News and Blogs

On 29 May 2020, the government announced changes to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which underpins the current practice of furloughing employees, and runs until 31 October 2020.

The Scheme will close to new entrants on 30 June 2020. Employers will only be able to furlough workers who they have furloughed under the scheme for a full three-week period at some time prior to 30 June 2020...

Coronavirus has changed every aspect of our lives recently, but we are finding many people are using the time during the lockdown as an opportunity to review their affairs, for example, considering their Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs). This article highlights some of the adaptations we have made to the process of advising clients at this time, and to give our clients peace of mind...

The changes required to accommodate employees returning to the workplace will in some cases mean changing their employment contracts, for example, shift patterns, working hours or place of work.

Simply pressing ahead with making these changes risks liability. An aggrieved employee can object, work under protest and claim breach of contract to recover any resulting loss, whilst action taken by...

On 20 May 2020, the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill (the “Bill”) was introduced to Parliament. The aim of this Bill is to protect viable businesses from collapse during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Corporate Governance

The Bill intends to lift regulatory requirements of company meetings and filing requirements between 26 March 2020 and 30 September 2020. There will be more...

The relaxation of the lockdown rules announced by the government last week has opened up the residential property market again. Whilst a positive step forward, businesses and home-movers will need to follow stringent new COVID-19 social distancing conditions.

Since the initial lockdown in March, our experience at TWM is that a number of transactions have still been able to proceed to...

Following updated advice given to the public in relation to COVID-19 on Sunday 10 May 2020, the government is encouraging people unable to work from home to return to work where possible. Supporting this, a “COVID-19 Secure” document has been produced by the government, providing guidance to employers, employees and the self-employed about how they can work safely.

There are guides...

The arrival of the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting social distancing measures have meant that many couples have not been able to get married. For many people, their wedding insurance will not pay out to cancel the wedding and they will have already paid many deposits including, quite often, the full venue cost. This means that for most couples they are postponing the date to later this...

On 27 April 2020, the UK government announced that, between 4 May 2020 and 4 November 2020, UK-based businesses which have been negatively affected by coronavirus will be able to apply for a loan of up to 25% of their annual turnover, with a minimum loan of £2,000 and a maximum loan of £50,000, under the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS). 

Loans will be repayable over a maximum...

One of the darkest outcomes of the lockdown has been the rise in domestic abuse. The UN has predicted that 6 months of lockdown could result in an additional 31 million cases of domestic violence globally. It is important to note that domestic violence is not the only, nor the most prevalent, form of domestic abuse. In England and Wales, there is currently no legal definition for domestic...

Times are tough for employers. Many have used the government’s Job Retention Scheme to furlough employees, whilst others have found ways to continue operating, but often with reduced workloads and falling income.

The Job Retention Scheme was introduced to provide an alternative to redundancy where businesses cannot maintain their workforce due to the coronavirus.  It offers...