Providers in the social care sector are facing an increasingly challenging outlook. There are growing strains on funding, increases to employer’s National Insurance contributions, the National Minimum Wage is rising and workers rights are being strengthened. Providers may feel they are being asked to do more for less and HR leaders are asked to balance financial constraints with the need to recruit, retain and engage a resilient workforce.
In our annual health and social care employment law update, our employment team will cover:
- Managing workforce changes and financial pressures. This includes avoiding legal pitfalls when changing roles, terms and conditions, handling restructures and managing service transfers (TUPE).
- Future employment law changes including how best to prepare. We will also discuss the Employment Rights Bill and key legal risks for social care employers.
- The legal duty to prevent sexual harassment and how HR teams can comply with the law and mitigate risks in social care settings.
Our experts will also provide strategic insights and practical guidance to help HR professionals navigate these challenges with confidence.
Who should attend?
This session is designed for senior HR leaders looking to future-proof their workforce strategies while ensuring compliance and sustainability in an evolving legal and economic landscape.
Speakers
Anna Dabek, partner
Jackie Morris, senior associate
Hannah Bollard, associate
Registered providers are required to have a robust understanding of their corporate structures – including any separate legal entities – and to keep this under regular review. This includes a clear rationale for why they exist, what function they fulfil and crucially, how they interact with regulated entities in the group. The flow of risk and how this is managed must be clear and transparent, as must their governance. Entities that are not being used properly can create and import risks and those which are not needed create bureaucratic drag.
Our guest speaker, Paul Medford from Aspire Housing, will share Aspire’s experiences of undergoing such corporate reviews and reflect on how to do them well.
Who should attend?
Company secretaries, heads of governance, heads of legal, heads of risk and compliance
Speakers
Paul Medford, group company secretary, Aspire Housing
The NHS Standard Contract is the contractual basis on which Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) contract for all healthcare services other than primary care. Updated on an annual basis, NHS England has proposed changes to the Standard Contract with the new terms and conditions taking effect from 1 April 2025.
This webinar will take you through key points to note in the NHS Standard Contract and summarise important changes taking effect for the year 2025/26.
Who should attend?
Anyone delivering continuing healthcare services, community services, mental health and learning disability services which are funded wholly or partly by the NHS.
Speakers
Laura Jordan, partner and head of corporate
Emma Watt, senior associate and health and social care contracts specialist
A ‘deep dive’ into the world of financial covenants in the social housing sector, looking at what financial covenants are, their function and how housing associations can make financial covenants work better for their organisation.
The session will include insight and real-life examples from both Anthony Collins and Savills Financial Consultants who between them have a wealth of experience in ‘all things financial covenant’: from drafting, negotiating and agreeing financial covenants, to testing, certifying and amending financial covenants, through to breaches and waivers of financial covenants and remedial action in respect of the same.
Who should attend?
Finance Directors and Treasury Teams
Speakers
Alex Morgan, Director, Savills Financial Consultants
Jon Coane, Partner, Anthony Collins
Michael Nutman, Senior Associate, Anthony Collins
2024 was a huge year for governance and regulation in housing. The introduction of new consumer standards and a transformed regulatory inspection regime and grading system (including new consumer grading) in England heralded the biggest changes to regulation for two decades.
2025 already has the potential to match this, with the introduction of Awaab’s Law, the Competency and Conduct Standard, Decent Homes 2 and potential changes both to rent policy and future capital funding.
In this session, we will explore what 2025 will hold for Boards and governance teams alike and what they need to do to prepare themselves and ensure Boards and executive teams are fully sighted on the future landscape.
Who should attend?
Company secretaries, heads of governance, heads of legal and executive directors
Speakers
Peter Hubbard, managing partner
Sarah Patrice, partner
Emma Hardman, partner
Catherine Simpson, senior associate
Fraud is on the rise across the housing sector (as in society generally) and housing providers are reporting more sophisticated and devious attempts to scam and defraud them, oftentimes successfully.
In this session, we’ll hear from James Tickell of Campbell Tickell. James is one of the sector’s foremost experts on governance and regulation and will be talking about what organisations need to do to protect themselves against the risk of fraud. We will also discuss how to respond should an attempt be made, with a specific focus on governance and the role boards play.
Who should attend?
Company secretaries, heads of governance, heads of legal and executive directors
Speakers
Victoria Jardine, partner
James Tickell, partner at Campbell Tickell
In our second webinar on international recruitment, we are again partnering with BA Healthcare to look at the key issues around international recruitment. We will look at these issues practically, enabling organisations to feel confident if they are already recruiting internationally or satisfied in stepping into international recruitment for the first time. We will cover:
- Key preparations for recruitment – including sponsor licences
- Salary thresholds – what has changed?
- Avoiding commonly made mistakes
- Attracting high-calibre international staff
- Best practice
- Looking ahead
There will also be an opportunity to ask questions about your international recruitment concerns.
Who should attend?
Anyone who is involved in HR within their organisation at all levels.
Speakers
The Law Commission has launched a consultation into proposed changes to the law governing co-operative and community benefit societies. Some of these changes will have a direct impact on housing providers that are community benefit societies in particular. You can learn more by reading our latest blog post, which covers the consultation in more detail.
With only three weeks until the consultation closes, it’s crucial that organisations respond to the consultation but at over 200 pages and almost 90 questions long, it can be challenging for organisations to know where to start.
In this session, our experts will summarise the key areas of the consultation you need to be aware of and suggest how you can respond efficiently and effectively. Specimen responses will be available to attendees following the session.
Who should attend?
Company secretaries, heads of governance, heads of legal
Speakers
Peter Hubbard, managing partner
Victoria Jardine, partner
Catherine Simpson, senior associate
As part of our popular annual housing management update series, this session will cover an update on Awaab’s law. Our housing litigation team will explore sections 9A and 10 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, give an update on recent case law and share tips and tricks on expert evidence. They will also provide updates on disrepair case law.
Who should attend?
All those involved in defending disrepair claims
Speakers
Suzanne Gregson, partner
Bethan Jones, associate
Kabita Akhtar, solicitor
Khalida Qureshi, solicitor
Ammaarah Jaigirdar, solicitor
Rabiya Khan, solicitor
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 (the Act) was the last act to be introduced before the dissolution of Parliament ahead of the 2024 General Election. The majority of the Act is still to come into force, however it is expected that the Labour Government will enforce the Act and push through further reforms.
This webinar will examine the provisions of the Act which are applicable to stock-owning local authorities (or those managing freehold estates). We will explain the new legal requirements, changes to existing legislation and how this can be applied in practice (it should be noted that many provisions anticipate the introduction of regulations containing details for operation).
This will provide key information for local authorities to prepare for the introduction of the majority of provisions under the Act and identify changes that will be made to policies, procedures, strategies and internal operations.
There will also be an opportunity for questions at the end of the webinar.
Speakers
Emma Hardman, partner
Penny Bournes, associate
Who should attend?
All members of the LBLA framework are welcome to attend.