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Outset Blog

Are you looking for high quality legal, HR and safety advice? You have come to the right place.

We regularly write about a range of different topics and welcome your comments on our posts. If you would like more information on our services, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Landmark ruling - failure to make adjustments for mental health

Suzanne Brookes
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On 14 February 2024, the High Court dismissed an appeal by the University of Bristol against a ruling that it had discriminated against one of its students on the grounds of her disability by failing to make reasonable adjustments to its assessment process,...

Influential women in law and the laws that made it possible

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A look back through the history books at the influential women in law and the laws passed that changed history for women in the workplace.

Making neurodiverse inclusive workplaces

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At least 1 in 7 people are neurodiverse, so its highly likely there are employees in your organisation who are neurodiverse. Neurodiversity has been in the spotlight frequently over the last few years as we all begin to understand and appreciate that not...

Ask the Expert: AI in the workplace

Daniel Smith
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Each month we will be asking a question on a hot topic to one of our employment specialists. This month, Daniel Smith, Senior Associate considers the topic of AI in the workplace! “If we suspect our team are using AI (such as ChatGPT) to create...

Guidance on reasonable adjustments for menopause

Tessa Robinson
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The Equality and Human Rights Commission have, last week, published guidance for employers on menopause and the Equality Act. The aim is to clarify the legal obligations of employers and to foster positive conversations about the menopause with their...

Holiday pay for atypical workers - the next step...

Chloe Pereira
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Last year we reported on the change in how holiday pay should be calculated for part year, permanent workers. In the  Harpur Trust v Brazel  case, the Supreme Court ruled that holiday entitlement for workers who only work part of the year (such as...

Managing differences of opinion in the workplace

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The recent death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has brought to the fore the variety of opinions on the place of the monarchy in modern Britain. Indeed, this week we saw the arrest of one protestor waiving an anti-monarchy placard as a matter of breach of...

Commercial Property - getting the right legal advice

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Correct commercial property advice is an essential ingredient to ensure your transaction proceeds smoothly and your risk is minimised. To prevent issues from occurring our commercial property team will provide excellent property advice on all areas of...

Conflict resolution in a hybrid workplace

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One of the emerging challenges of the working from home culture that emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic for HR teams is conflict resolution in the workplace. Any assumption that just because workers are physically remote and, therefore, conflict between...

Holiday pay for part year workers

Chloe Pereira
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The Supreme Court has (finally) ruled that workers that only work part of the year (such as term-time and casual workers) are entitled to the holiday pay calculated on a similar basis as colleagues working all year. 

Spotlight on... Working Abroad

Chloe Pereira
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The pandemic has undoubtedly changed the way life was before anyone had ever heard the words ‘coronavirus’, ‘covid’ and ‘furlough’. One of the biggest shifts we’ve seen is in the world of work – employees want...

HR learnings from Love Island

Molly Mackay
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Back for its eighth season following a 2015 revival, Love Island has a summer-long grip on the nation, eager to keep up with the recouplings and updates from the Mallorcan villa. Typically comprising of contestants in their twenties, looking to couple up...

Survey says: part-time staff don't work as hard

Chloe Pereira
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In a study conducted by flexible working consultancy business, Timewise, 48% of workers said they would not trust a part-time colleague with an important or ‘business-critical’ task, whilst 49% believed that it was not possible to have a...

Spotlight on...PILON

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Spotlight on…PILON Replacing our ‘Believe it or not’ feature, this new Spotlight piece will focus on a small employment law topic each week and provide a bite size breakdown of it, starting with PILONs. Pay in lieu of notice –...

Changes to right to work checks

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Changes to right to work checks The Home Office has confirmed that the temporary covid-19 adjusted right to work checks – allowing employers to conduct video checks, have been extended to 30 September 2022 inclusive. However, in light of further...

