Month: June 2018

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Press release: One million married couples still eligible for £900 tax boost

Around three million couples across the UK have boosted their finances with Marriage Allowance, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) announced today.

More than a million married and civil partnered couples are still eligible for the free tax break worth up to £238 a year. And thanks to the start of the new tax year couples can backdate their allowance and boost their payment up to £900 – just in time for the summer holidays.

Applying for Marriage Allowance is quick and easy and once an application is complete it’s processed immediately. The new online form takes fewer than ten minutes to fill out and eligible customers will receive backdated claims of up to £662 as a lump sum. Over 300,000 couples have signed up for the Marriage Allowance tax break since March 2018.

Mel Stride MP, the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, said:

It’s great news that so many couples are now benefitting from Marriage Allowance. This is a really important tax relief and reflects the social importance of marriages and civil partnerships.

And I’d urge those that haven’t yet managed to claim the money to do so right away – it’s quick and easy to apply. Just search online for Marriage Allowance and go to the GOV.UK site.

Mel Stride on Marriage Allowance

Further Information

  • Everyone has a tax-free personal allowance of £11,850 and no tax is due on income up to this amount. The Marriage Allowance allows a spouse or civil partner who is a non-taxpayer to transfer £1,190 of it to their partner.
  • About four million married couples, including around 15,000 civil partnerships, stand to benefit from the Marriage Allowance, which was introduced in April 2015.
  • Couples have four years to claim their backdated allowance and can apply online

Link: Press release: One million married couples still eligible for £900 tax boost
Source: Gov Press Releases

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Press release: Highways England releases first sections of updated road design manual

Highways England today paved the way for improved road building with the much anticipated release of the first suite of new design standards.

The publication of the first sections of the new ‘Design Manual for Roads and Bridges’ (DMRB) will ensure roads are designed, built and maintained to the very highest and safest standards.

Accepted as the cornerstone of the delivery and management of motorway and all-purpose trunk roads across the UK, and a respected document worldwide, the DMRB was first published in 1992.

Highways England, the Government company responsible for maintaining, operating and improving the country’s motorways and major A roads, is currently updating it to make it clearer, more consistent and easier to understand and implement. The update puts design requirements at its core and it will also make it easier to incorporate developments in design best practice. This will result in greater efficiency and innovation throughout the lifecycle of the assets, fewer departures from the requirements, and reduced time and associated cost.

Highways England Chief Highway Engineer, Mike Wilson said:

“This is an exciting time for the highways sector as we continue to successfully deliver the record £15bn investment in roads. The updated DMRB documents mark a historic moment for the design of the UK’s motorways and major A-roads.

“I would like to thank the Devolved Administrations and our supply chain who have supported this significant review, which will ensure our roads are designed, built and maintained to the very highest, safest standards for the millions of drivers that use these roads every day.”

image of Mike Wilson, Highways England’s Chief Highways Engineer

The first four documents of the updated “Design Manual for Roads and Bridges” (DMRB) are:

  • Introduction to the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges
  • Requirements for safety risk assessment
  • Use of Compressive Membrane Action in Bridge Decks
  • Management of Corrugated Steel Buried Structures

Experts at Highways England began the task of updating the complete suite of over 350 documents and associated interim advice notes (IANs) that make up the manual in April 2017 with the review due for completion by March 2020. This is a specific requirement of the Protocol attached to the Highways England Licence as part of the Government’s Road Investment Strategy.

Changes in the updated document include:

  • a new structure of the volumes to be aligned to asset life-cycle stages, from appraisal to design up to disposal
  • new numbering systems of documents reflecting the relevant asset life-cycle stage and the specific discipline covered by the document
  • new style of individual clauses to make a clear distinction between requirements and advisory material
  • incorporation of interim advice notes (IANs) into the DMRB as relevant
  • consolidation of DMRB ‘A’ (advisory) documents with related ‘D’ (design) documents
  • introduction of National Application Annexes attached to the DMRB to cover the specific requirements of the Overseeing Organisations

Several leading UK consultants have supported Highways England with the update, and a new set of drafting rules has been used, which follows best practice from national and international standardisation organisations.

The updated DMRB supports Highways England’s “The road to good design” vision.

The DMRB re-drafting is being completed using a revolutionary online authoring tool purposefully built for the refresh of the document. This signals an important move to digital technology and unlocks the potential of digital innovations.

