The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) has published the draft rateable values for commercial properties that will be used by local authorities to set business rates from April 2017. The VOA has provided an online tool so that business ratepayers can review their draft rateable value and get an estimate of their 2017/2018 bill. You can also: request changes to...

Companies are entitled to protect their trading position by insisting that their former workers desist from joining competitors for a reasonable period after their departure. However, balancing such contractual rights against the liberty of workers to earn a living and plan their careers can be a tricky legal exercise. The issue arose in the case of a group of...

Internet businesses operate in the ether and many of them call no country home. In one case involving an alleged online gambling fraud, a High Court judge observed that tracking down their centre of operations can have something of the grin of Lewis Carroll’s Cheshire Cat about it. A betting agency had launched proceedings in England against 12 individuals who...

The focus on corporate governance, always a matter of considerable public interest, has been amplified by events leading up to the recent collapse of retailer BHS and what many see as excessive executive pay. The Business, Innovation and Skills Committee of the House of Commons has commenced an enquiry into corporate governance in the UK which seeks views on on...

Officials work under pressure but members of the public who they serve have the right to expect that they will answer the phone promptly. A tribunal made that point as it upheld a company’s challenge to a surcharge levied for late payment of VAT. The company had experienced unexpected cash flow problems and its agent had made several attempts to contact HM...