Contract Documents meaning

The employer and its advisers ought to reflect on the following matters: Preparatory steps From the employer, gather: a copy of the departing employee’s latest employment contract and any other documents setting out contractual terms (note: these might sit within a staff handbook) particulars of the employee’s contractual benefits pertinent details about the employee’s pension entitlements information on any shares/share options held by the employee; review the Articles of Association, any relevant shareholder agreement, and share scheme documentation. See also Shares and share options below Status of negotiations Will discussions occur directly between the parties, or via their respective legal advisers? How robust is the employer’s bargaining position? How credible are the employee’s existing or potential claims? For any dismissal, is there a fair reason and has a fair procedure been followed? Is the employer in repudiatory breach? What is the employer initially...

Checklist This Checklist summarises the issues an employer should evaluate when shaping a career break and/or sabbatical policy, and when setting the arrangements to support such leave. The expressions ‘career break’ and ‘sabbatical’ carry no fixed legal definition, and the title used for the break does not dictate its legal character. In practice: ‘Career break’ commonly denotes a longer spell of unpaid absence during which the employment contract may remain in place, though more frequently it does not; and ‘Sabbatical’ typically refers to a shorter period of leave, usually unpaid but potentially paid or partly paid, during which the contract does continue. For detailed information on career breaks and sabbaticals generally, see Practice Note Career breaks and sabbaticals...

Use this checklist when representing the seller in the disposal of a registered freehold residential property, whether offered with vacant possession or burdened by a lease or multiple leases. It is not comprehensive and will not address every eventuality in every transaction. You should always consider if there are additional matters that require attention. It does not purport to be a complete guide for every case. Preliminary matters Have you taken instructions from the client? Robust due diligence and effective transaction management depend on a clear grasp of the seller’s objectives and the proposed sale terms. Obtain full instructions, and clarify any elements of your brief that are unclear or out of the ordinary. Consider whether further specialist input is required; for example, planning advice where completion is conditional upon planning permission being secured. The table below sets out some of the principal points on which instructions should be obtained at the outset. This list is not comprehensive, and you may need to request information about additional...

This Checklist is applicable for the sale and purchase of a vessel by a company when acting for a corporate buyer and where the ship will be registered in the UK When representing the buyer, the priority is to confirm that the seller’s papers are adequate to deliver good title, secure the vessel’s permanent registration in the UK, and demonstrate that both parties possess the requisite power and authority to conclude the transaction... Request a Transcript of Registry from the UK Ship Register to verify the current registered owner and identify the existing security position affecting the vessel. A fee is payable for this (and several of the other documents noted below), with a full schedule available on the UK Ship Register website. Make the request promptly on receipt of instructions and repeat the search on the closing date... Confirm that any class inspection or other survey specified in the sale contract has been conducted and that the results are satisfactory...

In this edition: Employment contract Pay Protected characteristics Prohibited conduct (discrimination etc) Prohibited conduct protection at work Equality of terms (equal pay) Employment Appeal Tribunal Governance and regulatory Immigration Dates for your diary Trackers New Q&As Employment resources on Lexis+® Daily and weekly news alerts Employment contract UKSC upholds claimants’ appeal and restores injunction in Tesco ‘fire and rehire’ case In Tesco Stores Ltd v Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) [2024] UKSC 28, Tesco moved to end employees’ contracts to remove their ‘retained pay’—a contractual financial entitlement accepted as permanent—and to offer re-engagement on new terms excluding that pay. Working with the union, USDAW, several employees obtained a High Court injunction restraining Tesco from dismissing them in order to take away the retained pay entitlement. The Court of Appeal, however, allowed Tesco’s appeal against that order. The Supreme Court has since backed the claimants’ appeal and...

In this issue: Key DR developments Claim and remedies Costs and funding Application—specific Evidence and disclosure Scottish Dispute Resolution New content Dates for your diary Useful information Daily and weekly news alerts Key DR developments Information Commissioner Office ICO updates UK GDPR lawful basis guidance following Data (Use and Access) Act The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has revised its guidance on lawful bases under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to align with changes brought in by the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (DUAA 2025). The refresh adds a seventh lawful basis, described as ‘recognised legitimate interest’. This covers pre-authorised purposes, such as protecting vulnerable individuals, dealing with emergencies, preventing or investigating crime, addressing national security issues, and sharing personal information to perform public functions. Notably, this basis cannot be relied upon by public authorities when handling personal information for their official functions. For more, see: ICO updates UK GDPR...

In this issue Key DR developments Claims and remedies Cross-border disputes Injunctions Litigation Evidence and disclosure New content Dates for your diary Useful information Daily and weekly news alerts Key DR developments Guidance HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has released refreshed guidance for the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC) small claims track. It outlines how to pursue IP claims of £10,000 or less and sets out the applicable criteria and procedure. Updated sections cover pre-action requirements, service of documents, engagement of experts, assembling evidence and bundles, and attendance at hearings or appeals. For further detail, see: LNB News 13/08/2025 13—HMCTS publishes updated guidance on IPEC small claims track procedures. Online money claims HMCTS has revised the ‘Payment by Account for online services’ guidance, updating the contact details in the ‘Get help’ section relating to the Payment by Account facility for online court fees. For further detail, see: HMCTS Payment by...

This Practice Note offers practical direction on correctly executing documents when one or more parties to a contract are not physically together, often referred to as virtual signing or a virtual closing. The Law Society has brought together established materials covering: execution of documents by virtual means, use of electronic signatures, its ‘Tips on how to operate in practice’ concerning virtual execution and the use of e‑signatures, and Q&A on using electronic signatures and completing virtual executions, including ‘Our position on the use of virtual execution and e‑signature during the coronavirus (COVID‑19) pandemic’. We have assembled a comprehensive, interactive collection to help users identify and navigate the concepts and common issues involved in executing documents, including by virtual means. Each section or phase contains practical guidance, precedent clauses and Q&As relevant to that stage. For more information, see: Execution collection. Mercury Tax Case This guidance aligns with the Law Society’s position issued on 16 February 2010 in response...