The updated DMRB documents will be released in phases with completion due by March 2020.

General enquiries

Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

Media enquiries

Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.


Link: Press release: Highways England releases first sections of updated road design manual
Source: Gov Press Releases

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Press release: Glebe Quarry Ltd AKA 1st Call Skips fined for supplying contaminated waste

A Cornish waste disposal company has been ordered to pay £26,500 in fines and costs for illegally handling and disposing of hazardous waste.

Glebe Quarry Limited was also ordered to pay £17,000 compensation to a local farmer after waste contaminated with asbestos was dumped on his land. The case was brought by the Environment Agency.

The company, which trades as 1st Call Skips, operates a permitted waste transfer station at Glebe Quarry near Roche, St Austell. On 6 December 2017, the company pleaded guilty to 5 separate offences at Truro Crown Court.

The offences occurred at 3 sites in Cornwall, including the company’s own waste transfer station, a nearby farm and a site operated by the china clay company, Imerys.

The Environment Agency had earlier advised the company to improve Glebe Quarry after the drainage and concreting at the site was checked and found to be ‘inadequate’. No action was taken so the Environment Agency issued an enforcement notice requesting that improvements works be carried out.

Glebe Quarry Limited appealed, but the appeal was dismissed by the Planning Inspectorate; forcing the company to carry out the improvements that were finally completed in November 2016.

Further checks by the Environment Agency revealed the company had unlawfully dumped more than 2,400 tonnes of waste, some of which was contaminated with asbestos, on land which wasn’t authorised by their site permit. Glebe Quarry Limited continued illegally dumping waste at the site despite being warned they would be committing an offence if they carried on.

In 2015, the defendant also sent waste to Imerys Minerals Ltd with waste that should have been suitable for land improvements for restoring an area of china clay spoil heaps. However, it was later found to be contaminated with asbestos.

The asbestos was discovered before the waste was spread and the loads were returned to Glebe Quarry. Nearly 50 tonnes of hazardous material was removed by Glebe Quarry Limited but was never traced as no paperwork was kept.

Glebe Quarry Limited also supplied waste to local farms for use in low-risk activities such as the construction of farm tracks. This was done under an exemption which is an agreement that doesn’t require a permit. The waste supplied to one farm was heavily contaminated with asbestos and cost nearly £120,000 to clean-up.

A farm track made of rubble and littered with little yellow flags
Each yellow flag in this farm track, made from waste supplied by Glebe Quarry Ltd, marks where asbestos was found

Matthew Lee of the Environment Agency said:

This case sends a clear message to those who put profit ahead of the environment and human health.

As a minimum, we expect waste companies who hold environmental permits to act legally and should set an example to others, but the behaviour in this case has fallen far short of exemplary.

Appearing before Truro Crown Court on 22 June 2018, Glebe Quarry Limited was fined £12,500 for offences under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010, the Hazardous Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2005, and the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

In addition to the financial penalty, the court ordered that Glebe Quarry Limited must proactively inform the Environment Agency which sites they are sending their waste to and they must also remedy the sites they have polluted.

If you see waste crime taking place report it by calling our incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60 or anonymously to Crimestoppers.


Link: Press release: Glebe Quarry Ltd AKA 1st Call Skips fined for supplying contaminated waste
Source: Environment Agency

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Press release: Welsh language scheme to widen access to justice

  • staff and judicial vacancy adverts in Wales will be bilingual
  • programme covers prison, probation, legal and courts services

The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) has today improved the way services will be delivered in the Welsh language.

Approved by the Welsh Language Commissioner the scheme will cover each of the MOJ’s delivery bodies – Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service, Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, the Legal Aid Agency, the Office of the Public Guardian, and the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. Each body will adopt their own version of the programme.

The Department will also now advertise vacancies for staff judges and magistrates in Wales bilingually and place adverts in Welsh language publications.

Ministry of Justice Permanent Secretary Richard Heaton said:

This change supports one of our most fundamental aims – making access to justice easier for everyone.

We listened carefully to the feedback from our public consultation and these improvements will allow us to deliver a service that works better for Welsh speakers.

