Insight Hub

• 31 October 2023
• | Jennifer Thom

Diversification and Agricultural Tenancies – proposals for change make environmental impact a factor to be considered

Opening their gates to the public for fruit picking or, more commonly at this time of year, pumpkin picking has become a popular choice of diversification activity for many farmers.

Diversification is the use of land and fixed equipment from an agricultural holding for non-agricultural purposes.

• 27 October 2023
• | Sheila Tulloch

Wills for Crofters – our six top tips

Making a Will is crucial to ensure your assets are passed on exactly how you wish when you are no longer around. Crofters aren’t exempt from this. In fact, there are multiple factors which mean that it could be argued that a well thought through Will is even more essential for crofters to put in place.

• 26 October 2023
• | Victoria Simpson

The Captain Tom Foundation – where are we now?

One year on from our original review of the Captain Tom Foundation, stories about the charity continue to emerge, making headline news. The Charity Commission inquiry has escalated its initial compliance checks into a full statutory investigation and it has recently been reported that the charity is likely to wind up. There are some valuable lessons for charity trustees...

• Date: 21 November 2023

Scottish Referrals Network: Comparing Private Client Law in Scotland vs England & Wales

Our private client law experts, Robert Cole and Carole Tomlinson, explored the key differences between Scots and Anglo-Welsh law.

• 20 October 2023
• | Victoria Simpson
• | Gillian Harkness-McKinlay

Charities (Regulation and Administration) (Scotland) Act – what you need to know

The Charities (Regulation and Administration) (Scotland) Act 2023 (the “2023 Act”) was passed by Parliament on 28 June 2023 and received Royal Assent on 9 August 2023. The 2023 Act makes important changes to the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 (the “2005 Act”), the legislation under which the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) was established.

• 20 October 2023
• | Claire Mitchell

Scottish Charitable Status – use it or lose it!

The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) has around 24,000 charities on its books and has undertaken a recent project to review the Scottish charity register to ensure those registered continue to meet the necessary requirements to maintain Scottish charitable status.

• 19 October 2023
• | Linsey Barclay-Smith
• | Alison Pryde

The importance of having a farming partnership agreement

We are currently dealing with a number of Farming Partnership disputes and some of our colleagues are similarly engaged. Many of the matters that are arising could have been avoided or more easily resolved if there had been a written partnership agreement in place. Other issues could have been resolved if that agreement had been updated as partners retired or passed away.

• 13 October 2023
• | Douglas McLachlan
• | Lorraine Currie

UK/US Data Bridge: What UK Organisations Need to Know

In an effort to bolster our transatlantic relationship post-Brexit, the UK has now become party to a new EU-US data bridge.
What does this mean for UK organisations?

• 12 October 2023
• | Lynne Lamont
• | James Flett

Managing charity reserves in the new landscape

As pandemic-era support recedes, charities are once again faced with a familiar challenge: balancing rising costs against unpredictable sources of income. This picture has been further complicated by soaring inflation driving up wages and energy costs in particular for our operational charities.

• 27 September 2023
• | Mark Templeton

The ‘new normal’ – How the hospitality sector can utilise the Immigration system to plug recruitment gaps

In recent years recruiting key staff has become an existential challenge for many businesses in the hospitality sector.

• 27 September 2023
• | Gillian Murray

The lockdown trends that didn’t last – insolvency in the retail sector

Official statistics released by the Insolvency Service demonstrate that the retail sector continues to follow this upward insolvency trajectory - evidence that baking banana bread and family zoom quizzes aren’t the only trends to have fallen out of fashion post-covid.

• 20 September 2023
• | Jemma Forrest

Are we ever going to talk about periods at work?

An estimated one in three women (or trans men or non-binary people with a womb) will experience abnormal periods at some point in their reproductive lives, often in the years leading up to menopause.