IN THE MEDIA JULY 2022
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Bradford Means Business Awards
The Employer of the Year award went to manufacturer Mansfield Pollard, whose air management experts aim to improve working environments across various sectors. The business, which was established over 150 years ago, paid tribute to its staff after picking up the award at the ceremony. Bryan Bentley, Operations Director, said: “For me, this is all about the people – I know that’s a bit cliché, but it genuinely is. “We believe people are the lifeblood of a business, and winning this award is a credit to them. “I was an apprentice myself, I worked since leaving school, all the way through to management. “Apprenticeships are a great lesson to young people – you can be whoever you want to be. If your employers believe in you, you can be whatever you want to be.
“We couldn’t be prouder of this recognition for looking after our employees – and we know we have the best team in the world.” Speaking earlier, after the business was nominated, Bryan also said: “Every year we like to employ a minimum of six - usually eight apprentices. “The key is retaining apprentices at the end of their four years - last year we retained all eight, which is fantastic, and we’re now looking forward to the next eight who are coming.” The two other businesses shortlisted in this category were LCF Law - a law firm with offices in Bradford, Ilkley, Leeds and Harrogate - and Chadwick Lawrence, a law firm based on Manor Row. Simon Stell, LCF Managing Partner, said earlier: “We were honoured to be nominated and I think it’s a recognition of hard work everyone has put in.
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“As a law firm, we are very much people-based and all about the relationships between our lawyers and our clients. “We respect our staff’s work-life balance, and we have the correct mix.” Joshua Smith, Partner at Chadwick Lawrence - which has seven offices across West Yorkshire - also spoke after being nominated: “It’s a relaxed environment to work in, where everybody can be themselves,” he said. READ ARTICLE ONLINE
CORPORATE, COMMERCIAL & EMPLOYMENT
CORPORATE, COMMERCIAL & EMPLOYMENT
Free webinar on equality, diversity and inclusion
Any businesses that want to find out about the benefits of having equality, diversity and inclusion (ED&I) policies in the workplace can sign up for a free webinar organised by law firm, LCF Law and Hays Specialist Recruitment. The employment law – equality, diversity and inclusion webinar will also include updates on the latest employment law changes in 2022. Held online via Zoom, at 9.30am on Wednesday 6th July, an employment lawyer and senior associate at LCF Law, Gemma Sherbourne, will provide a 2022 employment law update, with a key focus on ED&I. She will be joined by Claire McManus from Hays Specialist Recruitment, who will explore key ED&I topics, including case studies on how successful ED&I strategies are driving talent engagement, employee retention, and growth strategies. The free webinar will be followed by a question and answer session.
Gemma said: “There are so many benefits for organisations that have proactive ED&I strategies in place. We will explain why it’s so important to have these strategies on the agenda at every level and it will be a really informative session ideal for anyone in the role of a human resource, as well as business owners, leaders, and managers.” To register click here: https://lcf.co.uk/events/employment-law-updateequality-diversion-inclusion/ or call 01274 848 836 or email events@ lcf.co.uk
ALSO APPEARED IN • Yorkshire Post READ ARTICLE ONLINE
CORPORATE, COMMERCIAL & EMPLOYMENT
School’s Out! App
An innovative app developed in Huddersfield is benefitting thousands of school pupils in Kirklees with parents on low incomes, by providing them with access to meals and activities during school holidays. It has been so successful that it will now be rolled out nationwide, which follows advice from leading Bradford law firm, LCF Law. The ‘School’s Out!’ app was launched in 2019 and is the brainchild of Kirklees Youth Alliance (KYA), which provides support to a wide network of youth organisations across Kirklees, and was developed by Huddersfield based digital design specialist, Torchbearer. Parents using the app can book a wide range of sessions and activities during school holidays for their children that incorporate a nutritious meal, physical exercise and enrichment activities. Last year alone, 85 organisations hosted more than 2,600 sessions that were attended by approximately 12,000 children and more than 28,000 nutritious meals were served.