Delivering our services in Welsh

We will deliver Welsh language services to the same quality and consistency as those provided in English, including by:

  • responding in Welsh to correspondence received in Welsh within the same timescale as correspondence in English
  • ensuring events in Wales are publicised in Welsh and that participants can contribute in Welsh
  • publishing Welsh language content on MOJ website

The scheme was developed following a public consultation with feedback from members of the public, businesses and legal professionals.

For more information on the Welsh Language Scheme visit GOV.UK.

Link: Press release: Welsh language scheme to widen access to justice
Source: Gov Press Releases

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Press release: May 2018 Price Paid Data

This month’s Price Paid Data includes details of more than 83,400 sales of land and property in England and Wales that HM Land Registry received for registration in May 2018.

In the dataset you can find the date of sale for each property, its full address and sale price, its category (residential or commercial) and type (detached, semi-detached, terraced, flat or maisonette and other), whether it is new build or not and whether it is freehold or leasehold.

The number of sales received for registration by property type and month

Property type May 2018 April 2018 March 2018
Detached 18,060 16,728 20,144
Semi-detached 20,897 19,362 22,040
Terraced 22,363 20,714 23,036
Flat/maisonette 15,846 15,457 18,253
Other 6,263 6,147 6,811
Total 83,429 78,408 90,284

Of the 83,429 sales received for registration in May 2018:

  • 62,086 were freehold, a 2.4% fall on May 2017
  • 11,286 were newly built, a 12.9 % increase on May 2017

There is a time difference between the sale of a property and its registration at HM Land Registry.

Of the 83,429 sales received for registration, 21,349 took place in May 2018 of which:

  • 375 were of residential properties in England and Wales for £1 million and over
  • 215 were of residential properties in Greater London for £1 million and over
  • one was a residential property in Birmingham for more than £1 million
  • one was a residential property in Greater Manchester for more than £1 million

The most expensive residential sale taking place in May 2018 was of a detached property in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London for £15,750,000. The cheapest residential sales in May 2018 were of two properties in Rushden, East Northamptonshire for £9,500.

The most expensive commercial sale taking place in May 2018 was in the City of Westminster, London for £92,500,000. The cheapest commercial sale in May 2018 was in Stockport, Greater Manchester for £555.

Access the full dataset.

Notes to editors

  1. Price Paid Data is published at 11 am on the 20th working day of each month. The next dataset will be published on Friday 27 July 2018.
  2. Price Paid Data is property price data for all residential and commercial property sales in England and Wales that are lodged with HM Land Registry for registration in that month, subject to exclusions.
  3. The amount of time between the sale of a property and the registration of this information with HM Land Registry varies. It typically ranges between two weeks and two months. Data for the two most recent months is therefore incomplete and does not give an indication of final monthly volumes. Occasionally the interval between sale and registration is longer than two months. The small number of sales affected cannot be updated for publication until the sales are lodged for registration.
  4. Price Paid Data categories are either Category A (Standard entries) which includes single residential properties sold for full market value or Category B (Additional entries) for example sales to a company, buy-to-lets where they can be identified by a mortgage and repossessions.
  5. HM Land Registry has been collecting information on Category A sales from January 1995 and on Category B sales from October 2013.
  6. Price Paid Data can be downloaded in text, CSV format and in a machine-readable format as linked data and is released under Open Government Licence (OGL). Under the OGL, HM Land Registry permits the use of Price Paid Data for commercial or non-commercial purposes. However, the OGL does not cover the use of third party rights, which HM Land Registry is not authorised to license.
  7. The Price Paid Data report builder allows users to build bespoke reports using the data. Reports can be based on location, estate type, price paid or property type over a defined period of time.
  8. HM Land Registry’s mission is to guarantee and protect property rights in England and Wales.
  9. HM Land Registry is a government department created in 1862. It operates as an executive agency and a trading fund and its running costs are covered by the fees paid by the users of its services. Its ambition is to become the world’s leading land registry for speed, simplicity and an open approach to data.
  10. HM Land Registry safeguards land and property ownership worth in excess of £4 trillion, including around £1 trillion of mortgages. The Land Register contains more than 25 million titles showing evidence of ownership for some 85% of the land mass of England and Wales.
  11. For further information about HM Land Registry visit www.gov.uk/land-registry.
  12. Follow us: Twitter @HMLandRegistry our blog, LinkedIn and Facebook.

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Link: Press release: May 2018 Price Paid Data
Source: Gov Press Releases