Legal News

HMRC v Ducas Ltd [2025] UKUT 362 ( TCC) The core controversy involves HMRC’s assertion that the taxpayer enabled the dishonest avoidance of over £171m in national insurance contributions ( NICs) by supplying its clients (employment agencies) with falsified paperwork. HMRC contends these actions render the taxpayer responsible for the unpaid NICs as a deemed secondary contributor under the Social Security ( Categorisation of Earners) Regulations 1978 ( SI 1978/1689). A 20-day final hearing is scheduled to begin in April 2026. In November 2024, prior to the FTT issuing case management directions, HMRC secured freezing orders against the taxpayer and other parties. The judge who made the orders found ‘ample evidence of dishonesty in the form of Ducas providing fraudulent documents to its customers’ ( HMRC v Ducas Ltd and others [2024] EWHC 3132 ( Ch) at [13]). HMRC’s evidence derived from enquiries into the...

On 29 October 2025, the Legal Standards Board ( LSB) announced a review prompted by a decision that has unsettled lawyers whose working practices could now be judged unlawful. The exercise will look at advice provided and guidance issued in the years preceding the ruling and how regulators responded afterwards, with the activities of bodies such as the Bar Council and the Law Society placed under scrutiny. In a document setting out the scope of the review, the LSB said it would consider whether the regulatory objectives have been adversely affected by the acts or omissions of approved regulators and, where appropriate, other regulatory bodies, in their approach to advice, guidance and compliance concerning the conduct of litigation. The board confirmed it was embarking on this work following weeks of uncertainty triggered by the High Court's 16 September 2025 judgment in Julia Mazur v...

See Q& A: Where an executor’s power is reserved, is it improper for them to organise and personally fund valuations of estate assets? Could that constitute intermeddling at all? Intermeddling arises when a person undertakes the functions of a personal representative ( PR) without officially obtaining a grant of probate......

On 3 November 2025, LCP said the plans call for practical steps to protect bereaved families. HMRC issued draft legislation in July 2025 confirming rule changes due from April 2027. Until now, retirement savings of up to £1.07m have been outside IHT. But measures set out by the chancellor in the Autumn Budget 2024 mean people receiving lump‑sum pension assets above £325,000 from a deceased person’s estate will face 40% tax. IHT is normally payable within six months of death. Alasdair Mayes, an LCP partner, said the policy’s aim is to stop pensions being used to avoid IHT. But he warned the new rules will catch other pension rights, including certain lump sum death......

In a 205-page ruling, High Court judge Joanna Smith determined that certain 'synthetic' pictures carried watermarks matching those of i Stock, the Getty Images subsidiary. Yet she identified just a single case in which earlier releases of the Stable Diffusion system reproduced an infringing Getty watermark. She also concluded there was no proof of any UK user generating Getty Images or i Stock watermarks, Judge Smith ruled. She added that it is 'impossible' to quantify how many such watermarks have been produced 'in real life' that might count as infringing. She emphasised the practical uncertainty surrounding any real-world tally of potentially infringing watermarks. ' Although Getty Images succeed (in part) on their trade mark claim, my conclusions are historic and very narrow in scope,' she noted. The AI firm further avoided Getty’s attempt to pin copyright infringement liability on it. The High Court...

R v Chamdal [2025] EWHC 2809 ( KB) What are the practical implications of this case? The Court of Appeal affirmed that breaches of TCPA 1990, s 210 are offences of strict liability, placing primary responsibility on landowners—even those who have merely exchanged contracts—to ensure compliance. Depending on contractors will not lessen blameworthiness where substantial works are undertaken without checking TPO status and securing written approval. With no bespoke sentencing guideline, courts will apply the General Guideline: Overarching Principles alongside the Sentencing Act 2020, with a strong emphasis on deterrence and the offender’s means. Significant financial penalties are therefore probable, even in the absence of any demonstrated financial motive. The court adopted a broad concept of ‘harm,’ taking into account the number, age and value of the trees, the extent of the affected area, and impacts on amenity, biodiversity and carbon storage. Prior...

Background The Minister for Health has postponed the commencement of selected elements of the Public Health ( Alcohol) Act 2018 (the ‘ Act’) until September 2028. In May 2023, the Minister also approved into law the Public Health ( Alcohol) ( Labelling) Regulations 2023 (the ‘ Regulations’) and S. I 248/2023, which stated that section 12 of the Act, introducing health warning labelling requirements for alcohol products, would begin on 22 May 2026. This requirement has now been delayed, with the Minister for Health stating it is ‘in light of economic circumstances’, in reply to a recent parliamentary question. That deferral concerns, in particular, the labelling obligations under section 12 of the Act. Why the Act was introduced The Act was brought forward to tackle concerns about alcohol use in Ireland and the associated social, health and economic harms linked to its misuse. In 2012, the...

