Law and business news round-up: Sports Direct, tax avoidance, retail sales rise, Cisco

A-level students are not the only ones poring over results and figures today to see what that means for them. Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that consumers’ retail spending rose 1.4% in July following the June vote for Britain to leave the European Union, a much higher increase than economists predicted. The press has billed the news as the public shrugging off any post-Brexit economic gloom, at least for now, but the reality is that it will take years for any long-term impact of Brexit to become apparent. In the short term, though, the value of the pound has jumped and you can find detailed analysis on the Telegraph’s live feed. And in other news:

• Thousands of Sports Direct warehouse workers are to receive back pay totalling around £1 million after an undercover investigation by the Guardian revealed that the retailer was overseeing a regime of underpayment, fines for going to the toilet, harsh discipline and even childbirth on shift, which has resulted in employees working for less than the minimum wage. The trade union Unite has since been instrumental in getting Sports Direct to strike a back pay deal with HM Revenue & Customs. However, it has been argued that simply forcing Sports Direct to pay its employees what they are rightly owed does not go far enough, considering the appalling practices overseen by the company.
• The government’s attempts to be seen to be cracking down on tax avoidance continue – the Treasury has proposed tougher fines for accountants and other advisers who help to facilitate the practice. 
• California-based tech company Cisco Systems, the world’s largest networking gear maker, has announced plans to cut 5,500 jobs this summer, amounting to 7% of its workforce. The company currently employees some 7,000 people in the United Kingdom, across six offices. Despite recording healthy profits, Cisco cites a “challenging macro environment” as the reason for the job cuts.
• This round-up wouldn’t feel complete without some more Brexit-based worries, which have this time been expressed by the troubled Co-operative Bank. Co-op has warned that the economic fallout of the decision to leave the European Union may threaten its plans for recovery.  

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