Regulations are now in force whereby certain employers must publish annually on their own website, and report to the government online, their organisation’s gender pay figures, namely:

• Gender pay gap & gender bonus gap, both in hourly pay (mean and median averages);
• Proportion of men and women receiving bonuses;
• Proportion of men and women in each quartile of the organisation’s pay structure.

The following checklist should help you work out if you are required to report gender pay figures, or have a choice. You are required to do so if:

1. You have 250 or more employees based in Great Britain (i.e. England, Scotland or Wales) as at the “snapshot date”. This is 5 April for businesses and charities, and 31 March for public sector organisations.
2. “Employees” includes employees with a contract of employment; workers/agency workers with a contract to do work/provide services; and self-employed people if they must personally perform the work.
3. Agency workers are included in the headcount for the agency that provides them (not the employer they are assigned to).
4. An individual employed by a service company, which in turn contracts to provide a service to an employer, is included in the headcount for the service company if it employs 250 or more employees (not in the headcount for the end-user employer).
5. If you have part time workers, each part time worker counts as one employee.
6. If you have job-share arrangements, each person within the job-share counts as one employee.
7. Partners in traditional partnerships and limited liability partnerships are not counted as employees because they receive a share of the profits, which is not directly comparable with employees’ pay.
8. If your organisation is part of a group of employers, a separate report must be provided for each separate legal entity (i.e. employer) with at least 250 employees.
9. There are complex rules on whether the headcount includes people working abroad for an employer based in Great Britain; or working in Great Britain for an employer based abroad; or employed by an overseas entity and seconded to an organisation in Great Britain.

Companies should seriously consider their obligations relating to gender pay gap reporting and the positive impact of addressing any in-balances in the culture and working environment of its staff. For independent legal advice on this matter, please speak to one of our team.
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These materials and content have been prepared for the benefit of their viewers/readers. They are intended for marketing purposes only and are of a general nature and do not constitute legal advice applicable to any particular facts or circumstances. Kidd Rapinet LLP and/or the author(s) accept no duty of care, responsibility or liability for any loss or damage which you or any third party may suffer as a result of any reliance or use by you or they of these marketing materials and content, except to the extent it is not legally possible to exclude such liability. If you require legal advice on your own situation, please contact us so we can discuss how we may assist.

It is therefore worth investing in business practices that reduce your exposure to the risk of bad debts, such as the following:

• Before accepting business from a new client, carry out “due diligence” checks to assess the risk of them defaulting on payment. You can use online resources like the Companies House website to obtain copy accounts, if the client is a limited company. Alternatively, you can obtain credit reports on the client. As well as the latest financial filings, these give details of directors, mortgages and County Court Judgments for failing to pay debts. Beware of newly incorporated companies where no financial information is available. Also search online for reviews or news reports that suggest the client may be high risk.
• Monitor your existing clients for any downturn in their business that could leave them struggling to pay your invoices. Review their credit status every six months, and keep an eye on the news for reports of a downturn in their business sector that could affect them.
• Agree payment terms with each client in writing and signed by them, stating the due date for payment and, if by instalments, the due date and amount of each instalment. This will make it easier to pursue late payments, without being sidetracked by arguments as to whether payment is “late”. Also state the rate of interest that will apply to late payments.
• Where possible, seek payment in advance. If this is not possible, settle for a deposit up front and agree a date for payment of the balance. Only start work for the client once the advance payment or deposit has cleared and the money is in your account.
• Vary your payment terms depending on the client. For a new client, or one identified as higher risk, set a low credit limit and short payment term. For a longstanding client with a good payment record, or one identified as lower risk, you may wish to offer a higher credit limit and longer payment term.
• Send out monthly or weekly invoices, so both you and the client can keep an eye on fees. Make it easy for clients to pay by including your bank details on every invoice and reminder, and offering the facility to pay by direct debit and online. Put a link on the home page of your website to a payment screen, so clients can find it easily and pay promptly. If you add interest to an overdue invoice, send out a new invoice showing the revised sum.
• Try to establish a good working relationship with individuals at the client company, and effective channels of communication. This should make it easier for both sides to broach the subject of payment and iron out any difficulties before they escalate.
• Ensure you have rigorous credit control procedures in place. Invest in an accounting package that enables you to see at a glance who owes money, when it is due and whether they pay. Keep your accounts up to date and, if you can afford it, employ a credit controller to keep track of and chase up unpaid invoices.
• In any event, take prompt action to recover sums owing. Depending on the nature and size of your business, it might be economical to outsource your debt recovery to a debt collection company or solicitors who offer a debt recovery service.

Kidd Rapinet offer a computerised debt recovery service. Please contact us for more information.

A trade mark indicates brand: which trader provided the goods or services in question. It is a badge of origin. It can comprise words, sounds, logos or colours, or a combination of these. You need to register your trade mark in order to be protected, and registration is at a national level. If you register in the UK, you will be protected in the UK only. There are 45 classes of trade marks, for example “clothing, footwear & headgear”, “games, toys & playthings” and “transport”. Once registered, you can object if someone else tries to register (in the same or a similar class) a trade mark that is identical or similar to yours. You can take legal action against anyone who uses your brand without your permission. You can also sell, market, license or mortgage your trade mark. A trade mark is valid for ten years, and you can renew it.