STOP PRESS: From 24 February 2025, the core provisions of the Procurement Act 2023 (PA 2023) have taken effect. Any procurement launched on or after that date must proceed under PA 2023. Procurements started under the earlier frameworks—the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015), the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016, the Concession Regulations 2016, and the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011—must continue to be run and overseen in line with those rules. See Practice Note: Introduction to the Procurement Act 2023—PA 2023. This content relates to the Procurement Act 2023 regime. This practical guidance addresses public procurement under PA 2023. Under this regime, tender notices replace contract notices under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015), SI 2015/102. For practical guidance on contract notices under PCR 2015, see Practice Note: Prior information notices and contract notices. What is a tender notice? Under PA 2023, a tender notice is required to launch a competitive tendering process. PA 2023, s 21 sets out: when...

STOP PRESS: From 24 February 2025, the core provisions of the Procurement Act 2023 (PA 2023) now apply. Any procurement launched on or after that date must proceed under PA 2023, while procedures started under the earlier instruments—the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015), the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016, the Concession Regulations 2016, and the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011—must continue to be run and administered in line with those rules. See Practice Note: Introduction to the Procurement Act 2023—PA 2023. PCR 2015 as assimilated law PCR 2015 are EU-derived domestic legislation and therefore constitute assimilated law under sections 2 and 6 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. For practical guidance on the standing and interpretation of assimilated law, see Practice Note: Assimilated law. Public procurement reform The UK public procurement framework stems from EU public procurement law, and was consequently affected by the UK’s exit from the EU, albeit only to a limited degree. In substance, the UK regime continues largely...

TO BE PRINTED ON THE BORROWER’S SOLICITORS’ HEADED PAPER To: [ insert details of the lender’s solicitors ] (the Lender’s Solicitors) and [ insert details of the lender ] (the Lender) Dear [ insert organisation name ] Completion undertaking This undertaking concerns the acquisition of [ insert property description ] (the Property) by [ insert borrower’s name ] (the Borrower) under a sale contract dated [ insert date ] between [ insert seller’s name ] (the Seller) and the Borrower (the Sale Contract), together with the grant of a first legal charge over the Property in favour of the Lender pursuant to a facility agreement dated [ insert date ] between [ insert details ] (the Facility Agreement). For the purposes of this letter, ‘completion’ means completion of the Transfer of the Property to the Borrower (the Transfer), and does not include registration of the Transfer at HM Land Registry. We are instructed by the Borrower. We enclose: ...

Date [ date ] Parties [ name of mortgagee ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Seller) [ name of (first) Buyer ] [ and [ name of second Buyer ] both ] of [ address ] ([ together ] Buyer) 1 Definitions In this Agreement, the following terms shall have these meanings: Actual Completion Date – the day on which the Transfer is actually finalised; [ Buyer’s Solicitors – [ name ] of [ address ] (reference [ details ]); ] Completion Date – [ date ]; [ Contents – the items specified in Appendix 2; ] [ Contents Price – £[ amount in figures ] ([ amount in words ] pounds); ] Deposit – [ figure ]% of the Price; [ Documents – the documents identified in the Schedule; ] Legislation...

These notes and specimen documents make up an automatic enrolment (AE) pack created to assist employers—including small and micro-employers—in meeting the duty to enrol employees into an AE scheme... (A) Notes about AE (i) the statutory obligation (ii) financial thresholds and limits (iii) the statutory and other key terms (B) Documents (i) letters (ii) notices (iii) the employment contract—sample pension clauses AE scheme providers generally issue the core letters and notices, though not always everything required in every relevant situation, and typically none where an employer fulfils the AE duty by using a qualifying pension scheme that is not an automatic enrolment pension scheme... (A) Notes about AE 1 The statutory obligation The primary legal provisions are found in Part 1 of the Pensions Act 2008 (PenA 2008) and the Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Automatic Enrolment) Regulations 2010, SI 2010/772, as later...

A well-known problem amongst procurement professionals A widely recognised headache for procurement practitioners arises from the duty in regulation 53 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015), SI 2015/102 (PCR 2015, SI 2015/102, reg 53). It requires the ‘procurement documents’ to be accessible at the time a public contract is advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union (the Official Journal, or OJEU). In essence, contracting authorities must use the internet to provide unrestricted, complete and immediate access, at no cost, to those documents from the day a notice, issued under regulation 51, appears in the Official Journal, or from the day an invitation to confirm interest is dispatched. The issue most often raised, particularly for public procurements run under the restricted procedure (and comparable routes that involve a pre-qualification phase ahead of the award stage), is whether the invitation to tender and the specification must already be available when the contract notice is published in the OJEU. Timing this disclosure often proves challenging for contracting authorities...

At present, we know of no authority on this particular point...

It can be useful to review, in sequence, the following key points: the obligation in section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) to issue a written statement of employment particulars the terms of the contract of employment an employer’s Human Resource (HR)-related policies the use of electronic signatures Written statement of employment particulars Under ERA 1996, s 1(1), an employer must also provide a worker with a written statement setting out the specified particulars of employment identified in ERA 1996, s 1(3) and (4). For more detailed guidance on this duty, see Practice Note: Written statements of employment particulars. Where the particulars concern sick leave and pay, other paid leave, pension rights and training, the statement may instead direct the worker to another document that is reasonably accessible (ERA 1996, ss 1(4)(d)(ii)–(iii), 1(4)(l) and 2(2))...