Scottish Statutory Instrument meaning

In this issue Employment taxes Budgets and Finance Bills VAT International Taxes management and litigation Companies and corporation tax Anti-avoidance Devolution Pensions LexTalk®Tax: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Latest Q&A Useful information Employment taxes Royal Assent for National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Act 2025 The National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill—bringing in an uplift to 15% for the main rate of employers’ secondary Class 1 National Insurance contributions from 13.8%, and cutting the secondary threshold to £5,000 per annum—was first set out at Autumn Budget 2024 and obtained Royal Assent on 3 April 2025. The provisions apply from 6 April 2025. See: National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Act 2025. HMRC publishes Employment Related Securities Bulletin 59 (March 2025) Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System (PISCES)—policy...

In this issue: Electricity and gas market regulation and licensing Renewable energy Air emissions, efficiency, and climate change LexTalk®Energy: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Electricity and gas market regulation and licensing Ofgem launches consultation on NESO licences Working alongside the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ofgem has opened a statutory consultation on National Energy System Operator (NESO) licences. Stakeholders are invited to comment on the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero’s proposal to award Electricity System Operator and Gas System Planner licences, and to revise conditions in a range of other licences. The consultation closes on 9 May 2024. See: LNB News 28/03/2024 95. Electricity Capacity (Supplier Payment etc) (Amendment and Excluded Electricity) Regulations 2024 SI 2024/434: This instrument amends the Electricity Capacity (Supplier Payment etc) Regulations 2014, SI 2014/3354, to provide an indirect exemption for eligible...

In this issue: Brexit SIs Post-Brexit transition guidance Constitutional and administrative law Judicial review Equality and human rights Public procurement Public sector contracts Subsidy control and State aid Information law State security and intelligence Management and strategic planning Other public law news LexTalk® Public Law: a LexisNexis® community Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Brexit SIs Aviation Safety (Amendment) Regulations 2025 SI 2025/1150: This instrument revises two elements of assimilated direct civil aviation law. It is brought forward using powers in the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 (REUL(RR)A 2023) and in Regulation (EU) 2018/1139, insofar as they relate to assimilated law. The provisions take effect on 1 December 2025. (Revised from draft as at 14 November 2025.) Please refer to: LNB News 17/07/2025 45 for details...

Automatic enrolment Automatic Enrolment (Earnings Trigger and Qualifying Earnings Band) Order 2017 Under section 13 of the Pensions Act 2008 (PenA 2008), an individual’s qualifying earnings are those exceeding the amount in subsection (1)(a) and not surpassing the amount in subsection (1)(b). The earnings trigger for automatic enrolment and re-enrolment is the pay level at which employers must automatically place eligible jobholders into a qualifying workplace pension scheme. For money purchase arrangements, the qualifying earnings band identifies the slice of pay on which employers and workers must make at least the minimum contributions. Each tax year, the Secretary of State must review: the automatic enrolment earnings trigger the automatic re-enrolment earnings trigger the qualifying earnings band If the Secretary of State considers that any figures should be altered, they are amended by statutory instrument. Provisions under PenA 2008, sections 14 and 15A, permit, among other matters, increases to the amounts set out in section 13(1)(a) and (b)...

Practice Note This Practice Note outlines the principal environmental offences in Scotland across water, pollution, waste, public health and conservation. For each offence, it sets out any available statutory defences and the maximum penalties that may apply. For more detailed guidance on the types of sentences available for environmental offences, and on the approach taken by the Scottish courts when sentencing such cases, see Practice Note: Sentencing environmental offences in Scotland. The Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2025, SSI 2025/165, commenced generally on 1 November 2025, with certain provisions beginning on 1 June 2025. That instrument repealed the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011, SSI 2011/209, and the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2012, SSI 2012/360. Offences previously contained in those regimes are now consolidated within the Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018 (EASR 2018), SSI 2018/219, principally under regulation 69. Further amendments to EASR 2018, SSI 2018/219, were introduced by the Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2026, SSI 2026/55, which came into force on 26 March 2026....

STOP PRESS—Draft Repairing Standard (Scotland) Regulations: Proposals tabled before the Scottish Parliament in January 2026 set out focused changes to the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 (H(S)A 2006) and the linked repairing standard framework. The instrument would revise H(S)A 2006, s 13 to state explicitly that a private let must be largely free of damp and mould. It would likewise add duties in law obliging landlords to look into notifications (or awareness) of damp or mould within ten working days and, where necessary safety work is flagged, to begin remedial works within an additional five working days. Non‑compliance may amount to a breach of the repairing standard; see ‘Statutory Repairing Standard—common repairs exemption’ below. Landlord Regulation Private landlords must follow various statutory rules when letting homes, as outlined below. Landlord registration When to register and exemptions From 2006, under section 1 of the Antisocial Behaviour etc (Scotland) Act 2004 (AB(S)A 2004), private sector landlords are required to register with their local authority. This obligation arises...