Qatar Investment and Project Developments Holding Co v Phoenix Ancient Art SA [2025] EWCA Civ 1300 What was the background? In this Court of Appeal matter, the respondents to the appeal (the claimants) applied, by way of an application, for security to cover their appeal costs. The appellants/defendants were Phoenix Ancient Art S. A., a Swiss company, together with Ali Aboutaam, a Swiss resident, and Hicham Aboutaam, resident in New York. The claimants had issued two separate claims against five defendants in total, of whom the first three were the present appellants: one action commenced in 2020 and a second in 2023 respectively. Each claim concerned the artefacts in issue, acquired and purchased from Phoenix, which the claimants alleged were counterfeit and inauthentic. The 2020 proceedings focused on a small chalcedony statuette depicting the goddess Nike. The 2023 proceedings concerned two further pieces, namely: a marble work...

Ferrero UK Ltd v HMRC [2025] UKFTT 1202 ( TC) The appeal examined whether the taxpayer’s ‘nutella biscuits’ fell within ‘biscuits … partly covered with chocolate or some product similar in taste and appearance’ for the purposes of Excepted Item 2 of Group 1 of Schedule 8 to the Value Added Tax Act 1994 ( VAT 1994). A conclusion that the biscuits were partly chocolate‑covered would bring them within the standard rate of VAT, as HMRC maintained, rather than the zero rating put forward by the taxpayer. The boundaries of zero rating for food are among the most frequently debated aspects of VAT law. In this matter, the applicable provisions treated plain biscuits as zero rated, but regarded biscuits partly coated in chocolate as standard rated. The issue was the meaning of ‘partly covered’ and whether the taxpayer’s biscuits matched that...

Mergers MMG/ Brazalian Nickel Business of Anglo Amercian referred to phase II The Commission moved to phase II the proposed purchase of Anglo American’s Brazilian nickel unit (the Target) by MMG Limited ( MMG) ( M.11944). MMG is a multinational mining and metals group involved in exploring, developing and producing base metals, with a focus on copper and zinc, supplying worldwide. MMG is owned by the Chinese State-owned China Minmetals Corporation. The Target includes two active ferronickel plants and two greenfield development projects currently situated in Brazil. At phase I, the Commission concluded the Target possessed strong market power within the highly concentrated low-carbon ferronickel market, and that European customers had scarce alternative supply options available......

Over the decade since the Paris Agreement was struck in 2015, the speed of shifts in attitudes, laws and regulation on climate issues has been dizzying. In the earlier part of that period, an emerging international consensus took shape around financing the transition to net zero. Positioning itself to lead, the EU unveiled its ambitious Sustainable Finance Action Plan in 2018, setting out a comprehensive framework of new disclosure obligations to furnish investors with the information needed to align allocations with their sustainability objectives. In the US, at federal level, the Securities and Exchange Commission tabled proposals to standardise the way companies report climate-related risks and impacts, while many states brought in their own sustainability reporting requirements. The Inflation Reduction Act 2022 then introduced substantial tax incentives to accelerate the shift towards sustainable energy......

Turner v Secretary of State for Housing and Communities and Local Government and another [2025] EWHC 2815 ( Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? For sites with several occupiers, the judgment confirms that—save for unusual situations—‘premises’ in TCPA 1990, s 329(2) should generally be understood as the whole planning unit/land referenced in the enforcement notice. In effect, an LPA may validly serve all occupiers by affixing the notice conspicuously at the site’s principal entrance (notably where there is only one access), instead of attaching separate copies within each occupier’s compound. This accords with the established ‘planning unit’ reasoning in Gregory & Rawlins and reflects inspectorate practice that internal compounds do not become distinct ‘premises’ for service. LPAs should document conspicuous display (photos; evidence of the site layout and access points) and consider additional fixings where there are multiple entrances or concerns about...

Participation exemption Among the most requested updates, the Bill both narrows certain anti-avoidance rules and broadens the overall scope of the dividend participation exemption ( DPE), which was introduced by the Finance Act 2024 and applies from 1 January 2025 in its current iteration. Geographic scope Previously, the DPE applied only where the company was resident in an Irish treaty partner or an EEA state in scope for these purposes. Helpfully, the Bill widens this to include territories that, as a rule, levy foreign withholding tax on distributions, so long as such withholding tax has been paid by the relevant subsidiary on the entire distribution and cannot be reclaimed. ‘ Relevant subsidiary’ anti-avoidance measures The Finance Act 2024 set out mechanical anti-avoidance tests under which, for example, if a non- Irish subsidiary acquired share capital from a company resident in a non- Treaty...

