Government bond meaning

STOP PRESS: The UK’s prospectus framework presently derives from the EU Prospectus Regulation, preserved in domestic law following Brexit as the UK Prospectus Regulation. The government has been reassessing this regime within a broader programme to modernise UK capital markets and make the UK a more appealing place to list. In this context, the UK Prospectus Regulation will give way to the Public Offers and Admission to Trading Regulations 2024 (the POATRs), and all detailed requirements connected to admission to trading will sit within Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) admission rules. The FCA issued its final rules (PS25/9) on 15 July 2025, with implementation expected on 19 January 2026. These changes form part of efforts to reform the capital markets in the UK and enhance the attractiveness of the UK as a listing venue. For more detail on the principal features of the POATRs framework pertinent to the debt capital markets, see Practice Note: The UK Prospectus Regulation—essentials [Archived] — Reform of the UK prospectus regime. Note that numerous steps...

Sammut (on his behalf and as administrator of the Estate of Paul Sammut) and others v Next Steps Mental Healthcare Ltd (formerly K Bond Healthcare Ltd t/a Next Steps) and another [2024] EWHC 2265 (KB) What are the practical implications of this case? The result of the case exposes an anomaly stemming from YL v Birmingham City [2007] UKHL 27, and the subsequent, partial legislative rollback of that ruling’s effect in defined categories of situation across specified cases (originally through section 145 Health and Social Care Act 2008 (HSCA 2008), now replaced by the current provision CA 2014, s 73). In YL, the House of Lords, by a majority, determined that private care home operators and providers delivering community care were not performing a public function for the purposes of HRA 1998, s 6(3)(b). Significantly, the majority drew a distinction between community care and mental health detention; in the latter context, the deployment of special statutory powers of detention was the decisive characteristic, such that the function was ‘of...

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In this issue: UK, EU and international regulators and bodies Prudential requirements Operational resilience Financial crime and sanctions Complaints, compensation and claims management Investigations, enforcement and discipline Regulation of derivatives Sustainable finance and ESG Banks and mutuals UK MiFID II Consumer credit, mortgage and home finance Regulation of insurance Payment services and systems Fintech and cryptoassets Dates for your diary Financial Services Enforcement Database New and updated content Daily and weekly news alerts Intraday news alerts LexTalk®Financial Services: a Lexis®Nexis community UK, EU and international regulators and bodies FSCS confirms unchanged levy for 2025/26 and provides early forecast for 2026/27 The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has issued its latest Outlook levy update for 2025/26, stating the levy will hold at £356m—as projected in May 2025—with no further levy anticipated for firms across the rest of this financial year. A preliminary view for...

What are investment-grade, high yield and crossover bonds? Investment grade (IG) bonds are debt instruments that hold an IG credit rating: BBB and above on the S&P and Fitch scales, and Baa3 and above on the Moody’s scale (for further detail on credit ratings, see Practice Note: Credit ratings). IG issuers are usually sizeable blue‑chip corporates—well‑known, well‑established and well‑capitalised—and are often companies with shares listed on a major stock exchange. Aside from sovereign bonds of developed markets, IG securities are widely regarded as among the safest income‑generating investments. As a consequence of this perceived safety, IG bonds tend to offer lower yields than high yield (HY) bonds. Many institutional investors and pension schemes operate policies and mandates that constrain their bond holdings to assets with, on average, lower default risk, such as IG instruments or government obligations. In broad terms, HY bonds encompass all bonds from issuers rated below IG. HY issuers may include public companies that lack (or previously had but later lost) an IG rating, private companies...

Project documents This Practice Note offers an overview of several widely used agreements and papers in a PFI/PF2 scheme, though the precise suite adopted will turn on the particular project. In the 2018 Budget (delivered on 29 October 2018), the government stated that PF2 will not be used for new schemes (see News Analysis: Budget 2018—what does it mean for infrastructure and housebuilding?). That said, existing PFI and PF2 arrangements will remain in operation and, given the usual term of such projects, are expected to continue for many years... Project Agreement This is the core contract in any PFI arrangement. It records the full set of terms and conditions governing the relationship between the Authority and Project Co/SPV for the life of the project. Where Project Co/SPV is granted a concession (ie the exclusive right to supply/operate/exploit something to create third party revenue), the Project Agreement may be described as a concession agreement. Typically a substantial document, it is often divided into multiple sections for manageability. Under...

FORTHCOMING CHANGE : On 13 October 2025, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) opened a consultation on proposed reforms to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) in England and Wales. A central strand is a substantial reset of Fair Deal protections, bringing the scheme into line with the 2013 Fair Deal guidance and phasing out admission body agreements and the use of ‘broadly comparable’ schemes for future outsourcing, other than in limited, exceptional cases. In their place, a new default ‘deemed employer’ approach would mean staff compulsorily moved under TUPE keep unbroken LGPS membership, with the original Fair Deal employer retaining pension responsibility rather than relying on admission bodies. These safeguards would carry through re-tenders and later transfers, preserving access for ‘protected transferees’ and, at the employer’s option, extending to new starters on the contract. Draft regulations to deliver these Fair Deal measures accompanied the consultation, underlining the government’s plan to reinforce long-term pension security for outsourced local government employees. For further information, see Practice Note:...

On [ date ], the parties enter into this Agreement, namely: 1 [ ] of [ ] (the ‘ Administering Authority ’); 2 [ ] of [ ] (the ‘ Scheme Employer ’); 3 [ ] of [ ] (the ‘ Admission Body ’); and 4 [ ] of [ ] (the ‘ Guarantor ’). Background (A) Under the Regulations, the Administering Authority is an administering authority. It runs and upholds the Scheme in line with the Regulations and has delegated authority to make determinations under section 25(5) of the Public Service Pensions Act 2013 regarding employees of admission bodies. (B) The Scheme Employer falls within the definition of a Scheme employer for the purposes of the Regulations. (C) The Admission Body is an admission body as described in [ ] of Schedule 2 to the 2013 Regulations and intends to enter into the Admission Agreement. [ It supplies the [ services ] [ assets ] referenced in the Contract and, in carrying out...