Positively working with Ayda - remote working

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Positively working with Ayda Working remotely or remotely working? Many organisations have opted to engage in hybrid systems which consist of working from the office, flexible working and working from home. Working from home or more flexibly, has...

Mandatory vaccines revoked

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Mandatory vaccines revoked On 31 January 2022, the government announced that it intended to revoke the regulations that would require all those working in health and social care settings to be vaccinated against covid-19 from 1 April 2022. A consultation...

Employer support for Ukrainians

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Employer support for Ukrainians Since the invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February, we’ve had several employers contact us asking what support they can offer to Ukrainian nationals. The UK government has been slower to respond than some of mainland...

Chloe's The Apprentice Blog - The Interviews (S16 E11)

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The Interviews It’s the penultimate week and the ladies face what’s likely to be the toughest interview process of their lives. Harpreet assures Kathryn she’s not scared of anyone – but perhaps she should be. It’s as though...

Chloe's The Apprentice Blog - Baby Boom (S16 E10)

Chloe Pereira
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This week the teams have to design a healthy baby food, come up with a brand and packaging, then sell it to retailers. The PMs As the only one with kids (how does he have a 15 year old!?) the girls are keen to put Aaron in place as PM of Diverse. They...

Chloe's The Apprentice Blog - Teams on Tour (S16 E6)

Chloe Pereira
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This week the teams are in Wales hosting tours. With 16 tickets each to sell, they have to avoid upsetting their customers (and each other) and make the most profit to win.

SSP rebate scheme

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On 19 January 2022 the government reintroduced the SSP rebate scheme. Employers with 250 employees and less can reclaim up to 2 weeks’ SSP paid to an employee from 21 December 2021 onwards. If a period of sickness started pre 21 December, the employer...

Ayda Analyses wellbeing & working

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Ayda is carrying out her training contract with Outset, currently working in the employment team. With a real passion for penning her tips and experience in her professional and personal journey, she’s going to share these with us as a regular feature....

Dealing with the tricky issues - personal hygiene

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One of the most difficult situations for employers is dealing with an employee who is dirty, smelly or a combination of both. If you’ve received complaints about an employee’s lack of personal hygiene, it’s always best to have an initial...

Tackling tricky issues - personal hygiene

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One of the most difficult situations for employers is dealing with an employee who is dirty, smelly or a combination of both. If you’ve received complaints about an employee’s lack of personal hygiene, it’s always best to have an initial...

More changes to right to work checks

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Most employers welcomed the convenience of remote right to work checks over the last couple of years, introduced as a result of the pandemic. Reverting to the usual in person checks has been a pain. However, from 6 April there will be some permanent...

Drug and Alcohol Testing in the Workplace

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Employers have a duty to ensure a safe place of work and safe systems for their employees, as well as to protect the health and safety of visitors to their premises and anyone else who may be affected by the work of their staff. Substance misuse can...

Chloe's The Apprentice Blog - Oops! They did it again (S16 E2)

Chloe Pereira
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Chloe's popular The Apprentice is back and this week the teams were tasked with designing a toothbrush for 6-8 year olds, and an app to encourage kids to brush their teeth properly. What could possibly go wrong? 

'Your employment is terminated, effective immediately'

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You may have seen the uproar of critical reviews on social media against the US digital mortgage company Better.com after footage of the call was circulated showing the company's  CEO  firing 900 members of staff over...

Government Kickstart scheme and apprentice bonus extension

Chloe Pereira
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Government Kickstart scheme and apprentice bonus extension Kickstart is a government-backed scheme that provides funding to create new 6-month fixed-term jobs for 16- to 24-year-olds in receipt of Universal Credit who are at risk of long-term...

Flexible Working will not become the default

Chloe Pereira
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Flexible Working will not become the default But you can have your say about other changes Currently, employees with at least 26 weeks’ service can make a request to work flexibly. The employer must consider the request, following a specific...

Extra holiday in 2022 - or is it?

