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We are always grateful to receive positive feedback from our clients, and were thrilled to receive this from the director of a company we have been advising about a transaction with a European customer.

Q: How can we improve?

A: More of the same.

Q: Any further comments:

A: One fears picking the phone up to most suppliers because you know it will not go smoothly.  The same can not be said of Graeme Quar & Co.

Thank you.  We try our hardest!

The Department for Work and Pensions has issued a revised timetable for implementation of auto-enrolment (see blog post 6 January 2012 - pensions auto-enrolment – new obligations for employers)

The revised timetable is as follows:

Source: DWP press release

Follow us: @GraemeQuarCo.  Graeme, Gabor and Joe look forward to tweeting with you.

The statutory limits on sums that Employment Tribunals may award are reviewed annually, with effect from 1 February. The increases this year reflect an increase in the Retail Prices Index of 5.6% in the year to September 2011. They will apply to dismissals taking place on or after 1 February 2012.

The maximum limit on a week’s pay, which is relevant for the calculation of the statutory redundancy payments and basic awards on the dismissal increases to £430 (from £400).

The maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal will increase to £72,300 (from £68,400).

Did you know that under existing legislation, you can be fined up to £1,000 for “incorrectly presenting” your household waste for collection?  If you think that this may be something of a sledgehammer to crack a nut, the government appears to agree with you.

Under section 46 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, your local authority may prosecute you for putting the wrong type of waste in the wrong bin, using the wrong type of bin, or even putting your bin out in the wrong place. The penalty is a fine of up to £1,000, and some local authorities have been more enthusiastic about this process than others.

The government appears to think that this is excessive.  DEFRA has just announced a consultation on possible amendments to local authority enforcement powers relating to household waste collection. It is proposing a lighter regime that will be along the following lines:

• An initial requirement for local authorities to
  issue notices to householders that they have incorrectly presented their waste;
• Fixed penalty notices, with greatly reduced
  penalties. DEFRA suggests £60 or £80, with discounts for early payment.
• An appeals system

DEFRA proposes a test of “harm to local amenity” before a civil penalty can be imposed, saying that it

“aims to ensure that penalties are targeted at those who behave in a way which reduces the quality of their neighbours’ surroundings. In other words, penalties might be appropriate when bin bags are left on the street for days on end, for example, but not when someone does not close their bin lid properly, leaves it out for an hour too long, or mistakenly puts something in the wrong bin.”

The Government’s stated preference is for civil penalties with no underpinning criminal offence, saying

“It removes the threat of criminal sanctions applying to householders who present their waste for collection incorrectly, and seeks to achieve a balance between the need to respect individuals’ civil liberties and the need to deal effectively with behaviours which have a negative impact on residents’ local neighbourhoods.”

You can read more at http://www.defra.gov.uk/consult/2012/01/16/household-waste-1201/.   If you  wish, you can respond to the consultation, which closes on 12 March 2012.