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14 July 2026 News Employment Employers are facing the biggest overhaul of employment rights in a generation. Most practitioners will not have experienced this volume of changes over the course of their career, and there is pressure on HR and compliance professionals to lead the way. This monthly update highlights the latest developments, and the practical steps employers should be taking now to prepare for the changes ahead.

14 July 2026 Views Employment The Employment Rights Act reintroduces third-party harassment liability for employers, making your business potentially liable where staff are on the receiving end of an angry tirade from a frustrated client, or an inappropriate comment from a customer. This is a significant new risk – particularly for businesses in “high contact” industries, such as retail, hospitality, healthcare or the service sector.

14 July 2026 Views Employment The Employment Rights Act 2025 will change the way businesses engage casual labour – directly or via an agency. The changes are expected in 2027, and a lot of the detail is still to be confirmed. The government has now published a consultation which gives us a closer look at how the regime may operate in practice. There are more questions than answers, but some shape is starting to emerge. This article looks at what the consultation does – and doesn’t – tell us.

14 July 2026 Views Employment Faced with charged debates touching on issues such as race and gender identity, employers are increasingly in the unenviable position of having to balance competing rights in the workplace. A familiar scenario involves an employee expressing a highly controversial belief touching on a protected characteristic, which a colleague finds deeply offensive.

14 July 2026 Views Employment Employers are already required to take reasonable steps to prevent the sexual harassment of their staff. The Employment Rights Act will demand more: going forward, employers will need to take all reasonable steps. This article explains what that means in practice, including what the new standard requires, the consequences of failing to meet it, and practical steps employers should be taking now to prepare. What is the current position?

9 July 2026 Views Commercial real estate , Living An interesting and logical extension to this trend is the intergenerational model for care homes and later-living developments. In March, a report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Housing and Care for Older People recommended that we “recognise intergenerational communities as essential social infrastructure that fosters inclusive and reciprocal relationships and everyday mutual support between people of all ages and backgrounds”.

7 July 2026 News Real estate disputes The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 came into force on 1 May 2026. From that date, landlords have no longer been able to serve “no fault” eviction notices under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988, and there have been various changes to the possession grounds that can be relied on under section 8 of the Housing Act 1988.

7 July 2026 Views International , Private wealth , Wills trusts and succession planning The Ministry of Justice has announced that the probate application fee will increase from £300 to £526 from 13 July 2026– a rise of more than 75%. While the fee for copies of probate documents requested at the point of application will reduce from £16 to £2, that is unlikely to soften the impact for personal representatives and beneficiaries alike.

7 July 2026 Views Family and divorce Private FDRs, have become a central feature of modern family practice. But as their use grows, so does the question of whether they are consistently delivering the right outcomes for clients. In a recent article published in the Financial Remedies Journals, Jo Edwards and Christine Abbotts draw on survey data and practitioner insight to assess how private FDRs are working in practice. The overall picture is positive.

30 June 2026 Views Employment We’ve recently shared our views with Government as part of its call for evidence on TUPE reform, drawing on our clients’ experience working with TUPE on the ground and our experience advising on transactions across a broad range of contexts and sectors, and on litigation where things go wrong. Our aim is simple: show where the rules aren’t working and suggest practical changes that reflect how businesses operate today.