On Tuesday the chancellor George Osborne delivered his 2011
autumn statement to parliament. The Law Society responded to
measures involving credit easing, immigration and employment.
Credit easing
Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson says:
'The Law Society welcomes credit easing measures detailed in the
autumn statement as they will benefit many high street law firms
that have struggled to obtain credit in the current economic
climate.
'If the measures achieve a one per cent drop in lending rates to
small businesses, as detailed in Mr Osborne's speech today, then
this will increase the supply of finance to many small and medium
sized firms.'
Immigration
'We're fully behind the government's encouragement to businesses
of all sizes to adopt an export mentality, but at the same time its
own approach to immigration is hampering successful firms' ability
to employ highly talented individuals who can support their export
drive. This isn't the time to be giving the impression that the UK
is in any way unwelcoming to global business.'
Employment
'The Law Society welcomes any simplification of procedures, but
not at the expense of clarity.'
(See commentary below for more detail on employment
measures).
Further commentary
Employment tribunal fees - The government
will shortly publish a consultation on the introduction of fees for
anyone wishing to take a claim to an employment tribunal.
- We will provide a thorough response to this consultation but
our immediate concern is that fees (if deemed appropriate) are
proportional and do not represent an obstacle for access to
justice, especially for those of low means.
Compromise agreements - The government
will develop a model agreement for use by smaller businesses,
consult on a legislative change to enable compromise agreements to
cover all existing and future claims, and rename agreements as
'settlement agreements'.
- We particularly welcome the decision to address the issues that
we highlighted so strongly to the government earlier this year on
Section 147 Equality Act & Compromise Agreements. Clarity could
not come sooner for the benefit of employers and
practitioners.
Financial penalties - The government will
introduce a provision for employment tribunals to levy a financial
penalty on employers found to have breached employment rights
(payable to the Exchequer), but will allow judges the discretion
about whether to exercise this power to ensure that employers are
not penalised for inadvertent errors.
- For threats to be not worth making, any sanction would need to
be an adequate deterrent in all cases, and not just the relatively
few occasions when the issue will be pursued.
Mediation - The government will work with
industry and key stakeholders to change attitudes to mediation and
embed it as an accepted part of the dispute resolution process. As
a first step, the government will explore with large businesses in
the retail sector how they might share their mediation expertise
with smaller businesses in their supply chain. The government will
also pilot local mediation networks for small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs).
- We are to begin discussions with BIS next week on the role of
mediation in employment.
Employment tribunal Rules of Procedure -
Mr Justice Underhill will lead a fundamental review of the
employment tribunal Rules of Procedure. In the meantime, the
government will change the rules on witness statements and
expenses, cost and deposit orders and judges sitting alone in
unfair dismissal cases.
- Simplicity is ideal but should not be at the expense of due
process and substantive rights. We keenly await and will feed into
Mr Justice Underhill's review. Angharad Harris (Chair, Employment
Law Committee- Law Society) has been invited to join the working
party.
Employment tribunal claims - The
government will require all potential claimants to submit their
employment tribunal claim to the Advisory, Conciliation and
Arbitration Service (ACAS) so that early conciliation can take
place.
- We welcome measures to try and reduce unnecessary litigation
but this must be accompanied by appropriate funding for ACAS to
carry out any new pre-claim role properly and effectively. If this
does not materialise, it could have the effect of strengthening the
resolve for litigation.
Agency Workers Directive - The government
will examine the paperwork obligations of the Agency Worker
Regulations in 18 months' time to ensure that the practical
arrangements for employers are as simple as possible.
- The Law Society is generally supportive but this is conditional
on the maintenance of adequate protections for agency workers being
maintained.