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R (Greyhound Board of Great Britain Ltd) v Welsh Ministers [2026] EWHC 670 (Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? The ruling reinforces the constitutional divide between the courts and the legislature. It explains that the scheme and framework of the Government of Wales Act 2006 (GWA 2006) embody that separation of powers, and that any judicial attempt to recognise and enforce a common law obligation on Welsh Ministers to consult prior to introducing legislation in the Senedd would trespass upon that boundary. This is not a departure from established principle; case law has already upheld comparable rules for lawmakers in Scotland and at Westminster. However, this is the first express confirmation of the position for Welsh lawmakers, and the first time this dimension of the GWA 2006 has been analysed in such depth. The court examined earlier
The solution arrived through the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC), a quasi‑judicial body handling mass claims, created under UN Security Council Resolution 687. By addressing environmental harm—most notably via its ‘F4’ claim class—the UNCC set a seminal benchmark shaping how international law and contemporary arbitral panels allocate financial responsibility for wartime ecological devastation. With present-day wars in areas such as Eastern Europe and the Middle East bringing dam breaches, strikes on chemical facilities, and the burning of farmland, the UNCC’s legacy endures as an essential reference point for states, global investors, and companies engaged in post‑conflict arbitration. The F4 claims: Quantifying the unquantifiable Prior to the 1990s, mechanisms in international law for war reparations overwhelmingly favoured property loss, foregone earnings, and bodily injury. The natural world was commonly treated as a mute, non-compensable victim of armed hostilities...
Understanding the farming business as a business Many farms still use long-standing structures that arose by habit, not strategy. Sole traders, informal partnerships and outdated partnership deeds are common. While once effective, such setups can cause major issues around succession, tax planning and involving the next generation. A corporate team can take a fresh, business-led view of the farm, asking: Who owns the land and other critical assets? Who manages daily operations? Who carries the risk and who enjoys the return? What is the enduring plan for succession? From this review, the team can confirm whether the current setup is fit for purpose or if an alternative — for example an updated partnership agreement, a company, a limited liability partnership, or a blended model — would better meet the family’s aims. Tax efficiency through joined-up advice Tax sits at the centre of most
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In this issue: Criminal procedure and evidence Proceeds of crime Bribery, corruption, sanctions and export controls Consumer protection and cartels Environmental offences Financial services and pensions offences Fraud, forgery, tax and theft offences Health and safety and corporate manslaughter offences Local authority prosecutions Corporate Crime in Scotland Lex Talk®Corporate Crime: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Criminal procedure and evidence Mo J secures £1.9bn uplift in first Labour Budget In its first Budget on 30 October 2024, the Labour government unveiled an extra £1.9bn for the Ministry of Justice ( Mo J), alongside additional millions for criminal prosecutors and fraud investigators. See News Analysis: Mo J gets £1.9bn funding boost in first Labour...
Urging reform of government policy, PSIG warned that people already deprived of tens of thousands of pounds by scammers can be hit again, facing 55% tax levies on withdrawals. In response, the group has initiated a petition to press the government to alter tax rules so victims are not left further out of pocket. Margaret Snowdon, PSIG chair, branded this a gross injustice and stressed that tax policy and legislation must change to better mirror the current realities of pension fraud and its consequences. She added that it is a profound disappointment to be in a position where a petition is even required to put this right......
The FCA has issued a written warning notice stating it plans to take action against Odey over his response to an internal disciplinary process examining allegations of sexual misconduct made against him. He repeatedly obstructed attempts by his eponymous hedge fund, Odey Asset Management LLP ( OAM), to convene disciplinary proceedings regarding his conduct. The firm acted after more than a dozen women accused him of sexual misconduct, rape and harassment. The FCA’s view is that, during the relevant period, Odey displayed a lack of integrity: his actions were intentionally aimed at disrupting OAM’s ongoing disciplinary process into his behaviour to safeguard his own interests, demonstrated a reckless disregard for OAM’s governance, and caused OAM to breach certain regulatory obligations......
Mo J funding uplift and pressures on the courts The Ministry of Justice’s limit for 2025–26 rises to £13.8bn, an average real-terms increase of 5.6% on the previous year. This sits alongside an extra £49m for the Crown Prosecution Service, £24m for the Serious Fraud Office, and plans to recruit more investigators to pursue tax and benefit fraud. Part of the £1.9bn for the Mo J will go into prisons and the probation service Funding provides a further 106,500 Crown Court sitting days to help ease pressure That uplift is intended to chip away at a daunting backlog: outstanding Crown Court cases exceeded 68,000 at end- April, up from nearly 60,800 a year before. However, while Chancellor Rachel Reeves directed extra funds to the Crown Courts, her Budget offered nothing to relieve delays across other areas of the justice system, nor to address the...