A patent protects an industrial process or invention: the patent holder has the exclusive right to use, sell or manufacture the invention, and can stop others from doing so without permission. To qualify for a patent, the invention must be something that can be made or used; it must be new; and it must be truly inventive (not just a modification to something that already exists). In practice, these criteria can be hard to meet and a patent is the most difficult form of protection to obtain. Registration is expensive and can take up to five years to achieve. Like a trade mark, a UK patent will only protect you in the UK. You can sell, licence or mortgage it. However, it is only valid for a year and has to be renewed annually.

A simpler form of protection, and in some cases more appropriate than a patent, is to register a design. This means registering the look of a product: its appearance, physical shape, configuration (how different parts are arranged together) and/or decoration. Your application must be supported by illustrations – either photos, line drawings or computer-aided designs – and must clearly show which parts you want to protect. For example, you might want to protect just the design of an object, not the colour. The application process is potentially very quick and your design can be registered within two weeks if there are no objections. Registration enables you to prevent others from using your design for up to 25 years (though it has to be renewed every five years). It enables you to sell, licence or mortgage your design.

Copyright protects a work, provided its creation involved skill, labour and judgment. It applies to literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works; non-literary written works (for example, web content); sound and music recordings; film and television recordings; broadcasts; and the layout of published editions of written, dramatic and musical works. It is an automatic protection. There is no need to apply for registration and, while you can put the copyright symbol, your name and year on the work, this is not necessary – copyright will still apply without it. It is an international right, and protects you from a range of activities worldwide, including copying; distributing copies; performing, showing or playing your work in public; making adaptations of your work; and putting it on the internet. You can sell, licence or transfer your copyright to a third party, such as a publisher, and copyright can be passed by inheritance on your death. How long it lasts depends on the type of work. For example, copyright for literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works lasts for the life of the creator plus 70 years after their death. For broadcasts, it lasts for 50 years after the date it was first broadcast.

These materials and content have been prepared for the benefit of their viewers/readers. They are intended for marketing purposes only and are of a general nature and do not constitute legal advice applicable to any particular facts or circumstances. Kidd Rapinet LLP and/or the author(s) accept no duty of care, responsibility or liability for any loss or damage which you or any third party may suffer as a result of any reliance or use by you or they of these marketing materials and content, except to the extent it is not legally possible to exclude such liability. If you require legal advice on your own situation, please contact us so we can discuss how we may assist.

By identifying the potential for value creation, you can put a price on the transaction. What you discover through due diligence has a significant impact when negotiating the terms of your transaction. However, it is not a “one size fits all” process. There are many types of due diligence and the elements you include will depend on your individual case.

Sell-side due diligence, also known as vendor due diligence, is commissioned by the vendor of a business at the beginning of the sale process. It is a comprehensive assessment of the business to be sold, including details of historical performance, track record and the achievability of future plans and projections.

Buy-side due diligence is commissioned by a potential buyer, with the aim of confirming the attractiveness of an investment. Its scope will depend in part on whether the vendor has provided sell-side due diligence, and in part on the nature of the transaction. Potential components include:

Legal due diligence: This addresses the legal structure of the business and its legal relations with third parties. It covers aspects such as contracts, loans, property, intellectual property rights, employment and pending litigation.

Financial due diligence: The purpose is to verify the business’s financial information and assess its underlying performance. It involves scrutinising earnings, assets and liabilities, cash flow, debts and financial management.

Commercial due diligence: This examines the industry status quo, trends and market environment. It assesses the company’s capabilities and the likelihood of it achieving its projections, in light of the competitive market. Financial and commercial due diligence are often grouped together under the umbrella of strategic due diligence, and distinguished from operational due diligence.

Operational due diligence: This comprises a comprehensive internal health check of a company, assessing the potential for value creation in the short term. The focus is on operational and internal data, rather than the strategic and commercial aspects of the business which feature in strategic due diligence. Areas for scrutiny include purchasing, marketing and sales, the manufacturing and supply chain, and administration such as finance, HR and IT. The aim is to explore the company’s efficiency; identify areas for short term improvement; and spot opportunities for coordinating processes, promoting shared services, outsourcing and offshoring so as to make savings through improved efficiencies. It is key to determining an accurate bidding price.

Information for due diligence is gathered from many sources: financial details from company reports giving historic figures, recent filings, mortgage data and details of County Court Judgments; director details from director reports, listing current and past directorships and disclosing a director’s connections with other companies; market data from market research and economic forecasts; and business news from trade titles and press searches. The process of collecting and interpreting information, and producing a comprehensive analysis of your proposed business transaction, can take several weeks. It is worth the wait, though, as proper due diligence can mean the difference between business failure and success.

With commercial property transactions, where there may be a whole team working on each side, the risk is perhaps greater: more people to unwittingly disclose information.

