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02 February 2024 / Stephen Gold
Issue: 8057 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Civil way
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Civil way: 2 February 2024

Flexi gets flexier; Unpaid carer boost; Latest CPR update; Exclusion clause blues; Ombudspals

LAWBITES

Fast Flexi The requirement for 26 continuous weeks in the job before entitlement can arise to make a flexible working application disappears on 6 April 2024. It will be possible for an employee to apply from the moment they have donned their new uniform, tasted their first brew or drafted their first credit hire claim form. The Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (SI 2023/1328) are responsible for abandoning the minimum employment duration condition. Alongside them, the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 will be brought fully into force and supported by an Acas-drafted revised code of practice, which has recently been published.

Unpaid leave reward for carers The Carer’s Leave Act 2023 came fully into force on 4 December 2023 through SI 2023/1283. By way of amendment to the Employment Rights Act 1996, it gives employees who are unpaid carers the statutory right to up to five days’ unpaid leave a year in support of their

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Bellevue Law—Lianne Craig

Bellevue Law—Lianne Craig

Workplace law firm expands commercial disputes team with senior consultant hire

EIP—Rob Barker

EIP—Rob Barker

IP firm promotes patent attorney to partner

Muckle LLP—Ryan Butler

Muckle LLP—Ryan Butler

Banking and restructuring team bolstered by insolvency specialist

NEWS
The Supreme Court has delivered a decisive ruling on termination under the JCT Design & Build form. Writing in NLJ this week, Andrew Singer KC and Jonathan Ward, of Kings Chambers, analyse Providence Building Services v Hexagon Housing Association [2026] UKSC 1, which restores the first-instance decision and curbs contractors’ termination rights for repeated late payment
Secondments, disciplinary procedures and appeal chaos all feature in a quartet of recent rulings. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Smith, barrister and emeritus professor of employment law at UEA, examines how established principles are being tested in modern disputes
The AI revolution is no longer a distant murmur—it’s at the client’s desk. Writing in NLJ this week, Peter Ambrose, CEO of The Partnership and Legalito, warns that the ‘AI chickens’ have ‘come home to roost’, transforming not just legal practice but the lawyer–client relationship itself
A High Court ruling involving the Longleat estate has exposed the fault line between modern family building and historic trust drafting. Writing in NLJ this week, Charlotte Coyle, director and family law expert at Freeths, examines Cator v Thynn [2026] EWHC 209 (Ch), where trustees sought approval to modernise trusts that retain pre-1970 definitions of ‘child’, ‘grandchild’ and ‘issue’
Fresh proposals to criminalise ‘nudification’ apps, prioritise cyberflashing and non-consensual intimate images, and even ban under-16s from social media have reignited debate over whether the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023) is fit for purpose. Writing in NLJ this week, Alexander Brown, head of technology, media and telecommunications, and Alexandra Webster, managing associate, Simmons & Simmons, caution against reactive law-making that could undermine the Act’s ‘risk-based and outcomes-focused’ design
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