In this issue: Autumn Budget 2024 Sentencing Bribery, corruption, sanctions and export controls Environmental offences Financial services and pensions offences Fraud, forgery, tax and theft offences Health and safety and corporate manslaughter offences Insolvency offences and Companies Act offences Local authority prosecutions Money laundering Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Autumn Budget 2024 Autumn Budget 2024—key criminal justice announcements On 30 October 2024, during the Autumn Budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP, set out proposals to reform public criminal justice services and placed emphasis on combating welfare fraud. Refer to: LNB News 30/10/2024 39. Sentencing Sentencing Act 2020 ( Magistrates’ Court Sentencing Powers) ( Amendment) Regulations 2024 SI 2024/1067: These Regulations revise section 224(1A)(b) of the...
The guidance arises from fresh penalty and enforcement powers afforded to Companies House by reforms in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 ( ECCTA 2023), alongside the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 ( Financial Penalty) Regulations 2024 ( SI 2024/445). These regulations brought in a maximum financial penalty of up to £10,000 as an alternative to criminal proceedings, and although they have applied since 2 May 2024, the penalty has only been enforceable since September 2024... This framework is intended to raise compliance levels, enhance the accuracy of the register and curb misuse. Martin Swain, director of intelligence and law enforcement at Companies House, signalled that Companies House will not hesitate to deploy the powers now at its disposal. The guidance closely follows enhanced capabilities granted by the Economic Crime ( Transparency & Enforcement) Act 2022, which created the...
In December 2023, OTSI was set up as a new government body within the Department for Business and Trade ( DBT), tasked with civil enforcement of certain trade sanctions connected to UK services and overseas trade with a UK nexus. On 10 October 2024, the UK government formally launched OTSI, mandating it to reinforce sanctions enforcement and assist businesses with compliance. Trade sanctions cover restrictive measures relating to: the movement of goods the transfer of technology the provision of services Breaching trade sanctions is also a criminal offence, with enforcement by HM Revenue and Customs ( HMRC). This article examines OTSI’s principal civil enforcement powers under the new legislation, how it will work alongside other law enforcement authorities, and the potential effect on the UK’s interwoven sanctions landscape. We also consider a distinct difference between OTSI and HMRC in how they may pursue trade...
Historically, these lawyers were expected to take on the bulk of cases involving bribery, fraud and financial misconduct brought by the Serious Fraud Office ( SFO) or the National Crime Agency ( NCA). Businesses are, however, increasingly bringing them in to examine allegations of sexual harassment, discrimination and bullying. According to Zulfi Meerza, a former investigative lawyer at the SFO who is now at Rahman Ravelli, it is now rare to see a white-collar crime lawyer dealing solely with traditional white-collar crime matters. The shift mirrors a marked rise in the number of 'incidents'—from harassment and bullying to discrimination—that firms recorded internally between 2021 and 2023, based on a survey released on 25 October 2024 by the Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA). Despite the rise in complaints over the past three years, most were not upheld; only in 43% of cases did firms take...
In mid- October 2024, the FCA flagged 38 concerns about social media profiles run by UK finfluencers that may feature illegal promotions, and it is questioning 20 of them under caution. Back in May 2024, the regulator stated it had brought charges against nine people linked to an unauthorised foreign exchange trading programme advertised online. According to Andrew Northage, a partner in the regulatory and compliance team at Walker Morris LLP, the FCA likely believed that the public attention from a case involving seven high-profile, UK-based defendants would serve as a warning; however, he added, such a warning is less likely to dissuade promoters and operators of illicit schemes located outside the UK, who know how hard it is for the FCA to pursue them. Overseas rules breaches The FCA’s guidance confirms that its social media financial promotion rules extend to overseas firms. These...
In this issue: Proceeds of crime Sentencing Bribery, corruption, sanctions and export controls Consumer protection and cartels Cybercrime and data protection offences Environmental offences Fraud, forgery, tax and theft offences Health and safety and corporate manslaughter offences Insolvency offences and Companies Act offences Local authority prosecutions Money laundering Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Proceeds of crime Fresh magistrates’ court rules on proceedings under POCA 2002 and ATCSA 2001 re cryptoassets A suite of updated magistrates’ court rules comes into effect on 7 November 2024 to assist proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 ( POCA 2002) and the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 ( ATCSA 2001) in the context of cryptoassets. They include SI 2024/1040, enabling non-conviction-based applications to convert cryptoassets to money and to detain, freeze and forfeit the resulting converted sums in proceeds of crime matters, and SI 2024/1043, facilitating...
