“I’ve got absolute trust in them here, that I’ll always have the right sort of advice and I don’t think you can ask for anything more.” David Gower, Former England cricketer

Parents and players: we will keep this page updated with performances and reports from county fixtures and other interesting cricketing information.

Please do let us know what else you would like to see.

Grand Slam Sunday for Berkshire Cricket (19.06.2013)

Sunday 16th June proved to be a very fruitful day for representative cricket in Berkshire, with every side from the Under 10s to the County 1st XI recording victories in our matches with other counties. The Under 13s and Under 15s both beat Somerset, who are generally considered to be one of the strongest counties on the Junior Circuit. The Under 15 result was a particularly impressive 8 wicket win, which was achieved with 23 overs to spare.

All of the county age group squads are performing consistently well and it is pleasing to see the County 1st XI reaching the semi-final of the MCCA Cup Competition, with a young squad of home-grown talent.

Full batting and bowling averages for the season to date, can be viewed by clicking on the following links:

http://berkshirecb.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/battingStats.asp

http://berkshirecb.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/bowlingStats.asp

Best batting and bowling performances over the past two weeks are listed below:

Berkshire Youth Cricket Report – Season to date (05/06/2013)

Having played a series of friendly matches through May, the competitive phase of the season has now begun. Our Under 14 and Under 15 sides have both enjoyed convincing victories over Devon in the first round of ECB Championship matches.

Throughout the age groups the team performances have been impressive, with many notable individual contributions, the best of which are listed below. The overall win ratio currently stands at just over 75% and our Under 10 and Under 11 sides are both unbeaten, which gives us great encouragement for the future potential of these fledgling squads.

Four of our young players, Craig Hodges, Max Stevenson, Tom Scriven and Euan Woods, have made it into the final 20 man squad for the South and West Under 15 Regional Side. This is a great achievement from the boys and a real feather in Berkshire Cricket’s hat. Euan and Tom are both currently in the Under 14 age group, which makes their achievements particularly impressive.

We will be looking to build on these early results as we enter the main phase of the season.

“We are delighted to enter into this three year sponsorship deal with The Head Partnership. The integrity of the Berkshire Cricket brand is of paramount importance to us, so to partner with a local company who enjoy such a fine reputation for excellent service, in and around Berkshire, is a very positive development for us.

The finance that we have received will enable us to fully fund the cost of the new Outdoor Cricket Centre at Reading Blue Coat school for the next three years. This is a significant move forward for Berkshire Cricket and one that will benefit all of our children.

We all require the services of a good solicitor from time to time and I would fully endorse The Head Partnership”. – Mark Allum, Chariman of Youth Cricket, Berkshire Cricket Ltd.

We were the first ever sponsors of Berkshire Cricket in the early 1990’s and are very pleased to get this opportunity to return and support Berkshire Cricket by agreeing a 3 year sponsorship of the youth teams and squads.

Our sponsorship coincided with and supports the launch of the Berkshire Youth Cricket Outdoor Centre at Reading Blue Coat School.  This central location in the county is available to all of the squads for regular training services during the season and a third of the youth district and county fixtures will be hosted there this season.

Just a bit about us:  The Head Partnership Solicitors LLP is a local firm of lawyers based in Reading and Henley-on-Thames who provide a comprehensive range of legal solutions to you for both businesses and personal needs: matrimonial and child protection, asset protection, wills and probate, moving house, all aspects of commercial property, employment and human resource, partnership and shareholder issues, buying, selling or investing in business, debt recovery and litigation.

 The Head Partnership and its hand picked staff pride themselves on understanding your exact requirements or the needs of your business.  We are accessible and available at a time that suits you which is essential when you have a family.

Click here, and then fill out your personal details and just mention ‘newsletter’ in the enquiry section, to keep up to date with the latest news about the legal world and the firm.

Click here to return to the main Berkshire Cricket site.

The local events are benefitting from kinder weather than we experienced in 2012, and we were delighted to see so many people attend our stall at the Woodley Carnival on 8th June 2013.  Thank you to everyone who came along and said hello!  We hope you liked the free bags for lives, free Frisbees and free prize draws.  We were also delighted to be joined on our stall by Mickey Mouse who entertained the children!

Next up for us is the fantastic ‘Rugfest’ music festival in Wallingford over 21/22 June 2013.  We were delighted to sponsor ‘Bar THP’ last year, and cannot wait to see it back again this year.

As well as a great line up of music over the two days, and great stuff to eat and drink, there will be lots of great activities for all of the family!  We look forward to seeing you there.

