Articles

The Employment Appeal Tribunal has confirmed that carers paid using direct payments under the Care Act 2014 are not automatically employees of the local authority.

The judgment considered a wide range of important issues including the continued use of the Waldram method to assess interference with light and the interaction with section 203 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016.

Workplace Compass: As the government refines one of its flagship employment reforms, the latest amendments raise important questions for employers planning contractual change.

On 10 July 2025, the Government published the first reading of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill.  The Bill is intended to transfer power out of Westminster by devolving more powers to local government by making changes to democratic processes and funding streams.

The latest amendments scale that back by introducing the concept of a restricted variation.

One of the things I deal with on a regular basis are contracts that auto-renew. So for example an academy trust enters into a services contract that looks like it's set up to run for two years. However buried in the terms and conditions is some drafting that says unless the client takes some specified proactive actions, then rather than come to an end after those two years the contract will automatically roll-over and the term will be extended - sometimes by a year, sometimes by more. (The 'worst' example I've seen was a contact that was auto-extended by an additional five years).