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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 Sole traders, informal partnerships and outdated partnership deeds are common.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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The Commercial Court ruled PPE Medpro Ltd broke a procurement agreement by supplying the Department of Health and Social Care with surgical gowns that were not sterilised. Mrs Justice Cockerill dismissed Medpro’s argument that both sides had accepted documentation which, though falling short of the statutory sterilisation criteria for personal protective equipment, still evidenced compliance. Cockerill J said: “ That reading did not align with the contractual papers on which Medpro relied, and it lacked commercial logic.” She added: “ Accordingly, contrary to Medpro’s position, a validated sterilisation process had to be shown.” The firm was routed into the government’s ‘ VIP Lane’ following alleged lobbying by Baroness Mone, a Conservative member of the House of Lords linked to the company. Although Baroness Mone denied involvement with Medpro, she later acknowledged she stood to gain financially from it. After it secured...
Somani Hotels Ltd v Epping Forest District Council ( Secretary of State for the Home Department, intervening) [2025] EWCA Civ 1134 What are the practical implications of this case? Going forward, in matters of this sort, the High Court is apt to permit the Home Office to be added as a party even when the request is made very late in the process. The latitude for awarding injunctions of this kind on an interim footing—before the issues have been fully aired and determined at trial—is now limited. This follows the Court of Appeal’s clarification that: an interim injunction is aimed at preserving the lawful status quo pending trial. In a situation like this, where there is an ongoing (alleged) breach of planning control that has occurred intermittently over several years, it is preferable to maintain the status quo rather than for a judge at an...
In this issue: Social housing Education Planning Local government finance Public procurement Governance Healthcare Social care Licensing Environmental law and climate change Lex Talk®Local Government: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Social housing Local authority successful in Court of Appeal on suitability of accommodation offered in performance of prevention duty ( Fatolahzadeh v LB of Barnet) Fatolahzadeh v LB of Barnet saw Genevieve Screeche- Powell represent the council, which prevailed in resisting a Housing Act 1996 ( HA 1996), section 204 appeal pursued by a homeless applicant. Two central issues of principle arose: (i) whether Parliament intended that an alleged non-compliance with the ‘new’ HA 1996, s 189A duties should automatically vitiate any later decision taken to meet the duty to secure suitable...
R (on the application of Paul Knights) v South Norfolk District Council [2025] EWHC 2205 ( Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? This ruling is significant as it clarifies the boundaries of what qualifies as a material consideration and the threshold for challenges alleging a failure to consider them. It also acts as a timely reminder of these planning law principles: assessing the effect of a scheme on the residential amenity of adjoining land serves a planning purpose because it concerns the character of how the land is used. It may feature as an explicit policy test or operate as a standalone material consideration planning judgment lies with the decision-maker, yet this does not relieve them of the obligation to rely on evidence. There must be evidential material supplying the factual basis on which a planning decision-maker draws conclusions....
The Department for Education’s response to the consultation sets out the particulars of these proposals. From this point, the government will refer to the sector as ‘non-school alternative provision’. Looking forward, ministers intend the role of non-school alternative provision to be time-limited and to ‘supplement learning delivered in school, re-engage children with the school system and provide the skills and confidence needed to move successfully into education, training or employment after leaving school’. The consultation response notes that, in many local authorities, there are already arrangements in place to quality assure the non-school alternative provision those LAs commission. The government wishes to build upon that good practice, while remaining worried that ‘some already vulnerable children are placed for indefinite periods in non-school alternative provision with adequate child safeguarding measures, health and safety checks or attendance monitoring’. The onus will fall on local...
Wikimedia Foundation (a charitable foundation registered in the United States of America) and another v Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology [2025] EWHC 2086 ( Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? The court accepted Wikimedia’s submissions that Wikipedia (the online encyclopaedia it hosts) makes an important contribution to free speech and expression, and that any decision seriously restricting Wikipedia’s ability to function would probably be unlawful for conflicting with the HRA 1998 and the European Convention on Human Rights ( ECHR). A major flaw in Wikimedia’s case, however, was that Ofcom has not yet decided whether Wikipedia qualifies as a Category 1 service; Wikimedia advanced its challenge on the assumption it would be so designated, an assumption the court rejected. Consequently, the claim failed on both grounds alleging breaches of the HRA 1998 and the ECHR, because Wikimedia could not...
