"The Lawyer" Offshore Special Report published

A wide range of topics are covered in this month's report, which looks at what the future holds for law firms in international finance centres. At the funds summit held in Brussels last week the mood was reported as being "decidedly upbeat", with plenty of new funds work coming to the Channel Islands.

You can view the fill report at: http://www.thelawyer.com/regions/offshore/

Snow ? What snow ? (3)

Well I am really paying for that complacent comment on Friday. This morning it is snow chaos in Guernsey. All the school are closed, as is the airport. St Peter Port is like a ghost town, but at least the parking was easy !

Roads are very icy out in the upper parishes. Fine if you are in a 4WD, apart from the nutters who take to the roads anyway despite (i) not having 4WD / chains (ii) being totally unused to driving in these conditions.

Of course my post on 23.11.10, “Snow Holidays ?” (see below) is now looking remarkably prescient !

Snow ? What snow ? (2)

OK, remind me not to tempt fate again ! It was a stunning day here yesterday. Believe it or not had a long sea swim at lunchtime. Then last night hail storms, and this morning the island is pretty much closed on account of snow !

We were supposed to be flying to jersey, but airport is closed and roads only passable by 4WD.

All looks very pretty though ;-)

Bomb scare in St Helier

Part of St. Helier was closed this morning when a suspect package was found. Shops, homes and offices were evacuated. Jersey realised some expert assistance was needed so bomb disposal specialists were flown in from Guernsey (N.b. I did not realise we had any). The package was declared safe at 12:40 and the area reopened.

Full story on BBC news at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-11846498

Snow ? What snow ?

They might be having a tough time of it in Scotland and the North of England, but it is a stunningly beautiful day here in Guernsey today. Check out the view over the harbour from our webcam: http://www.atlasguernsey.com/webcam.html

Tipping Off

Leading Guernsey law firm Mourant Ozannes have published an interesting briefing paper on a “recent, and largely unheralded, change to the tipping off provisions (that) is set to have a significant impact on financial services businesses in Guernsey”.

You can follow this link direct to the briefing paper:

http://www.mourantozannes.com/site/publications/?freetext=tipping+off

It’s a(nother) Bank Holiday !

With the date of the Royal Wedding (Friday, April 29th) being confirmed as an additional Bank Holiday in the UK, we can look forward to an unprecedented “holiday fest”. Between Friday April 22nd and Monday May 2nd (11 days) there will only be three working days, so many people will be booking those three days as holiday.

It will also be interesting to see what level of sickness absence occurs over those three days ? Of course if you find that you need almost need a holiday to recover from a holiday, you can look forward to a long weekend over the following weekend (7th/8th May), because Monday 9th is Liberation Day !

Managing poor performance

Absenteeism, such as taking excessive “sickies”, can be just one aspect of poor performance at work. The latest online issue of “People Management”, the CIPD journal, has an article and some top tips on managing poor performance. Follow this link for the article: http://tinyurl.com/cipd-performance-article

UK cap on migrant visas should not affect Guernsey

The UK Coalition government will today be announcing a cap on the number of skilled workers that will be allowed into the UK from outside the EU. Last year approximately 50,000 tier one (highly skilled) visas were issued. Next year this could be reduced to 43,000, a 14% reduction.

Guernsey has its own work permit legislation to enable access to Guernsey for certain categories of highly-skilled migrants (e.g. commercial lawyers and fund accountants). We contacted them this morning and they had no knowledge of any plans to reduce the number of work permits available in Guernsey.

See more details on UK story at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11816979

Snow holidays ?

Last year Guernsey ground to a halt when about 2cms of snow fell, taking the buses off the road and hence causing the schools to close. Most St. Peter Port offices remained open, and different employers made various arrangements for staff who could not get in. Some let staff work from home, some let staff take additional paid holiday, and others required staff to take unpaid leave or make up the time.

What is your policy / your employer’s policy on this ? Now is a good time to clarify policies so as to avoid any misunderstandings when (and if) the snow arrives.

Jersey and IoM Zero-10 "fail" EU review ?

The Zero-10 corporation tax regimes of Jersey and the Isle of Man “have failed” three out of five key criteria that the EU’s Code of Conduct Group has been using to scrutinise them, according to Richard Murphy, head of the “Tax Research” Group.  http://tinyurl.com/3x44d6v

Important amendment to Guernsey employment laws

An important amendment to the Conditions of Employment (Guernsey) Law, 1985 has recently came into effect. Previously you only had to provide employees with a written statement of their terms and conditions of employment if they were working more than 15 hours a week. That 15 hours is now reduced to zero, so every employee, even if only doing a few hours a week, must effectively be given a contract. See the Employment Relations section of the http://www.gov.gg/ website, or follow this link: http://tinyurl.com/37ugyme.

Ireland looks to be heading towards an EU bail-out

Ireland looks to be heading towards an EU bail-out, whether they like it or not. It is interesting to read that their 12.5% corporation tax rate is likely to come under pressure as part of the deal. Makes you wonder how the EU will view a possible 10% rate in Guernsey ? Luckily we do not have the debt / economic problems of Ireland (or anywhere else for that matter). http://tinyurl.com/3yy4rpx

Guernsey’s Budget for 2011

Details of Guernsey’s Budget for 2011 have been published and Petrol is going up 10.8% and domestic TRP by 20%. Duty on drinks and cigarettes will also increase, but otherwise all is much the same.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-guernsey-11736818

Guernsey Airport “third most punctual to and from UK"

Apparently Guernsey Airport is the “third most punctual to and from UK”, with 91.6% of flights leaving or arriving within 15 minutes of their scheduled time ! That’s impressive ! See full story at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-guernsey-11729388#story_continues_1

How much for your melons ?

Local Jersey supermarket the Channel Islands Co-Op has made national headlines after a shopper was overcharged for fruit and veg “because the shop assistant's breasts were resting on the scales” !
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-11710712

Does Guernsey need more anti-discrimination legislation ?

The States have published a consultation on a review of employment law and protections.  Do we need more discrimination laws ? http://tinyurl.com/35rfg6d