September

In the case of R (on the application of T) v Secretary of State for the Home Department, the Supreme Court had to decide whether the UK's criminal records system breached the right to privacy contained in the European Convention on Human Rights (Article 8). The Court of Appeal decided that disclosing all their convictions and cautions without considering their relevance in an employment contest was disproportionate and breached Article 8. The Supreme Court upheld the Court of Appeals decision, finding that the existing criminal records scheme provided no means of filtering information so only those convictions|cautions relevant to a particular job application were disclosed.

The case of Camurat v Thurrock Borough Council considered whether not sticking to a reference agreed as part of a settlement agreement could amount to a breach of contract or a breach of the employer's duty of care to the employee to exercise reasonable care and skill in providing a reference. This case will assist those employers who have a duty to provide certain information to the police and other safeguarding bodies. They will know they are able to comply with their statutory safeguarding duties without fear of breaching their duty to the employee.

The UK labour market continues to improve with the number of jobs increasing by nine percent year-on-year (YOY), according to statistics from the Q2 2014 totaljobs.com Barometer, which analyses the behaviour of 5.9 million British jobseekers and 5,000 recruiters. Competition also rose, with the number of applications for each job rising by three per cent year-on-year. The East Midlands saw the biggest increase, with a 17 percent rise in the number of job postings, followed closely by Yorkshire at 16 percent. Other big winners included jobseekers in Wales, the North West, the North East, and East Anglia, which saw job opportunities jump 12 percent YOY.