Fatolahzadeh v London Borough of Barnet [2025] EWCA Civ 1174 What are the practical implications of this case? Regarding the nature of the HA 1996, s 189A assessment duty, the Court of Appeal affirmed these points: local authorities ought to take a collaborative stance with applicants a housing needs assessment does not have to be set out within a single document whether the obligation to produce a lawful housing needs assessment and/or personal housing plan has been met is determined by considering the housing file as a whole, as a reasonable and sensible housing officer would view it On wider principles about the legal effects of alleged failures to comply with HA 1996, s 189A, and the nature, scope and role of HA 1996, s 202 review rights: section 202 does not confer a blanket entitlement to request a general review where an applicant is unhappy with the approach or...
R ( Anisa Begum) v London Borough of Tower Hamlets [2025] EWCA Civ 1049 What are the practical implications of this case? The judgment distils the method for assessing indirect discrimination claims, beginning with pinning down the proper PCP. That frames the inquiry ahead. Under Eq A 2010, s 19, a PCP is envisaged as one that can be imposed upon people. Although the terms ‘provision, practice or criterion’ were designed to be wide and overlapping, a PCP is, by its nature, something that differentiates between groups. Accordingly, practitioners contending that an information‑gathering exercise is discriminatory must clearly articulate how the collection of that data results in different cohorts of people being treated differently. The ruling also serves as a reminder that, for indirect discrimination to be made out, the claimant must show a causal connection between the PCP and the...
In this issue: Social care Social housing Local government finance Public procurement Governance Education Healthcare Social care Children’s social care Planning Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Social care Social care Administrative Court requests Court of Justice preliminary ruling under UK- EU Withdrawal Agreement in universal credit and domestic violence case ( R ( BZ) v SSWP) In R ( BZ) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the court’s focus was whether a reference to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling should be made under Article 158(1) of the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community ( WA). At paragraph [104], Mr Justice Chamberlain explained that power to seek the Court of...
The Public Office ( Accountability) Bill The Public Office ( Accountability) Bill, brought before Parliament by Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy on 15 September 2025, would impose a statutory obligation on public officials to co-operate candidly and comprehensively with inquests and inquiries into fatal incidents and major scandals. Its measures would place a duty on public bodies to be truthful, requiring officials to hand over information and evidence even where doing so may not serve their own interests. The Bill further creates criminal liability for officials who do not conduct themselves with honesty and integrity at all times, with prosecutions for 'especially egregious breaches' carrying sentences of up to two years in prison. Yet lawyers caution that uncertainties remain over how these provisions will operate in practice. Authorities must step forward with information, but they will still need to examine material,...
In this issue: Public procurement Healthcare Planning Social care Children’s social care Governance Education Social housing New and updated content Public procurement Procurement Act 2023—key developments since the ‘go live’ On 24 February 2025, the principal elements of the Procurement Act 2023 ( PA 2023) came into effect. Procurements initiated on or after that date are subject to PA 2023, while those commenced beforehand remain under the previous framework (including the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016, Concession Contracts Regulations 2016, and Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011). This review draws out key points and developments a little over six months after the PA 2023 ‘go live’, enriched with market insight and reflections from several of our expert contributors. See News Analysis: Procurement Act 2023—key developments since the ‘go live’. PAC report calls for urgent reform of...
Herstmonceux Museum Ltd v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and Another [2025] EWHC 1863 ( Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? This ruling reinforces how rigorously the courts insist on procedural exactitude in planning litigation, especially in relation to enforcement notices and related challenges. For developers, it stresses the need to grasp the narrow jurisdictional pathways: where a ground (a) appeal results in a deemed planning application, any challenge lies, if at all, under TCPA 1990, s 289 and not under TCPA 1990, s 288. Starting proceedings on the incorrect statutory footing invites the claim being dismissed at the threshold. Any attempt to proceed under the wrong statutory route risks the claim being struck out at the very outset. For both developers and local planning authorities, the decision equally exemplifies the austere character of procedural...
R (on the application of Anaesthetists United Ltd and others) v General Medical Council [2025] EWHC 2270 ( Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? The practical consequences are these: Physician associates (‘ PA’) and Anaesthesia Associates (‘ AA’) will not be bound by GMC-imposed national limits on practice. The Royal Colleges will issue additional guidance on Associates’ scope of practice, and employers, via local clinical governance, will ensure Associates are practising safely. With the medical model adopted for Associates, those involved in professional discipline can expect a fitness to practise framework the same as, or closely akin to, that which applies to doctors......
