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The second biggest cause of death in agriculture Whilst campaigns such as the NFU’s Farm Safety Week have done much to raise awareness of the dangers of farming, the UK’s agriculture sector has the highest workplace death and injury rate of all the main industry sectors with a fatal injury...

Everyone is presumed to have capacity unless it can be shown that they do not New figures produced by the Office for National Statistics show that in 2018 nearly a quarter of women who died aged over 80 died of dementia. Dealing with the affairs of individuals with dementia will...

“The certainty that will come with stable pricing and fixed volumes will be beneficial” Spanish farmers appear to be happy with them, but plans to introduce mandatory milk contracts in the UK has provoked fears that greater regulation will result in increased market volatility and a reduction in competition. Here,...

Sentencing powers set to increase At the beginning of July 2019, a West Yorkshire farmer was banned from keeping livestock for seven years and ordered to pay costs of more than £36,000 for keeping animals without food and water and endangering the food chain. Jennifer Pickles, 69, of High Royd...

The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) recently published its second report into the simplification of inheritance tax (IHT) The report included a number of recommendations, some of which our farming clients might welcome and others they might regard as being less good news. Farmers benefit considerably from IHT reliefs such...

What is a post-concussion syndrome? Post-concussion syndrome (PCS) is a group of symptoms of varying severity and duration that affect 10-15% of individuals after concussion. Concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury. It is normally the result of a blow to the head. It can also be the result of...

Proposed measures to improve road safety The Department for Transport (‘DfT’) last week published the provisional 2018 road casualty data for Great Britain. This showed that: 1,782 people died in road collisions – a 1% decline on the previous year – continuing the “plateau” in road deaths in Great Britain since...

Lord Chancellor changes the discount rate If you are the victim of a life changing accident which was at least in part someone else’s fault, or if you sustain injuries as a result of medical negligence, the law in the UK has long provided that you can be compensated financially....

An epidemic which continues to raise concerns Dubbed the ‘silent killer’, sepsis (septicaemia) can be a totally devastating condition, but can also be easily treated if identified promptly. It was therefore very sad to read this morning that an article by the BBC has warned that hospitals are failing to...

Redressing a global imbalance? There can be no doubt that over the last few years the technology associated with prosthetic limbs has improved exponentially, and has massively increased function, independence and activity for people with lower limb amputations. In the UK, prosthetic limbs are now available which have the best...