Following this success, KYA and Torchbearer have now enlisted LCF Law to create a licensing model and agreements that will enable local authorities throughout the UK to start using School’s Out!. Pete Waugh, technical director at Torchbearer said: “When KYA initially approached us with the idea for the Schools Out! app, we immediately knew it could be a big success. We’ve designed it with an easy-to-use booking system, so parents can book their children onto sessions quickly and easily. After the session, parents can send feedback and rate events. “It’s also a centralised monitoring tool for the Council’s Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) team, negating the need for them to collate information from scores of provider organisations for the Department for Education (DfE). “Although there are off the shelf products available, this is the only HAF-specific, web-app product, optimised for use on mobile phones. It is bespoke and can be adapted depending on specific requirements, which also includes rebranding it if a local authority wants to call it a specific name. We’re now looking forward to rolling it out to other forward-thinking organisations and seeing it benefit even more children and their families throughout the UK.”
CORPORATE, COMMERCIAL & EMPLOYMENT
James Sarjantson, commercial & digital partner at LCF Law, said: “Schools Out! has been hugely beneficial to KYA, Kirklees Council and the thousands of families using it. “We’ve worked closely with Torchbearer and KYA to create a series of agreements that enable Torchbearer to resell, test and lead the installations, as well as providing relevant technical support to new customers, whilst also ensuring that KYA benefit from the intellectual property rights that they have on the product. It’s a unique partnership and we’re looking forward to watching it develop and grow as more local authorities and end users sign up to use the app. “We work with many IT and technology businesses in the local area, but few of those projects have the genuine and deep social impact that this one will have.” Susan Greenwood, from KYA, said: “Although school holidays are a fun time for many, research shows some children are not only going hungry, but that they also regress during long holiday breaks in terms of learning and behaviour. “In 2019 Kirklees Council provided KYA with funding to co-ordinate a local ‘Healthy Holidays’ programme and the idea for Schools Out! was born. It was an immediate success and in February 2020, KYA signed a three-year agreement with Kirklees Council to continue the programme. “Then the pandemic hit and the number of children eligible for free school meals rose significantly. Footballer Marcus Rashford highlighted the plight of children going hungry in school holidays and that resulted in Kirklees receiving £1.7 million from the government’s Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme, which provides healthy food and enriching activities to children, with free places for those on free school meals during the school holidays. This superseded our Healthy Holidays Programme and now means more children than ever in Kirklees benefit from the scheme, and this has made Schools Out! even more popular. To think that our initial idea now has the potential to go nationwide is a very exciting prospect.” The government has now committed to providing a further three years of HAF funding from April 2022 which will see KYA continuing to support Kirklees Council with the 2022/23 programme and contributing to planning for 2023-25.
LCF Law is a leading commercial law firm that works with both businesses and private individuals. The long-established firm employs more than 125 people across offices in Leeds, Bradford, Harrogate and Ilkley. Visit www.lcf.co.uk for more information.
ALSO APPEARED IN • Business Up North • Bradford Zone • Huddersfield Hub • Public Sector Catering • BusinessDesk • Yorkshire Post (print and online) • YorkshireLive • Prolific North READ ARTICLE ONLINE
CORPORATE, COMMERCIAL & EMPLOYMENT
Can a boss insist on childcare?
With the summer holidays approaching, Gemma Sherbourne offers advice on key questions on childcare. Can employers ask what childcare arrangements are in place and what happens when employees work from home and manage childcare at the same time?
Usually, if children impact a person’s ability to carry out their role, then childcare should be arranged. The difficulty often arises where there is a difference in opinion concerning the impact that childcare responsibilities involve.
Can employers insist staff arrange childcare when they are working from home?
Can I ask staff what arrangements they have in place?
Employees must generally be ready and available to work during their working hours and not distracted by other matters, such as childcare. Therefore, if employees cannot properly carry out their duties if they are looking after children, then the short answer is ‘yes’, employers can insist that staff working from home arrange childcare. In practice, it may depend on several factors, including the nature of the business, the employee’s role and the age of the children. Whilst older children can be self-sufficient, younger children normally can’t ‘fend for themselves’ whilst their parents work. If employees can work alternative hours, for example in the evenings when children are in bed, then you could agree a slight change in working arrangements to accommodate childcare needs, if practicable.