Between 6th and 17th May our personal affairs team offered to prepare Wills for clients free of charge but in return for a donation payable to the Duchess of Kent Hospice which is the local Charity supporting Hospice-care in West and Central Berkshire.

We are very aware of the excellent care provided to individuals and their families who need their services. Furthermore as a number of our own clients have benefitted greatly from the help offered by the Duchess of Kent House Charity we felt motivated to join the Make a Will Fortnight Campaign, but our involvement does not end there!

As the Sue Ryder Charity are celebrating 60 years of incredible care, some members of our firm will be taking part in the Starlight Hike in Green Park, Reading on 22nd June!

For more information, or if you would like to take part visit the following link : http://www.sueryder.org/Get-involved/Events/All-events/2013/June/Reading-Starlight-Hike.
 
 

Broadly, employers and employees will be allowed to enter into certain confidential discussions about termination of employment, which will be inadmissible in ordinary unfair dismissal claims.  Whilst this is similar to the “without prejudice” rule, there are very important differences to take account of.

ACAS has produced a statutory Code of Practice on Settlement Agreements which is useful in setting out the basic requirement.

 Settlement Agreements are an important – and a very technical – development in employment law and HR relations which employers and employees need to understand.

Should you require further information or advice please contact Susan Robertson susan@thpsolicitors.co.uk or Alexis Lane a.lane@thpsolicitors.co.uk either by email or by phone on 0118 9209490.

In the majority of cases, that one party may have inherited assets or held assets prior to the marriage may have little impact upon the outcome of the case.  The Court will be concerned to ensure that the needs of the parties are met, and this is particularly true the longer the marriage, or where there are children.  ‘Contributions’, ‘pre-martial wealth’ and inheritances are more likely to have impact in shorter childless relationships.  In bigger money cases, where the available resources more than meets the needs of the parties, there will also be greater argument for it to have impact.

As is often the case with reported cases, where the parties have the luxury of being more readily able to afford costly, lengthy, contested proceedings, in Y v Y [2012] the couple in question were described as having enjoyed an exceptional and privileged standard of living.  Husband’s family had purchased a sizeable country estate in the 1940s, and that is where the couple lived during their 26 year marriage.  The couple were worth in excess of £26 million.  Given the history of the property, Husband was determined to keep the same.   The Judge was more concerned with meeting Wife’s future needs, and concluded that  £8.7 million should achieve that.  This represented 32.5% of the assets, and was hardly an equal division of the assets, which the Court will generally not depart from after a long marriage unless it needs to, but in this case Wife’s needs were met.

Davies v. Davies [2012] involved a short marriage where Husband had inherited a hotel of substantial value (or so he contended) prior to marrying.  Whilst Husband described Wife’s contribution as a receptionist role, she contended that the hotel had actually been of little value until she had contributed to its sharp increase in value through her own efforts, including marketing.  Husband was awarded 2/3 of the available assets, which was said to reflect “the derivation of the hotel and its trade”.

Each case will continue to hinge upon its own unique facts, and these sorts of issues can only serve to make discussions even more delicate and emotive.  For more information and advice, contact Richard Rodway or Julia Drury, or another member of the Family Team

They have recently signed a deal with Reading Blue Coat School to create an Outdoor Centre for Berkshire Youth Cricket. This central location in the County will be available to all of their squads for regular training sessions during the season. In addition they will be hosting approximately a third of the District and County representative fixtures at the venue. 

We are delighted to be able to support, and be associated with, the project and the support provided by The Head Partnership covers the full cost of running the new Outdoor Centre at Reading Blue Coat School.

They will officially be launching the new centre on the 28th April.  English Cricket legend and now Sky Sports cricket commentator and summariser David Gower will be launching the sponsorship deal with The Head Partnership at 12.00 noon, and the demonstrations will follow on immediately after.  Former England bowler Angus Fraser will be officially opening the Outdoor Centre at 3.00pm.

We are sure it will be a fun and memorable day for all involved.

Are you preparing and preventing unnecessary disputes from arising?

With careful forethought and advance preparation you can invest in your business’ future by retaking control in the area businesses dislike the most: disputes.

We all know how stressful disputes can be, whether in our business or personal life, not to mention time consuming and costly.  Our Prepare and Prevent scheme allows you to take back control.  Your solicitors work with you to reduce the occurrence of disputes and ensure your hand is strengthened for those disputes you choose to take further.

From advising on the evidential records to keep, to a comprehensive review of your standard terms and conditions, and customised debt recovery letters, Prepare and Prevent focuses on tightening your procedures with a focus on dispute management.

Prepare and Prevent also encompasses initial advice on your position in relation to a situation that you are not happy with, be it a claim by you or against you.