Whistleblowing ( Reporting and Disruption of Fraud and Wrongdoing) Bill At a launch on 21 October 2024, lawyers, parliament and a retired judge backed the new Whistleblowing ( Reporting and Disruption of Fraud and Wrongdoing) Bill, asserting that, if passed, it would enhance protections for whistleblowers throughout the UK. Whistleblowers UK, the non-profit supporting the Bill, said it would create a government office for whistleblowers, headed by a commissioner appointed by the secretary of state. The office would have wide-ranging powers to: set, monitor and enforce standards seek information carry out investigations impose fines for retaliation Victoria Mc Cloud, a retired judge and director of Whistleblowers UK, said the UK is waking up and recognises that urgent steps are needed, with cross-party support in both the Lords and Commons, to bring the Whistleblowing Bill into law. A copy of the...
Product Regulation and Metrology Bill The rise of online marketplaces, the presence of lithium batteries in ebikes, and fresh product risks and technologies such as AI have increased the urgency of revising post- Brexit UK product safety rules, ministers and officials told lawmakers yesterday as they defended the wide powers set out in a new draft law. Junior business minister Justin Madders told Parliament that the far-reaching Product Regulation and Metrology Bill aims to support ministers in managing more than 150 separate regulations that regularly require technical updates, covering areas from toys and cosmetics to lifts and noise-generating products, before even accounting for emerging domains that also need safeguards. For example, he said, there must be clear accountability for online marketplaces and certainty about how they are positioned within the framework......
The Association for Financial Markets in Europe ( AFME) flagged ambiguities in the FCA’s consultation that closed on 18 October 2024. The watchdog has suggested revising its guidance to clearly state that politically exposed persons in the UK— PEPs, including parliamentarians and senior public figures—ought to be seen as lower risk. In its submission, AFME said it remains unclear what degree of enhanced due diligence the FCA intends to bring in and apply—the extra background checks that UK subsidiaries or branches of international firms must conduct on domestic PEPs. The FCA’s premise is that UK institutions should regard domestic PEPs as lower risk by default. AFME sought explicit confirmation that this rule would not apply to UK subsidiaries within international groups in cases......
On 15 October 2024, UK insurance firm Coalition Risk Solutions Ltd said its new 'clawback' service can intercept funds within the banking system before a cybercriminal gets hold of them. Coalition added that the clawback capability has already helped to recover £1.4m for one of its clients. In a statement, Laura Stewart, Coalition’s UK head of claims, said bringing a financial crime law partner into its team was vital to applying its funds transfer fraud expertise to the murky UK market......
In this issue: Investigating criminal conduct Criminal procedure and evidence Bribery, corruption, sanctions and export controls Environmental offences Financial services and pensions offences Fraud, forgery, tax and theft offences Health and safety and corporate manslaughter offences Insolvency offences and Companies Act offences Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Investigating criminal conduct New sexual harassment law to alter work safety for good Employers are expected to evaluate the likelihood of staff being sexually harassed and to implement preventative policies and procedures, as they ready themselves for a forthcoming duty that, according to lawyers, marks a step-change in workplace health and safety. See News Analysis: New sexual harassment law to alter work safety for good. Investigatory Powers ( Amendment) Act 2024—provisions commenced and consultation opened The Investigatory Powers ( Amendment) Act 2024 ( Commencement No 1 and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2024 have brought specified elements of the...
Confidential settlement with ENRC The Serious Fraud Office agreed a confidential settlement with ENRC moments before the Kazakhstan-based mining group was set to open its trial on 8 October 2024, without conceding that it had leaked incriminating aspects of its criminal investigation to the press. The SFO denied disclosing details of its corruption probe into ENRC, insisting the company’s claim rested on speculation rather than evidence, and the accord means current and former SFO officials will sidestep potentially awkward questioning. Zoe Osborne, a lawyer at Steptoe & Johnson LLP who has represented defendants in SFO matters, said neither camp appeared to benefit from pressing ahead. She told Law360 that for ENRC the downsides included adverse facts resurfacing, senior management being diverted from their roles, and mounting costs. As for the SFO, she noted there is precedent for concluding difficult cases,...
