The Supreme Court has confirmed that the lack of statutory protection against detriment for participating in industrial action breaches the right of freedom of assembly under article 11 European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Background In the case of Secretary of State for Business and Trade v Mercer, Mrs Mercer was employed as a support worker by AFG and was a workplace representative for the trade union UNISON. She was involved in planning strike action. She gave media interviews about the strikes and participated in the strikes herself. She was then suspended from work, and was told th ..read more

The Government has confirmed that the new statutory Code of Practice on dismissal and re-engagement will be brought into force by July 2024, subject to parliamentary approval. Background The Government committed to publishing a new statutory Code of Practice on dismissal and re-engagement (Statutory Code) in order to encourage transparent practices and meaningful staff consultation in scenarios where an employer is considering dismissing staff and offering them re-engagement on new terms. Importantly, the Code does not change the law in this area, but is intended to help employers follow the c ..read more

A recent EAT decision demonstrates the importance of evidencing reasons for post-TUPE changes to terms and conditions of employment, in order to successfully defend claims. Post-transfer changes to terms and conditions The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (TUPE) operate to protect the workforce where a business is sold or where the responsibility for providing a service transfers from one entity to another. In either of these scenarios, staff contracts automatically transfer from the outgoing to incoming employer. Changes to the terms and conditions of transferri ..read more

A recent Court of Appeal case has provided important guidance for those drafting patent licences. Royalty obligations in patent licences may match the scope of the licence and the validity and scope of the licensed patents, or they may be triggered independently so they apply whether the patents would be infringed or not. This is a choice to be made by the parties negotiating a patent licence. Sometimes we stare at a sentence for a long time trying to ensure that it means what we are actually thinking, doing our best to avoid future confusion in the relatively unlikely scenario in which we ne ..read more

The independent report on equity in medical devices and the MHRA's response were published on 11 March 2024. This review was first commissioned because oximeters used in the UK were less accurate for those with darker skin tones, leading to a risk of low blood oxygen not being picked up as quickly for these patients. The paper addressed disparities in access to medical devices and set out 18 recommendations to ensure that everyone benefits from technological advancements in healthcare. Independent review executive summary The report focused on three types of medical devices that were consider ..read more

A new Procurement Policy Note has been published which provides an updated Standard Selection Questionnaire. This applies to all above-threshold procurements. You are able to use the new Selection Questionnaire (SQ) straight away but the deadline to implement it into tenders is 27 June 2024. The new SQ provides important guidance on considering bids from Russian/ Belarusian suppliers. It clarifies that if a supplier is organised under the law of Russia or Belarus or their Person of Significant Control (PSC) lists either country as their place of residency, contracting authorities are able to ..read more

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has upheld an Employment Tribunal's decision to reject a race discrimination claim, despite finding that the Tribunal had erred in some of its reasoning. The burden of proof rule in discrimination Where key facts are in dispute in litigation, the law imposes a burden of proof to determine which side has the ultimate responsibility of proving their case to the Tribunal. As a general rule, it is for the claimant to prove their case, ie that they are entitled to bring the claim and entitled to the remedy sought. Section 136 of the Equality Act 2010 imposes a d ..read more

From 6 April 2024, employees in England, Wales and Scotland have a statutory right to one week's unpaid carer's leave. Both the government and ACAS have now published helpful guidance on how carer's leave will work in practice. What is the new right to carer's leave? Employees are entitled to take up to a maximum of one week unpaid leave per year to care for or arrange care for a dependant with a long term care need. The dependant does not need to be a family member and can ultimately be anyone who relies on the employee for care. A long term care need is considered as: A physical or mental i ..read more

The Employment Appeal Tribunal has found that an employer was justified in dismissing an employee due to a breakdown in working relationships, despite the fact the employer did not follow a process or offer a right of appeal. The law on unfair dismissal Employees with more than two years' service are entitled to claim ordinary unfair dismissal if their employment is terminated. In order to dismiss an employee fairly, the employer must have identified a fair reason for dismissal. In cases where the reason for dismissal is a breakdown in a working relationship, this can form the basis of termina ..read more

Members of the Labour party, including the current Shadow Minister for Science, Peter Kyle, and Shadow Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, recently visited Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst to launch their Life Sciences Sector Plan. The Stevenage campus is the third biggest cell and gene therapy cluster globally, and the largest outside of the US. It has been recognised with Life Sciences Opportunity Zone status and High Potential Opportunity status. Since its establishment in 2011, tenants have collectively raised over £3 billion. The recent visit represents the increasingly widespread engagement i ..read more