A doctor, who was dismissed by the NHS after raising concerns about how a hospital was treating patients has been awarded £2.5m compensation. Dr Raj Mattu was a cardiologist at University Hospital Coventry in Walsgrave. He became alarmed that overcrowding was leading to patient deaths. He raised his concerns with the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust. He claimed it failed to respond appropriately so he spoke to the …Read More
More public sector land made available to build new homes
The government has announced that 600 acres of publicly owned land is being made available to build new homes. It has identified 80 sites that will be put up for sale over the next 18 months. It is estimated these sites will support more than 5,000 homes as well as land for industry and business. Over 20% of the sites already have outline or detailed planning permission. Housing Minister Brandon …Read More
Cohabitant can keep home she shared with her married partner
A woman has won her legal battle to keep the home she shared with her partner despite opposition from his estranged wife. The court heard that Joy Williams and her partner Norman Martin had owned their home as tenants in common for 18 years. Mr Martin had separated from his wife but they had not divorced. He had not updated his will to leave his share of the property to …Read More
More than 250,000 first time buyers open Help to Buy ISAs
A quarter of a million first time buyers have opened a Help to Buy ISA since they became available last December. More than half of them are aged 30 or under. Some people have already claimed the bonus offered by the ISAs and are using them to help buy their first home. Help to Buy ISAs were launched by Chancellor George Osborne in last year’s Budget. The scheme enables first …Read More
Housing association tenants begin to buy their homes
The Right to Buy scheme has now been extended to housing association tenants. It is being piloted in five areas across England and will be rolled out to the rest of the country later this year. It gives tenants the opportunity to buy their home with a discount of £103,900 in London and £77,900 elsewhere. Right to Buy has been available to council house tenants since 1980 and has enabled …Read More
Minister says 2,000 divorce settlements may be voided
The government has confirmed that more than 2,000 divorce cases may have been voided due to an error on the self-assessment form on the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) website. The error involves Form E, which records the financial details of divorcing couples. The software running the form didn’t take all liabilities into account and so may have produced misleading results in some circumstances. Justice Minister Shailesh Vara told parliament that …Read More
Legal protection for zero hour contract workers now in force
New regulations providing employment protection for zero hour contract workers have now come into force. The dismissal of a zero hour contract employee will be considered automatically unfair if the main reason for dismissal is that they breached a clause in their employment agreement prohibiting them from working for another company. There is no qualifying period needed for the employee to bring a claim. The regulations also make it unlawful …Read More
Deceased man’s bank account frozen due to family dispute
A court has ordered that a deceased man’s bank account should be frozen because of a family dispute over his estate. The case involved a man who had died intestate, that is, without having made a will. His bank accounts containing £500,000 were closed down by his eldest son, from his first marriage. The man’s second wife then contacted the eldest son to discuss how the money in the accounts …Read More
Thousands of tenants now registering to buy their homes
It follows the government announcement that 1.3 million housing association tenants should qualify for the Right to Buy scheme, which had previously only been available to people in council owned properties. The scheme allows tenants to buy their homes at discounts of up to £103,900 in London, and up to £77,900 in the rest of the country. Nearly 200 tenants a day have been registering an interest in buying their …Read More
Court refuses to return abducted child to his mother
A court has refused to return an abducted child to his mother even though he was taken illegally by his father. The court accepted that it was against the boy’s interests to be sent back to his mother and that he had made it clear that he did not want to live with her because of her lifestyle problems. The case involved a couple who had married in England and …Read More