6 BusinessArgus


Financially speaking


Tuesday, September 17,2013


Freshconsultation on Legal Aidislaunched


By James Campbell, partner and head of criminal lawatSouth Waleslaw firm, Everett Tomlin Lloyd & Pratt


By DeniseClark UHY Peacheys,Newport


AUTOenrollment is on it’sway.How can Sage Payroll supportthis change? All employers with at least one


worker in theUKwill need to auto- matically enrol certain members of their workforce into apension scheme.The startdate,called the staging date,varies according to the number of employees in each PAYE scheme. Forinstance February 2014 all employers with 250 or more employ- ees will have to comply. As an employer youwill need to


makeacontribution as well as the employee; the minimum rates increase over time to acombined fig- ure of eight per cent. Youwill also need to ensure that youmeet all of the new requirements to comply with the law. Even if youalready offer pension arrangements for your workers,you will still have some new obligations to meet and will need to review your current arrangements. Timescales for opting employees in


and out are tight and must be pro- cessed efficiently; sage payroll soft- ware can help manage the additional administration. The following processes should be supported in your software: Automatically enrol eligible job holders depending on certain crite- ria;


Easily informeligible job holders


they have automatically enrolled using an inbuilt mail merge or email facility; Allowthe user to process opt-outs


when notified by the pension compa- ny,retainingahistory of opt-in and opt-out dates; Deduct minimum contribution rates as laid downin legislation or your pension scheme if this is equiv- alent or increased; Periodically re-enrol eligible job holderswhoare not in aqualifying pension scheme; Provide reports to supportthe requirement to periodically register with the regulator. Forsupportand implementation of


all your sage requirements contact Denise Clarkon01633 213318 or email d.clark@uhy-peacheys.com


THE Ministry of Justice has announced it has abandoned controversial plans to impose price competitive tendering for Criminal LegalAid work but has launched anew set of pro- posals. The original consultation, launched earlier in the year, caused huge concernamong prac- titioners,the judiciary,civil rights groups and politicians from all parties.The consultation pro- posed that client choice should be removedand that contracts awarded to the lowest bidders withamaximum of 400 contracts being awarded countywide instead of the current 1,600. That led to real fears that the


vast majority of firmsconducting this type of work would be forced out of business with the new big- ger contracts potentially being awarded to large companies with no experience in the sector but with the financial muscle to undercut the competition. The government’saim was to save at least 25 per cent from the current Criminal LegalAid budget. Many commentators noted that


this could lead to the destruction of many high street practices and create ‘advice deserts’ in many more rural areas. Perhaps even more importantly,


the Attorney Generalwhile com- menting on an earlier similar scheme had suggested that afocus on price alone would only lead to a reduction in quality of represen- tation available.


Newconsultation launched afterhugeconcern by practitionersand others Opposition to the scheme grew


with more than 100,000 people signing an online petition and ral- lies and events throughout the countrywhere both the Law Society and Bar Council agreed that abidding process that allo- cated the work to the firmorcom- panywhooffered to charge the least, would lead to severe finan- cial pressures on the lowest “win- ning” bidders resulting in cases being under prepared and badly resourced departments providing apoor service with the risk of miscarriages of justice. The recent announcement of a fresh consultation confirmed that the government has accepted these issues were valid and the new proposals suggest as radical change in direction as it has been confirmed that client choice will remain and that contracts will not


poseamassive challenge to the profession and will prevent many of the people accused of acrime from being eligible for state fund- ing of their defence. Within that proposal is aplan to extend the means testing of defendants in CrownCourtpro- ceedings.Atpresent Magistrates and CrownCourtLegal Aid is only granted to peoplewhopass a means test. The new proposal is to significantly tighten the Crown Courtmeans test and will mean many people earning slightly more than the minimum wage would not automatically receive LegalAid andmayhavetopay a substantial contribution and that thosewhohaveahigher disposa- ble income will not qualify at all


be awarded on price but on quali- ty and capability. However,eventhe new proposals


even if their case is likely to last many weeks and cost asignificant amount to defend. There are con- cerns that this could lead to an increasing number of unrepre- sented defendants in the Crown Court.Aproposal that defence costs could be ordered by the courtafter afinding of guilt rath- er than during proceedings,has been ignored. Under the new system firmsare expected to bid for avastly reduced number of duty solicitor contracts depending on their capability to carry out high amounts of work.Firmsthat did not get acontract are likely to stop dealing with this area. The Ministry of Justice has indi- cated that at least 600 firmswill not get acontract. The final and perhaps most chal- lenging aspect of the proposal is a 17.5 per cent cut in the fee for all work across the board spread over twoyears.Asfee rates for crimi- nal work have remained entirely static without an inflationary increase since the mid 1990s many firmscurrently dealing with this type of work are alreadydoing so very efficiently.Acut of this nature will force many firmsout of business especially in rural areaswhere volumes of workmay not be as high or predictable as in bigger cities.While the govern- ment likes to trot out figures about high earning QCs these are the exception rather than the rule. Itmaysurprise some people that


no action is taken against arela- tively high percentage of people accused of acrime in the police station and asmaller but still sub- stantial percentage of people are acquitted in the magistrates and crowncourt. Maintainingahigh standard of representation allows us to be proud of one of the fairest justice systems in the worldand many feel risking weakening that system to save money is not a price worthpaying.


Firm expands with newappointments


CWMBRAN-based lawfirm QualitySolicitors Rubin Lewis O’Brien has expanded their busi- ness with the appointment of two new partners. Helen Barry and Gregor Tay- Lodge have been appointed as part of awider recruiting process.Helen Barry,asenior solicitor within the firm, joined the firminMarch 2012 fromaLegal 500 practice as head of residential conveyancing. She has considerable experience in all aspects of residential conveyancing and has acquiredanumber of key contracts with estate agents and mortgage advisors for the practice; while also obtaining the Conveyancing Quality Scheme Accreditation for the department.A senior lawyer with considerable management experience,Gregor


Tay-Lodge has been appointed as head of civil and commercial litiga- tion. He joins the firmfrom a national practice and has extensive experience in his field, representing clients in High Court, County Court and the Appeal Courts. His role will be to manage and pro- mote all areas of civil and commer- cial litigation as well as to oversee the new expansion of the depart- ment. Gregisalsoahighly experi- enced regulatory and compliance lawyer.Helen said: “I’m thrilled to be appointed. Ihope to continue the growth of the department and increase local awareness of the ser- vices we offer.” Gregsaid: “The firmiswell positioned to take advantage of the improvement in marketconditions,both in South Wales and nationally.”


Gregor Tay-Lodge (partner), Helen Barry (partner)and Jerome O’Brien (managingpartner)


FollowusonTwitter:@SWABusiness


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8