As previously noted, the PA 2023 go-live has activated the core elements of the new UK public procurement framework for covered procurements. This encompasses public contracts awarded by central government, local authorities and other public sector bodies for the acquisition of goods, services and works above the relevant financial thresholds. This piece follows our earlier coverage of the PA 2023 go-live—see News Analysis: Procurement Act 2023 ‘go live’—what happens next? For additional background, see Practice Note: Introduction to the Procurement Act 2023— PA 2023. Key legislation Subject to the applicable savings and transitional provisions, PA 2023 repealed and replaced the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 ( PCR 2015), SI 2015/102; the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016 ( UCR 2016), SI 2016/274; the Concession Contracts Regulations 2016 ( CCR 2016), SI 2016/273; and the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011 ( DSPCR 2011), SI...
In this issue: Social housing Planning Healthcare Children's social care Public procurement Education Governance Social care Environmental law and climate change Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Social housing Housing—judicial review correct route to challenge section 189A plans ( R ( AA) v Waltham Forest LBC) In R ( AA) v Waltham Forest LBC, the council’s contention that sections 202 and 204 of the Housing Act 1996 offered an adequate alternative remedy to contest a housing needs assessment and personal housing plan under section 189A was rejected by the Administrative Court as “essentially unarguable”. The 1996 Act clearly delineates which determinations are subject to statutory review and appeal, and section 189A is not among them. Although this paves the way for additional judicial reviews of section 189A plans, the court...
R (on the application of Andrew Rickards) v East Hertfordshire District Council [2025] EWHC 2278 ( Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? For Part 6 agricultural prior approvals, the ruling clarifies that although the GPDO ( SI 2015/596) grants permission in principle, authorities must still reach—and evidence in the case officer’s report—a targeted assessment of implementation, expressly addressing effects on designated assets, including: ancient woodland, where refusal is the norm absent wholly exceptional justification; and listed buildings, where great weight attaches to conservation, including their setting. Silence is unlikely to be cured by a charitable reading on review and risks being quashed. Declarations of unit size backed by a planning statement can suffice without disproportionate enquiries or a site visit, yet applicants should proactively grapple with nearby constraints, and the GPDO site-notice duty must be strictly...
R (on the application of Chidswell Action Group) v Kirklees Council [2025] EWHC 2256 ( Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? The High Court confirmed that, to satisfy article 40(3)(b) of the Town and Country Planning ( Development Management Procedure) ( England) Order 2015, SI 2015/595 (2015 DMPO), any section 106 agreement must appear on the planning register before the authority issues the decision notice. Uploading it later the same day, or only after the permission is granted, will not do; publication has to be early enough to give objectors and other interested persons a genuine window to provide informed representations. The court emphasised that keeping the draft back while talks continued produced a serious transparency deficit, all the more so where biodiversity protections lay at the heart of the committee’s resolution. The judgment aligns with the Court of Appeal’s ruling in...
R (on the application of AA) v Waltham Forest London Borough Council [2025] EWHC 1625 ( Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? The result here is predictable on a plain reading of the statute. On the face of it, the HA 1996 sets out with clarity what the review and appeal mechanisms under sections 202 and 204 encompass, and what they do not. For the defendant, counsel floated the notion that, in the wake of this judgment, claimants might ‘party like it’s 1995’, meaning a surge of spurious or vexatious judicial review attacks on housing needs assessments and personal housing plans. That contention was briskly rejected by the court, which should reassure local authorities. The permission stage in judicial review operates as a sieve; cases with no realistic prospect of success will fail at the first hurdle. In addition, the court may...
In this issue: Children's social care Planning Social housing Local government finance Social care Public procurement Education Healthcare Governance Lex Talk®Local Government: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content New Q& As Children's social care When is a fact-finding hearing needed to inform risk assessment? ( G ( A Child: Scope of Fact- Finding)) In G ( A Child: Scope of Fact- Finding), the Court of Appeal considered whether refusing to order a fact-finding hearing about allegations that a mother caused the fatal injuries to an older child seven years earlier was erroneous, where the purpose was to inform the risk assessment and overall welfare evaluation in proceedings about her new baby. The majority concluded it was not, and that the assessment of risk could take into account a broad...
G ( A Child: Scope of Fact-finding) [2025] EWCA Civ 1044 What are the practical implications of this case? The decision is notable because the Court of Appeal divided on whether fact-finding is needed to underpin a risk assessment when the potential seriousness of harm might extend to a child suffering fatal injuries, perhaps from a brief loss of self-control. Their Lordships parted company on the central issue of necessity: must the court resolve factual disputes, and would any findings materially alter the child’s care planning. The majority concluded it was not, since a risk assessment can accommodate a broad spectrum of outcomes from impulsive behaviour, up to and including fatal harm, even if that extreme possibility is not accepted and there are no findings to that effect. That may seem striking and somewhat...
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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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