These are the questions currently running through employees minds when severing their employment today. Whilst the Employment Rights Act 2025 extends the time limit from bringing most claims, such as unfair dismissal, from three to six months in October, Tribunals are already reporting a wait of up to four years. Perhaps more people will be prepared to negotiate hard a good settlement agreement now?
A judgment was handed down by the Court of Appeal recently considering the criteria required when applying to seek permission to re-open an appeal or a permission to appeal application. A panel of two Lord Justices of Appeal refused, after an oral hearing, to re-open a permission to appeal application. The respondents did not appear but some had sent in short written representations objecting to the application to re-open the permission to appeal decision.
It is interesting to note that the Lord Justice of Appeal, who originally refused the permission to appeal application on paper, had recused himself for another Lord Justice to order at an oral hearing that the application to re-open be adjourned to a further oral hearing before a two-judge court.
Therefore, in total, four Court of Appeal judges considered the case.
Business confidence is very poor sparking a large increase in settlement agreements high street solicitors are reporting in conditions not witnessed since the pandemic. London appears to be being hit heavily, notably east London, and those under 35. The hospitality and retail sectors are particularly affected.
The Victim and Prisoners Act 2024 which comes into force on the 1st October 2025 makes clear in statute that non-disclosure agreements such as settlement agreements cannot be enforced in so far as they seek to prevent victims from reporting crime to the police.
Under section 17 of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024, non-disclosure agreements signed on or after 1 October 2025 will not be enforceable against victims of crime in relation to the disclosure of information about relevant conduct to the following groups and for the following purposes:-
Police or other bodies which investigate or prosecute crime, for investigating or prosecuting the relevant conduct
Qualified lawyers, for seeking legal advice about the relevant conduct
Regulated professionals (including regulated healthcare professionals), for obtaining professional support in relation to the relevant conduct
Victim support services, for obtaining support in relation to the relevant conduct
Regulators, for cooperating with the regulator in relation to the relevant conduct
To a person authorised to receive information on behalf of any of the above, for the relevant purposes mentioned above
A victim’s close family, for the purpose of obtaining support in relation to the relevant conduct.
The last three months of last year saw a phenomenal increase in court cases brought to block the administration of family estates. This process is known as applying for a caveat to stop or delay a grant of probate necessary for the distribution of a persons assets e.g. for obtaining funds from a bank, the sale of a property or investments.