Mergers The CMA approved: the expected tie-up between Subsea7 S. A. and Saipem S.p. A. after a phase 1 review—see further, case page the expected purchase by S& P Global Market Intelligence Inc.......

Background to the report Gareth Davies, who leads the NAO, observed that cutting patient harm is the most effective route to curbing these costs. On the face of it, the answer seems straightforward: raise standards of patient safety and spending on clinical negligence claims should decline. Preventing harm also releases many thousands of NHS clinical hours and could return billions to the wider economy by reducing absence and productivity losses. The NAO notes roughly 2.4 million patient-safety incidents each year, 70% causing no harm. That still equates to about 720,000 harmful incidents, including around 12,000 cases a year involving severe harm or death. Incidents in private healthcare are not included. Helen Vernon, Chief Executive of NHS Resolution, made the same point: improving safety avoids harm, lowers costs, and eases pressure across the system. The challenge, though, is delivering significant and lasting...

Two years later, the outlook for the SFO appears markedly altered. Over the past quarter, it has secured a significant new charging avenue via the failure to prevent fraud offence, recovered £1.1m through its inaugural unexplained wealth order ( UWO), and brought charges against six people arising from a pension fraud probe. Against that backdrop, we reflect on the themes that have shaped Ephgrave’s tenure leading the SFO so far, and consider what may follow. Kicking down new doors and closing old ones In February 2024, delivering his first public address as director, Ephgrave set out a drive to accelerate casework and make the SFO bolder, more pragmatic, more proactive. His opening months featured a spike in dawn raids, and he said the team had gone through more front doors in three months than in the previous three years. Eighteen months later, that pace...

Background Ms Rayner bought a flat in Hove in May 2025 for £800,000. Relying on main residence rules, she paid about £30,000 in stamp duty, treating the Hove property as her sole home. Her Manchester house had been transferred into a trust naming her disabled son as beneficiary. She had been told to take her name off the Manchester title, which she did, and she confirmed that address remained the family home. Despite this, she paid only the standard stamp duty rate and not the additional rate for second properties, which could have reached £70,000. Guidance from a conveyancer and a trusts solicitor indicated the ordinary rate applied rather than the surcharge for further dwellings. She was incorrectly advised that she no longer counted as owning the Manchester property and so could regard the Hove flat as her only residence. That guidance carried a caveat...

The Mayor and Burgesses of the London Borough of Wandsworth v Young (by his litigation friend the Official Solicitor) [2025] EWCA Civ 1336 What are the practical implications of this case? The court accepted that, had Mr Young’s position on notification been right, councils might have been obliged to undertake multiple HA 1996, s 202 reviews where the main housing duty ended after an offer was declined. That scenario would be plainly unwelcome and, in truth, deliver little tangible benefit to the applicant. Consequently, local authorities may continue their established approach of telling applicants who have accepted or refused accommodation offers that the main duty has been discharged and that they are entitled to a suitability review. The court’s conclusions on public law defences are also important. Defendants often try to fend off possession proceedings for temporary accommodation by advancing judicial...

Wealden District Council v Devall and another [2025] EWHC 2809 ( KB) What are the practical implications of this case? For local planning authorities, this ruling still emphasises the potency of TCPA 1990, s 187B for swift, pinpointed action where operational development is underway (or imminent) in sensitive areas and there is a genuine prospect of rapid residential occupation. The court confirmed that the s 187B jurisdiction is original and discretionary, aimed at restraining contraventions where this is necessary and proportionate—therefore precise, contemporaneous proof of breach, planning harm and urgency are critical. Rebuilding that changes a structure’s external appearance constitutes “development” under TCPA 1990, s 55, and the laying of hardstanding may amount to an engineering/operational operation; both usually require permission unless permitted development applies—points best supported by dated photographs and officers’ notes. For developers and landowners, the takeaway is...

Non-financial misconduct Sarah Pritchard, the FCA’s deputy chief executive, wrote in a letter published on 28 October 2025 that probes into so-called non-financial misconduct have climbed over the past three years. She told the House Commons Treasury Committee that conduct such as bullying, harassment or violence is a regulatory concern, and that when the FCA obtains reports or other intelligence indicating this is happening at a regulated firm, it will scrutinise the matter and take action where required. Non-financial misconduct is an expansive term, covering violence, bullying, sexual harassment and discrimination. The FCA has made clear that it intends to tackle this issue decisively......