Round Up Autumn 2018

4 Insurable interest Are the laws to get a much needed update? Stakeholders have told the Law Commission that the current law, particularly for life and life-related insurances such as health and accident cover, is outdated and too restrictive. It prevents, for example, socially useful insurances for children or co-habitants. The Law Commission has now published an updated draft Bill, confined to life and life-related insurances, taking into account stakeholder comments. The current requirement for insurable interest For a contract of insurance to be valid, the person taking out the insurance must be affected by the subject matter of the insurance, and stand to gain a benefit from its preservation, or suffer a disadvantage should it be lost or damaged. Automatic Enrolment is not an option! The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has fired a warning shot across the bows of employers that may be thinking they can save a penny or two. TPR prosecuted two directors and five senior managers of Workchain (formerly known as Smart Recruitment UK Ltd). It highlighted how ‘Workchain’s directors saw denying their temporary workers pensions as a quick and easy way to save the company money…’ Automatic enrolment is not an option, it’s the law and the law is clear. No one can opt a worker out of a pension scheme, even if the worker agrees. Those who try to avoid their pension responsibilities in this way face prosecution. HMRC’s new online service enables you to: -- Check your tax code and Personal Allowance. -- Tell HMRC about changes that affect your tax code. -- Update your employer or pension provider details. -- See an estimate of how much tax you’ll pay over the whole tax year. -- Check and change the estimates of how much income you’ll get from jobs, pensions or bank and building society savings interest. Check your tax code and personal allowance online The Law Commission issues a consultation document on electronic execution of documents Issues around the electronic execution of documents, including uncertainty around the legal status of electronic signatures, are inhibiting the use of new technology where legislation requires a document to be signed or executed as a deed. The purpose of this current project is to address any uncertainty as to the formalities around the electronic execution of documents, and to ensure the law governing these formalities is sufficiently certain and flexible, to remain competitive in a post-Brexit environment. The Law Commission has now published a consultation paper, setting out provisional conclusions and potential options for reform. The consultation closes on 23 November 2018. For more information and links to the paper and summary document, please see the website.