Chloe Pereira
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Extra holiday in 2022 – or is it? With everything that’s been going on you can be forgiven for forgetting, or not even noticing, that we’re getting an extra bank holiday in 2022. It’s the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee so Friday 3...

Health & Safety Alert - protection extended to workers

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Health & Safety Alert - protection extended to workers There have been so many changes in 2021 – furlough ending, an increase in hybrid working, the extension of IR35 to the private sector, statutory pay rises, etc.  There is one however...

The Great Staffing Crisis

Chloe Pereira
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Some are calling it the “Great Resignation, but “The Great Staffing Crisis” seems apt to me. The UK isn’t short of sectors complaining of desperately challenging recruitment conditions: Hospitality Food & Drink NHS and care...

A guide to right to work checks

Chloe Pereira
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We’ve published a few articles about right to work checks but especially in this post Brexit era it remains a hot topic and, understandably, source of confusion for many. We’ve put together a high-level guide to hopefully steer you through...

Legal challenges in the headlines

Chloe Pereira
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Taking a look at some legal challenges in the headlines, including mandatory vaccinations, furlough and short term working and ethnicity pay gap reporting.

The legal right to disconnect

Chloe Pereira
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In a recent study conducted by Autonomy, a future of work think-tank, working from home during COVID-19 has been linked to an epidemic of hidden overtime, having negative effects on workers'...

Autumn and Winter government COVID plan

Chloe Pereira
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On 14 September the government posted an updated plan for managing covid throughout the upcoming autumn/winter seasons. In it, it reports that “data continues to show that the link between cases, hospitalisations, and deaths has weakened significantly...

Beware of using personal email accounts for business

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The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) has found out the hard way that using your private email account for work is risky business! 

What does 'Freedom Day' mean for employers?

Chloe Pereira
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Every time I hear the term ‘Freedom Day’ I think of Bill Pullman’s speech in Independence Day. Google the YouTube clip - a lot of the words are surprisingly apt. But the 19 th  July in the real world was, thankfully, less dramatic. A...

Employing European Nationals - calculating sponsorship costs

Chloe Pereira
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The impact of Brexit means any EU national who doesn’t qualify for the settled status scheme which closed for applications on 30 June 2021 won’t be able to work lawfully in the UK without sponsorship.

Seven reasons to update your shareholders' agreement

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If you go into business with someone else, we regularly advise that you should put a Shareholders Agreement in place. A regular review and update is necessary to reflect business growth and evolution.

Compulsory Jabs for Care Home Workers

Chloe Pereira
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Following a 6-week consultation which ran from 14 April to 26 May 2021, the government confirmed on 16 June that compulsory COVID-19 vaccinations will be introduced for care home workers.

Will home working become a right for all?

Chloe Pereira
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There has been much media furore over whether the government will force employers to allow employees to work from home – but it looks like a storm in a teacup, at least for now.

The £2.5 million Tribunal award

Melissa Nelson
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Being the Respondent that has to pay the second largest disability discrimination award ever made by the Employment Tribunal was probably not the sort of publicity Kellog Brown and Root (UK) Ltd were aiming for. Background The Claimant in the case of ...

What do I do about...mental health wellbeing?

Chloe Pereira
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Mental health issues are nothing new, but the pandemic and its various knock on effects has seen a surge in people experiencing challenges with their mental health wellbeing. But this remains an area that some employers find tricky to recognise, address and...

Manual right to work checks back from 21 June

Chloe Pereira
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**UPDATE 31 AUGUST 2021** - MANUAL RIGHT TO WORK CHECKS NOW DELAYED UNTIL 5 APRIL 2022. The Home Office faced backlash from employers and industry bodies for announcing an end to virtual right to work checks from 17 May. This was despite the rule still...

Does Innovation extend to your employment practices?

Chloe Pereira
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There’s a growing trend of doing things differently, and it’s extending to employers’ approach to their employment practices. Honest Burgers have a down to earth tone running through their marketing and social media presence – think...