Yes – if it’s done in an appropriate way and you ask all staff and don’t direct the question only to females, or certain sections of the workforce. The risk in asking specific individuals or departments is that you could end up on the wrong side of a discrimination claim and damage employee relations, so these conversations need to be carefully managed. What if an employee arranges childcare but the hours differ from normal arrangements? Often summer clubs have shorter operating hours than schools and might be in less convenient locations. Therefore, parents might ask for alternative working arrangements during school holidays.
CORPORATE, COMMERCIAL & EMPLOYMENT
In an ideal world, it’s best to find an agreement that works for all parties, allowing the flexibility required to assist with childcare arrangements, which fosters trust and loyalty. However, it’s not always possible and sometimes it’s better for employees to use family-friendly leave options, such as parental leave. What if my employee says they cannot arrange childcare and must be available to look after their children? There are various types of leave that employees may be entitled to so they can manage childcare. They could take annual leave, or they may be entitled to parental leave or time off to care for dependants. Parental leave is available to all parents with at least one year’s service with a child under 18. It can be taken in one-week blocks, for up to four weeks per year, and 18 weeks in total per child, before the child’s 18th birthday. It is unpaid but allows for an extended period of leave to be taken to care for children. For a disabled child, the four-week limit per year does not apply. Alternatively, if there is an unexpected interruption in normal childcare arrangements, or if the child has an accident or is unexpectedly unwell, then the employee may be entitled to time off to care for dependants. Again, it’s unpaid, and is intended to be short-term leave to take ‘necessary’ action in the circumstances – for example, to arrange alternative care, rather than for several weeks to cover school holidays. It is worth remembering that it is open to the parties to agree on temporary changes to working hours – along with a corresponding change in pay – if that is the most appropriate outcome. And employers do need to be mindful of the potential for indirect discrimination claims, particularly if an employee feels they have no alternative but to resign in light of childcare issues. What can I do if an employee says they have childcare, but I don’t believe them? The main issue is likely to be evidencing this. If the employee normally works from home and is continuing to work, it may be difficult to demonstrate that any temporary reduction in efficiency is related to childcare. However, where there are concerns, it is sensible to discuss these with the employee, remind them of the requirement to have arrangements in place and discuss alternative options if there are difficulties complying.
Ultimately, if an employee is not working when they should be, it may be a disciplinary issue and more formal action may need to be taken. However, this always depends on the circumstances of the case. When can I take disciplinary action if an employee does not arrange childcare? If it’s been made clear that staff must have appropriate arrangements in place and an employee fails to comply without good reason, it may be possible to take formal action, depending on the individual circumstances. For example, if an employee has childcare that falls through at the last minute, it’s unlikely to be cause for action, but if they simply ignored the instructions, then it could be another matter entirely. If an employee tells you they have childcare in place when they do not, it may be possible to argue that dishonesty alone is cause for disciplinary action. However, if the employee was dishonest due to severe anxiety, for example, other actions such as counselling and support might be more appropriate. Conversely, if the employee has lied simply to avoid childcare costs and deliberately misled you, then that is another matter. Unfortunately, there is no definitive answer as it always depends on the precise circumstances. Given the difficulties, how can I try to prevent issues from arising? There will never be a fail-safe ‘one size fits all’ approach. However, it’s important to communicate with staff early and remind them of the requirements to have appropriate childcare in place. You can encourage any employees facing difficulties to speak to you and offer support and assistance where required, including discussing alternative options. Documenting what has been communicated to staff can make it easier to challenge employees who fail to comply. Again, such communications should be to all staff to avoid potential discrimination claims. Given the difficulties that can arise – particularly in this ‘new normal’ – we always recommend taking advice if you are unsure.
ALSO APPEARED IN • York Press • Bradford T&A (print and online) READ ARTICLE ONLINE
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Tom Edwards disputes ‘over the fence’
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Client: Source: Date: Page: Reach: Value:
Candid PR Yellow News Yorkshire Living 01/08/2022 122 15000 1222.8000
DISPUTES
2 of 2 Coverage is reproduced under license from the NLA, CLA or other copyright owner. No further copying (including the printing of digital cuttings) digital reproductions or forwarding is permitted except under license from the NLA, http://www.nla.co.uk (for newspapers) CLA http://www.cla.co.uk (for books and magazines) or other copyright body.
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