News in brief

The Employment Appeal Tribunal was due this week to hear a potentially ground-breaking case involving a job applicant whose offer of employment was withdrawn by DLA Piper after they disclosed a previous history of depression. The case, J v DLA Piper, is funded by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. A government amendment to the Equality Bill about the use of pre-employment health questionnaires was recently agreed by the House of Lords. The amendment means employers would have to prove they have not discriminated against people based on their disclosures about their health or disability.

Law Firms Desperate for Loans

Funding requests from law firms to help pay tax bills ahead of the 31 January deadline rose 63% on last year, according to independent finance provider, Syscap. In January, the firm reported 278 outstanding requests compared with 171 in the previous year. The average size of request for funding was £450,000, more than double the previous year’s average of £200,000. Philip White, CEO, of Syscap, said: “Feedback that we have received from businesses across the board suggests that over the last six months HMRC has been gradually making it harder for them to access its ‘time to pay’ scheme.” “Time to pay” allows viable businesses to defer tax payments during the recession.