The following steps can help to stop you or your organisation becoming a victim of cyber crime:

1. Put in place anti-cyber crime policies and procedures, and ensure all staff are trained in them. In particular, restrict the disclosure of bank account details and limit the number of people able to authorise bank account payments/transfers.
2. Ensure your IT systems are protected by security software and keep it updated. Use encrypted emails and password protected portals. Ask colleagues to change their IT passwords frequently (some systems can be set so as to require users to do this).
3. Resist the temptation to announce future property transactions online (via social media or your website), for example that you will be moving to a new office building or taking on more premises. Wait until after the transaction has completed.
4. Avoid communicating sensitive information like bank account details by email, as it could be intercepted by hackers. Do so in person, by secure letter, or by telephone if you know the person you are talking to.
5. If someone you do not recognise calls to discuss the transaction, tell them you will call back. Then try to figure out whether they are genuine e.g. if they say they are from one of the organisations involved, contact someone you know there to check.
6. Train your colleagues to recognise fraudulent emails:
   a. Check the sender’s address by clicking the “reply” option (but do not reply). It might turn out to be different from the address that appears in the “from” box. A business email address usually incorporates the business name. Be suspicious if the address is from a free email account provider like hotmail, gmail, yahoo.
   b. Be wary of emails that urge you to take immediate action and warn of negative consequences if you do not, such as the sale/lease falling through.
   c. Be wary of emails that ask you to do something like click on a link or enter information, as doing this may enable the fraudster to access your email account.
   d. Look out for poor spelling and grammar which may indicate a fraudulent email.
7. Beware of instructions you receive to change bank account or payment details. In one case, fraudsters posing as solicitors acting in a transaction stole funds by claiming that their main bank account was being audited, and completion monies should be sent to a new account.
8. If you become suspicious that your organisation may be the target of cyber criminals, alert your colleagues, those acting for you in the transaction and those on the other side. If there is no innocent explanation for the suspicious behaviour, contact the police.

These materials and content have been prepared for the benefit of their viewers/readers. They are intended for marketing purposes only and are of a general nature and do not constitute legal advice applicable to any particular facts or circumstances. Kidd Rapinet LLP and/or the author(s) accept no duty of care, responsibility or liability for any loss or damage which you or any third party may suffer as a result of any reliance or use by you or they of these marketing materials and content, except to the extent it is not legally possible to exclude such liability. If you require legal advice on your own situation, please contact us so we can discuss how we may assist.

As a landlord who might need to recover a rental property from a tenant, how can you protect your position?

• The law on this is complicated, as there are many variables and provisos. The respective rights of you and the tenant, and the procedure to follow, depend on factors like the date of the original tenancy agreement, type of tenancy and your reason for wanting to terminate it, notably whether the tenant is at fault at not. You are recommended to take legal advice to ensure you follow the appropriate procedure for your situation. If you get it wrong, you risk the tenant claiming damages from you for breach of tenancy, harassment and/or unlawful eviction.
• Before the start of the lease, vet your prospective tenants. Be sure to obtain proof of their ability to pay the rent, and character references to show they are likely to look after the property and abide by the terms of their lease. And from day one of the tenancy, consider taking the following steps to strengthen your position in case you later need to evict the tenant:
• Check with your solicitor if there are any notices you should serve on the tenant at the start of the lease, so as to entitle you in future to claim possession in certain circumstances, for example if you wanted to move into the property yourself.
• Make sure you comply with all the landlord’s obligations, including your duty to:
  a. Protect any deposit money, if the tenant paid a deposit, in an authorised protection scheme (“properly protect” it);
  b. Install/maintain smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in the property;
  c. Provide the tenant with a current energy performance certificate and gas safety certificate.
• If you breach terms of the lease, this could complicate possession proceedings. You could even forfeit your right to evict the tenant, especially if they are not at fault, for example if you wanted the property back so as to sell it.
• Also make sure the tenant complies with all their obligations under the lease. If they breach any, be sure to raise it with them straight away. Failure to do so could lead the tenant to argue that by not seeking to enforce the terms of the lease, you gave implied consent to the breach.
• Think ahead. You need to give the tenant notice before starting a claim for possession, and the notice period depends on the grounds for your claim. Different notice periods apply, for example, if it is based on rent arrears, or if there is no fault on the part of tenant but you wish to possess the property at the end of the tenancy.
• Legal costs in connection with possession proceedings can be high. Even if the tenant is at fault and is ordered to contribute to your costs, you may only recover a small proportion. Consider taking out legal protection insurance that could help pay your costs.
• Better still, focus on building a good working relationship with your tenant in the hope that this enables you to resolve disputes without recourse to the court.

These materials and content have been prepared for the benefit of their viewers/readers. They are intended for marketing purposes only and are of a general nature and do not constitute legal advice applicable to any particular facts or circumstances. Kidd Rapinet LLP and/or the author(s) accept no duty of care, responsibility or liability for any loss or damage which you or any third party may suffer as a result of any reliance or use by you or they of these marketing materials and content, except to the extent it is not legally possible to exclude such liability. If you require legal advice on your own situation, please contact us so we can discuss how we may assist.