News & Advice

Supported by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Environment Agency is an executive non-departmental public body. The Agency was established in 1996 “to protect and improve the environment” their responsibilities are: regulating major industry and waste; treatment of contaminated land; water quality and resources; fisheries; inland river, estuary and harbour navigations; and… Continue reading Environment Agency prosecutions

When the Minister responsible for Whitehall efficiency and counter-fraud resigned in January, he mentioned lax oversight of the Bounce Bank Loan Scheme (BBLS). Much has also been said in the press about frauds surrounding the scheme and losses from similar schemes being written off but has anyone actually been prosecuted? Last year the Department of… Continue reading Bounce Back Loans

A number of cases have hit the news recently relating to scams or frauds carried out using Tinder. The Tinder app is available in nearly two hundred countries, with an average of 1.6 billion “swipes” per day. With 50 million users, there is a wide audience for scams and fraud. Malware is a common online… Continue reading Tinder Fraud

Kirklees Council in West Yorkshire has taken action to force access to properties in order to carry out fire safety work. Three of the Council’s tenants and one private leaseholder refused access to their flats when the Council asked for entry to complete repairs to smoke detectors.  The Council had previously issued a warning that… Continue reading Smoke Alarms and Tenants

Timpsons frequently advertise on social media that they employ a large number of ex-offenders, and successfully. This may be something that we will be seeing more of following a recent government announcement. Dominic Raab, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, has announced the introduction of prisoner apprenticeships. Regulations will be brought in later… Continue reading Prisoner Apprenticeships

New regulations come into force on 25th March 2022, called the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment) (No.2) Regulations 2022. These regulations amend the definition of hand-held devices; these are the definitions that will be used to govern the use of mobile phones and devices by drivers.   The Offence It is an offence for… Continue reading Use Of A Mobile Phone or Hand-Held Device

The Treasury Committee has published a report on fraud scams and economic crime. The Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of HM Treasury, HMRC and associated public bodies such as the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority.   Why Was The Report Needed? The… Continue reading Fraud, Scams and Economic Crime

A joint report from the Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission has been published. The topic is automated vehicles and makes recommendations for the safe and responsible introduction of self-driving vehicles. The Law Commission is the statutory independent body created to keep the law under review and to recommend reform… Continue reading Automated Vehicles

The government has announced new proposals to address the way schools deal with avoidable absences. They refer to the current system as a postcode lottery with different approaches to sanctions across the country. Some local authorities did not issue any fines at all in the year 2020/21, while others issued over 1,500.   How bad… Continue reading School Absence

The government has announced the recruitment of more than 500 staff to work in Community Payback. The aim is to be able to enable offenders to serve an extra 3 million hours of payback each year. The announcement isn’t clear on the reasoning behind the recruitment, whether there is a backlog that needs clearing, staff… Continue reading Community Payback