Reunite’s Acting Director, Alison Shalaby, said:  

“It is concerning that we have seen such a large increase in the number of children abducted, especially as we know this is just the tip of the iceberg – many cases go unreported either to ourselves or government departments.

“There are many reasons why a parent may abduct their child. For some it may be a deliberate act to deny the other parent contact, for others there may be sociological or economic factors, or in some instances a parent may abduct their child out of fear for the child´s safety. Whatever the reason, parental child abduction causes real harm to children who potentially suffer great emotional trauma by suddenly being ripped away from all they know and being denied contact with their left-behind parent and extended family.

“For the left-behind parent the shock and loss are unimaginable and they face unfamiliar legal, cultural and linguistic barriers when seeking the return of their child.”

 If you have concerns that a child may be abducted, there are steps you can take to prevent this from happening, including alerting the authorities at places people can travel out of the country, and seeking a court order preventing a parents from removing children from the country.

To discuss this further, please contact us on 0800 999 8880.

The Ministry of Justice has launched a new website which allows people to compare the length of time cases take to be resolved at different courts in the country.

The Open Justice website aims to improve the transparency and accessibility of the justice system. The data on the length of time court cases take in criminal, civil and family proceedings is based on the latest quarterly court statistics published by the Ministry of Justice on 12 January 2012.

Figures reveal that East Midlands courts are ahead of the national average, with Small Claims cases being resolved in 27 to 29 weeks in Derby, Leicester and Nottingham compared to 30 weeks across the country. Child Care cases are also resolved more quickly, with a decision being reached in the East Midlands an average of 47.5 weeks following a Local Authority application across Derby, Leicester and Nottingham, compared to 55 weeks national average.

Click here to view the site: http://open.justice.gov.uk/

On 25 January 2012, the House of Lords voted against Government plans under the Welfare Reform Bill for parents to have to pay to use the services of the Child Support Agency with a large majority.

The Government has now announced it will attempt to overturn the defeat once the Bill is back in the House of Commons tomorrow. Public and professionals are concerned that the new plans could mean parents who are entitled to and need of child support are reluctant to seek necessary help and are more likely to accept less than their entitlement or nothing at all.

Along with welfare reforms such as lowering the threshold for Tax Credit eligibility and placing a cap on household benefits, critics say the proposals serve only to take from already disadvantaged families and children.

In response, the Department of Work and Pensions has announced plans to invest £20 million into supporting families reach maintenance agreement outside of the CSA system, double the current spending on separation support. The DWP claims a typical CSA case can cost the taxpayer around £25,000 and so removing this cost would save around £45 million per year.

An application to register land as a village green can be made if a significant number of local inhabitants have used the land for lawful sports and pastimes for a minimum of 20 years; claims as diverse as berry picking and flying a kite have been made.

Even where land is fenced so as to prohibit current general use can be registered where it can be shown that there has been a history of past use. For activities which ceased before April 2007, locals have only until April 2012 to make their application. Where the activity continued beyond April 2007, the deadline is 2 years from the date that activity stopped.

With these deadlines approaching, do you live on the village green?

At 54% of the current FOS workload, fresh complaints about PPI policies still far outstrip the other types of problem being dealt with by the ombudsman.

Credit cards, current accounts and mortgages between them accounted for just 18% of all complaints received between October and December last year.

PPI insurance was supposed to cover loan repayments if a borrower became ill or lost their job.

But after years of campaigns by consumer groups, and investigations by regulators, it became clear that many of the polices had been mis-sold, for instance to people who did not need them or to people who would never have been able to make a valid claim.

The renewed volume of PPI complaints indicates that the banking industry – the main seller of this type of insurance – still has a long way to go before the PPI scandal is finally cleared up.”

If you have been mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance in Leicester, Loughborough or Market Harborough, telephone our offices today for a free consultation.

In a statement, the OFT said that it may need to consider whether there is likely to be “a substantial lessening of competition” which “warrants reference to the Competition Commission for investigation and report”. CSC have responded to confirm that they are co-operating with the OFT and “do not believe that there are any competition issues in relation to the purchase of Broadmarsh”.

While the owners of the Broadmarsh lease, Nottingham City Council, do not expect the referral to be successful, it is likely to delay future development; Westfield had previously promised a £500m redevelopment of the site.

Redevelopment of the south end of the city centre has been an ongoing issue for almost twenty years. With more than 6,000 jobs expected to be created by any redevelopment, the city council are keen to continue discussions as to  future plans with CSC irrespective of the latest developments.

Mr Batten continued; “Growth is likely to fall into two phases in 2012.  The first six months are expected to be flat at best, with the possibility of a slight dip. But the second half should be brighter. Hard evidence on the direct economic effects of international sporting events is patchy, but they often mark a turning point in sentiment.  It is hoped that the London Olympics will provide a much-need boost to confidence. This along with the benefits of another burst of asset purchases by the Bank of England should begin to have an economic stimulus after mid-2012, when activity is expected to improve, albeit fairly slowly.”

Andrew Burrell, Director of EMEA Research appears to support Mr Batten’s contentions, concluding that while this year will “not be a vintage year for rental growth, especially in the difficult early months”, commercial sectors show much greater rental stability than during the global downturn of 2008-09.”

 With ministers arguing that a simplified planning system is needed to boost growth and encourage sustainable development, the Commons Communities Committee has said that the simplification process, which sees over 1000 pages of planning legislation reduced to just 52 pages, leaves guidance on the new proposals “unhelpfully vague”. As a consequence, they argue, rather than speeding up the planning process, the changes would slow it down and “planning by appeal” could be the result.

 Planning Minister Greg Clark has said he would carefully consider the findings.

Tenant Bankruptcy

On the making of a bankruptcy order, the Official Receiver assumes control of the bankrupt tenant’s property pending the appointment of a trustee-in-bankruptcy who, once appointed, has the bankrupt’s leasehold property vested in him. As leases come with the obligation to pay rent and observe other covenants, there is a risk that the trustee considers the lease to be onerous and seek to disclaim it under s.315 of the Insolvency Act 1986. The landlord can force the trustee to reveal whether or not he intends to disclaim, by making a written application. If no response is received within 28 days the trustee cannot disclaim. If, however, the lease is disclaimed, the obligations under the lease are discharged and any unpaid rent (or other loss suffered by the landlord) will have to be proved for in the bankruptcy.

Tenant Liquidation

It is unlikely that any lease will vest in a liquidator but the liquidator does have the same power of disclaimer as a trustee in bankruptcy. A landlord also has similar powers to force the hand of the liquidator to decide whether or not the lease will be disclaimed.

Tenant in Administration

As administration aims to put an insolvent company back on track, the administrator has no right to disclaim the company’s property.

From 28 to 30 December all Land Registry will be open from 9am until 5pm and online services operating as normal.

 The New Year will kick off with normal service on 3 January 2012.