The Head Partnership is committed to working with clients not just for them and wants to provide the best possible advice and service.  That is why we launched the Dispute Management services Prepare and Prevent and Settle or Sue.  Complimenting one another, these services allow you to regain control in the area most businesses dislike the most: disputes.

For more information contact Frances Redding or another member of our business services team.

It was recently announced that the Inheritance Tax Nil Rate Band threshold will be frozen at £325,000 until at least 2016 and therefore such planning will become even more important for those who wish to pass their estates on to family and friends. One area where increasing numbers of people can make a big difference is in how they hold Life Assurance Policies and Pension benefits.

The general position:

Life Assurance – if you are the proposer of policies on your own life, then the proceeds of those policies will form part of your estate for IHT purposes.

Pensions – depending upon the nature of your pension arrangements, a lump sum  may be payable on your death. Such payments may form part of your estate for IHT purposes.

How to get round it?

You can give away the death benefits from such policies during your lifetime, either by assigning them directly to beneficiaries you choose or by placing them into a trust. The former is generally appropriate when you say have adult children that you would like to benefit. The latter is generally appropriate if you would like a spouse or partner to also benefit.

Although you will need to give very serious thought to how best to hold such benefits this can be an effective way of ensuring significant tax savings. Most companies will have their own standard forms for such trusts although you do need to be careful and ensure that they are appropriate. If the forms are not available from the policy providers we would be able to draft the appropriate trust documentation on your behalf.

If you would like any advise on Inheritance Tax  Planning or have any other questions please contact Ian Campbell or another member of the Personal Affairs team.

There are two types of LPAs:

*    A property and affairs LPA, which allows your attorney to deal with your property and finances, as you specify;

*     A welfare LPA, which allows your attorney to make welfare and health care decisions on your behalf, if and when you lack the mental capacity to do so yourself. This could also extend, if you wish, to giving or refusing consent to the continuation of life sustaining treatment.

As part of the registration process the law currently states that there must be a statutory waiting period of 6 weeks. This is because people who are entitled to object to the registration of a Lasting Power of Attorney have a period of 5 weeks in which to raise such an objection. The change in law is reducing the period of time in which an objection can be raised from 5 weeks to 3 weeks, and accordingly the statutory waiting period is being reduced from 6 weeks to 4 weeks.

This change should mean that the waiting time for having Lasting Powers of Attorneys registered should be reduced.

Our understanding is that these changes are still waiting final approval from Parliament but that new forms will be issued as of 1st April 2013.

 Please contact the Personal Affairs team if you would like any advice on LPAs.

The legislation was seen by the Government as the ultimate goal in a history of disparate legislative measures addressing discrimination, and sometimes inequality more generally, arising from race, gender, disability and then latterly sexuality, religion, belief and age.

Many of the values underpinning the Act are concerned with human dignity, respecting the rights of individuals and communities in all their diversity, and we have seen discrimination protection afforded to a wider range of the workforce, with not only protection of those employed but also those seeking employment and the self-employed.  

The immediate and practical impact of the Act was a review by employers of their policies and procedures making sure they complied. But with 71 cases over the period 2011 to 2012 covering a wide range of issues, there is scarcely a workplace or service delivery decision that cannot be challenged under the Equality Act.

The most recent cases involved the manisfestation of belief and religion, dealt with by the European Court of Human Rights. The four cases involved four practising Christians, 2 complained that their employers placed unlawful restrictions on their ability to visibly wear Christian crosses around their necks while at work; the other two complained about their dismissal from employment for refusing to carry out certain duties which they considered would condone homosexuality and be contrary their own beliefs. Of the four cases, the ECHR only ruled in favour of Ms Eweida one of the first 2 cases, albeit that her case had failed in each of theUK’s domestic courts for different reasons each time. The ECHR found that a fair balance had not been struck between, on the one hand, Ms Eweida’s desire to manifest her religious belief and her ability to communicate that belief to others, and on the other hand the employer’s wish to project a certain corporate image.

Ms Chaplin on the other hand was denied her case because the reason for asking her to remove her cross, namely the protection of health and safety, was of greater importance. Hence interference in her freedom to manifest religious belief was seen as necessary. 

In the other 2 cases, the ECHR determined that the employers’ polices were the most important factor where the promotion of equal opportunities required employees to act in a certain way which would not discriminate against others.

In looking at these cases and others before the Courts, employers are faced with difficult decisions in avoiding legal challenges, whilst the price paid is high and potentially crippling if decisions are determined to be wrong.

If you are seeking guidance on current policies and practices, or need further advice please contact Susan Robertson or Alexis Lane at The Head Partnership Solicitors LLP on 0118 9209490.