The Worker Protection ( Amendment to Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 Coming into force on 26 October 2024, this Act requires employers to take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment or face a 25% uplift in employment tribunal awards. It also hands the Equality and Human Rights Commission ( EHRC) new powers to step in where employers breach that duty. On 10 October 2024, the government signalled, through the Employment Rights Bill, an intention to raise the bar to ‘all reasonable steps’. Lawyers say Labour has set such a demanding threshold that few employers would risk relying on it as a defence. That reform is not anticipated to apply until 2026 at the earliest. Even so, EHRC guidance published in September 2024 confirms that employers will be judged against a tougher benchmark than many had expected. The regulator has also warned it stands ready to act...
The FCA is imposing the additional requirements of the Consumer Duty on compulsory reimbursement for APP fraud, a field in which the PSR, with a narrower remit, is setting and steering the rules in practice. The Duty obliges financial firms to secure good outcomes for customers. APP fraud, where criminals trick people into sending funds to accounts they control, reached £460m in the twelve months to December 2023, according to UK Finance, the industry body for the sector. ‘ This could be among the first examples of the FCA deploying the Consumer Duty to articulate expectations in the absence of specific rules in a given area, or lacking explicit powers in that area,’ said Paul Harris, a partner at Osborne Clarke LLP. On 7 October 2024 the FCA sent a ‘ Dear CEO’ letter to leaders of payment companies,...
On 11 October 2024, the extra custodial term imposed on Elie Taktouk was triggered and brought into effect after he failed to satisfy a court order issued in November 2023, a statement released on 12 October 2024 by solicitors conducting the private prosecution confirmed and reiterated. According to that statement, Taktouk had been found guilty over a collapsed £7.7m property transaction in London that ultimately culminated in the property being repossessed. At Southwark Crown Court, Judge Alexander Milne KC directed Taktouk to repay the sum—among it £3.2m in compensation—to the fraud’s victims within three months. Milne J had already handed him a seven-year sentence of imprisonment. The businessman—whose family is prominent within Lebanese and Nigerian circles—told the court at an August 2023 hearing that his late father, Youssef Taktouk, held approximately £187m in total assets overall. The case itself traces back to...
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 ( ECCTA 2023) Enacted a year ago, ECCTA 2023 contains a clause requiring large companies to put in place ‘reasonable procedures’ to protect against prosecution for failing to prevent fraud. This aligns with the UK’s Bribery Act, under which organisations can face action for failing to prevent bribery. The provision has not yet taken effect, as the UK is awaiting the publication of guidance explaining the changes. The regime will commence no earlier than six months after that guidance is released. That guidance was originally due to be published in June 2024......
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When evaluating a general damages claim, the practitioner ought initially to refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG)...
This Practice Note This Practice Note reviews mechanisms used in settling litigation. A Tomlin order consists of a consent order paired with a schedule. It operates to stay proceedings on terms that have been agreed. The provisions contained in the schedule may remain confidential. This Practice Note describes the scope of confidentiality attaching to the schedule and sets out how it differs from a standard consent order. Sample wording for a Tomlin order is included, alongside links to precedents, as well as guidance on court approval. It also addresses varying, setting aside and enforcing a Tomlin order, including the considerations the court will take into account when handling applications for each. Further guidance is provided on interpreting and applying the relevant provisions of the CPR; however, some courts and divisions impose very specific requirements for both drafting and approval, and for approaching the schedule and confidentiality issues. Accordingly, you must consider the particular rules and court guide provisions in the forum where your claim is proceeding when drawing up the Tomlin order...
Date [ date ] Parties [ name of Landlord ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Landlord) [ name of Tenant ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Tenant) [ [ name of Guarantor ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Guarantor) ] [ [ name of Mortgagee ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Mortgagee) ] Definitions Within this Deed, the terms below shall be interpreted as follows: [ Annual Rent • the annual sum reserved under the Lease; ] [ Insurance Rent • the Tenant’s share of the Landlord’s costs of insuring the Property (as set out in the Lease); ] Lease • the lease of the Property dated [ date ], entered into between (1) [ the Landlord OR [ name ...
I, [ name ], of [ address ], solemnly and sincerely state that: [ Matters to be verified, set out in numbered paragraphs ] I make this solemn statement in good conscience, believing it to be true, and pursuant to the provisions of the Statutory Declarations Act 1835. DECLARED at [ details ] this [ day ] day of [ month and year ] Before me ................................................................................ [ signature of the person before whom the declaration is made ] A [ commissioner for oaths OR [ solicitor OR [ insert other qualification ] ] authorised to administer oaths ]...
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