revelation in what is already a very disturbing state of affairs for the NHS. Nearly a million patient documents have been lost, which has the potential to compromise the safety of thousands of patients. It is entirely feasible that this patients will come to harm as a result of this blunder, and the NHS must work quickly to rectify their mistakes to protect the public.”

If you are concerned by the content of this story or wish to discuss the medical treatment that you have received, please contact Adam Hodson on 0121 698 2200, email a.hodson@sydneymitchell.co.uk

Following a consultation, the Presidents of the Employment Tribunal have issued revised guidance on the amount of compensation payable for injury to feelings in discrimination cases (the 'Vento' bands).

In future, the guidance will be subject to revision on an annual basis, without the need for further consultation, with the first review taking place in March 2018.

The Presidents consider that, for the time being, the Retail Prices Index (RPI) is the appropriate measure of the rate of inflation to be applied.

Applying the formula adopted by the Presidents, the new bands for awards for injury to feelings are as follows:

• Lower band – between £800 and £8,400. Awards in this range are appropriate where the act of discrimination is an isolated or one-off occurrence;
• Middle band – between £8,400 and £25,200. Awards in this range are made in serious cases but where an award in the top band is not merited; and
• Top band – between £25,200 and £42,000. Awards in this range are made in the most serious cases, such as where there has been a lengthy campaign of discriminatory harassment. Only in exceptional circumstances will a compensation award for injury to feelings exceed the upper limit.

The Guidance will apply to claims presented to the ET on or after 11 September 2017.

The response to the consultation can be found on the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary's website. 

For further advice please contact Jade Linton on 0121 746 3300, email j.linton@sydneymitchell.co.uk or fill in our online enquiry form

If you take appointments as a Receiver or make such appointments then this seminar will be of interest to you!

Speakers

Our Senior Partner Div Singh will be opening the Event introducing our speakers:

• Leanne Schneider-Rose, Partner, Restructuring & Recoveries department
• Sundeep Bilkhu, Solicitor, Property Litigation

Key Objectives

The objectives of this seminar include –

• How to appoint a Receiver and how to ensure that you have been properly appointed
• Steps to be taken following an appointment
• Powers of a Receiver
• Duties of a Receiver
• Dealing with moveable assets and animals on or at the property
• Issues with tenants

You are invited to join us after the seminar for a light buffet and refreshments and the opportunity to speak to the team and ask any questions.

This is a FREE event. Please book now to avoid disappointment as places fill up quickly.

We very much look forward to seeing you there.

Eventbrite booking link – to book on line