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OFT chief executive, said the regulator was keeping a close eye on price promotions and would take action against practices that were “serious breaches of the law”

employers have legal duties to ensure the workplace remains safe. These duties are to ensure they have done all that is reasonably practicable to avoid the danger and nothing else could have reasonably been done to prevent an accident or injury.

A manufacturer of steel pipework has been fined for failing to purchase compulsory insurance to protect its employees. Essex firm Ductwork Environmental Services Ltd was fined £1,000 at Harlow Magistrates’ Court today and ordered to pay £750 in costs.

Employers will already be struggling to take on board these changes, but the announcement of an additional public holiday, coupled with a late Easter in 2011, will mean two long weekends in quick succession with only three working days between them. This could result in a rush by employees to take an extended break by bridging the gap between the two long weekends.

Following the release of an independent review into the implementation of pension auto enrolment, the government has agreed that all employers must provide pension schemes or enrol staff in to the new National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) from 2012.

With colder months approaching fast, new guidance has been issued by Directgov on clearing snow and ice from public places. It states that there is no law stopping you from clearing snow and ice on the pavement outside your property, pathways to your property or public spaces.

Inland Revenue (HMRC) was responsible for 58 per cent of all the petitions submitted over the last year to wind-up companies compared to just 43 per cent in the previous year. Petitioning to wind-up a company is the “nuclear” option used by creditors who hope to get paid back some of the money they are owed by having a businesses’ assets liquidated and sold off.

National Money Helpline recommends that employers talk to suitably qualified Independent Financial Advisers about how the pension reform will affect them and what they can do now to avoid getting caught out in 2012, do not bury your head in the sand hoping this will go away 2012 will be here before we know it.

Taxpayers who file their self-assessment returns on a paper basis must do so by the 31st October for the 2009-10 tax year or face fines of £100.

High street banks have pledged to set up a £1.5 billion fund to provide investment for small businesses despite warnings that nearly 125,000 businesses are in financial distress