Feature Articles

Even a Biden presidency with limited political clout will almost certainly announce major emission cuts for November 2021’s COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow, boosting both the world’s zero-carbon drive and UK environmental credentials. Jon Herbert reports.

Drivers on furlough and their employers must take care to ensure that they continue to observe the requirements of both the Drivers’ Hours and Working Time Regulations. This will particularly be the case where a driver is furloughed by one employer but continues to work for another. In this article, Richard Smith looks at the different scenarios.

In hard financial times, cost cutting considerations can be carried out across the board, sometimes with no part of the business safe from belt-tightening. The coronavirus has brought much harder financial hardships than have been seen for many years. Many employers have been forced to close their businesses, and put their staff on furlough and claim their wages from a government grant. It is therefore no surprise that some employers will now be thinking about scrapping their employees’ bonus schemes, as they can add up to a significant profit pay out. While removing them can seem like an easy first step to relieving pressure on businesses, is it as easy as it sounds?

The consequences of Covid-19 have hit the passenger road transport industry particularly hard and, realistically, it is likely to be several more months before private hire passenger transport — the football match away-day, the London theatre day-trip, the Swiss Alps skiing tour — is back to what it was. Whether the impact of a financial hit is terminal or survivable, it is important that operators continue to comply with their O-licence undertakings: failing to do so could be fatal to the chances of remaining in — or returning to — the industry. Pellys Transport and Regulatory Law looks at the obligations to the Traffic Commissioner regarding the financial standing requirement and the best course of action during financial struggles.

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused many changes to our working lives, not least of which being staff working from home more than they likely have ever done before. With many companies across the UK potentially considering whether homeworking should become a more long-term arrangement, it is important to evaluate if this could work for a company going forward. Ben McCarthy, lead researcher and employment law writer at Croner-i, examines this more closely below.