ESC meaning

R (on the application of Thomas Holdings Ltd and others) v HMRC [2025] EWHC 1660 (Admin) The proceedings concerned judicial review challenges to AMLD assessments regarding a category of machines operated by the claimants in amusement arcades and bingo halls. It was undisputed that the assessments were correct, as the machines properly fell to be treated as 'gaming machines' under section 25 of the Betting and Gaming Duties Act 1981, where 'the outcome of the game is inherent in the action of the machine'. The claimants nevertheless maintained that, for each assessment, ESC 3.4 or 3.5 (both in force at the relevant time) ought to have been applied, with the result that the AMLD liabilities would not be enforced. ESC 3.4 (misunderstanding) and ESC 3.5 (misdirection) related to VAT and are now obsolete, but HMRC accepted they could, in principle, apply on the facts and therefore should have been considered so the liabilities would not be pursued. Over twenty years ago, random number generators (RNGs) were developed....

In this issue: Brexit headlines Brexit SIs Post-Brexit transition guidance Constitutional and administrative law Equality and human rights Subsidy control and State aid Public procurement Management and strategic planning Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Brexit headlines ESC publishes fifth Report of Session 2023–2024 The European Scrutiny Committee (ESC) has released its fifth Report for Session 2023–2024, covering items considered at that meeting too. At its 13 December 2023 meeting, the ESC reviewed Windsor Framework material from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) on formaldehyde and legislative changes to EU Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) rules. The Committee also examined Trade and Cooperation Agreement papers from the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) concerning electric accumulators and electrified vehicles. See: LNB News 14/02/2024 27. Brexit SIs Railways (Revocation and Consequential Provision) Regulations...

Jump to: General Brexit headlines Brexit SIs and sifting updates Made Brexit SIs laid in Parliament Draft Brexit SIs laid in Parliament Post-Brexit transition guidance Editor's picks—the practice area/sector view New and updated Brexit related content Updated Practice Note LexTalk®Brexit: a Lexis®Nexis community Useful information General Brexit headlines This section highlights the principal overarching Brexit news headlines. ESC publishes letter criticising EU-UK Gibraltar agreement The European Scrutiny Committee (ESC) has issued a letter from its Chair, Sir William Cash, to the Foreign Minister, David Rutley, criticising the proposed EU-UK arrangement governing Gibraltar’s frontier with Spain. He maintains that the plans described by ministers during an evidence session on 30 April 2024 amount to a ‘serious diminution of UK sovereignty’. The correspondence also questions how UK nationals and Gibraltarians would be processed if Schengen controls were applied at Gibraltar’s airport. Additional points raised include defence and security risks linked to the airport’s border...

Industry bodies Body Description Electricity Settlements Company Ltd (ESC) The ESC serves as the Capacity Market Settlement Body, handling capacity payments to, and penalty payments from, participants supported by the Capacity Market. It also oversees the inflows from licensed electricity suppliers that underpin these disbursements. Appointed under the Capacity Regulations (SI 2014/2043, reg 80), the ESC is wholly owned by DESNZ, which, from 7 February 2023, took over the energy portfolio of the former Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), now dissolved. Its relationship with its sole shareholder—the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (SoS), previously the Secretary of State for BEIS—is defined by a Framework Document. In practice, the ESC shares an office, website, and senior officers with the Low Carbon Contracts Company Ltd (LCCC), the counterparty to the low carbon Contract for Difference (CfD) mechanism. LCCC is discussed further in Practice Note: Industry Bodies and Codes—Renewable Energy. ELEXON Limited (ELEXON) ELEXON oversees wholesale electricity balancing and settlement...

Industry bodies Body Description The ESC serves as the Capacity Market Settlement Body, overseeing the distribution of capacity payments and the collection of penalties from recipients supported by the Capacity Market. It acts as the Capacity Market ‘Settlement Body’. It also manages, in that capacity, the sums received from licensed electricity suppliers that finance the payments the ESC makes to those Capacity Market beneficiaries. Those supplier receipts underpin the ESC’s outgoing payments. The ESC was designated under the Electricity Capacity Regulations 2014, SI 2014/2043, reg 80, and is a company wholly owned by DESNZ. Its relationship with its sole shareholder—the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (SoS)—is set out in a Framework Document. Operationally, ESC shares premises, a website and senior leadership with the Low Carbon Contracts Company Ltd (LCCC), the counterparty for the low carbon Contract for Difference (CfD) scheme. Further detail on LCCC appears in Practice Note: Industry Bodies and Codes—Renewable Energy. Great British Energy—Nuclear is an arm’s-length body tasked with delivering the...

This Practice Note draws on various administrative law authorities to demonstrate the kinds of judicial review claims commonly pursued within the GB energy market. For an overview of significant energy law decisions since 2021, encompassing judicial review matters and more, see: Energy cases tracker. Which bodies in the GB energy sector are amenable to judicial review? Judicial review is not confined to claims against public authorities. Entities performing public law functions can likewise be subject to review in relation to those activities. That position captures several key organisations within the GB energy sphere. In assessing whether a function of an energy body is open to judicial review, the Administrative Court (within the King’s Bench Division of the High Court) typically asks two overarching questions: whether the function’s source lies in statute or prerogative authority; and if not, whether the function carries a sufficiently ‘public law flavour’...