Legal News

FCA figures indicate the amount of cash taken out rose 35.9% year on year, from £52.2m during the financial year ending March 2024. Over the same period, the number of pension pots first accessed climbed by 8.6%, moving from 885,455 to 961,575 in total. Rob Hillock, Head of Personal Finance Planning at consultancy Broadstone, said the numbers signalled a “significant surge” in savers drawing on their pensions. “ Although demographics imply progressively larger sums of pension wealth will be tapped year-on-year, the scale of 2025’s leap hints that further behavioural shifts could also be materially influencing outcomes,” Hillock added. “ Changes like bringing pension assets within inheritance tax could be prompting more savers to use their pension sooner, or to front‑load their withdrawals”......

Hetherington v Fell and another [2025] EWHC 1487 ( KB) What are the practical implications of this case? This judgment has significant real-world consequences for advisers to voluntary bodies, especially within sport, regarding the existence and extent of their duty of care. The court expressly addressed the SARHA 2015 and the Com A 2006, confirming that the benchmark for volunteer-led clubs must not be pitched so high that it discourages worthwhile community participation. Accordingly, although a duty exists, liability should be approached pragmatically, recognising constrained resources and the charitable, not-for-profit character of these organisations. On risk assessment, the decision endorses qualitative grading (eg, ‘low’, ‘medium’, ‘high’) for smaller entities, instead of insisting on the detailed quantitative modelling typical of major employers. It further indicates that trivial administrative mistakes in assessment records—like misstated distances or phrasing of hazards—are unlikely to amount to a breach for...

( Modernatx, Inc v Pfizer Ltd and other companies [2025] EWCA Civ 1032) What are the practical implications of this case? Selection from lists and classes in prior art The Court of Appeal reaffirmed that prior art only anticipates a claim where it contains an individualised description of the very invention asserted. Merely assembling elements from two or more enumerations—such as a roster of modified nucleosides alongside a set of percentage substitutions—will not strip novelty unless the earlier disclosure unmistakably directs the reader to that precise pairing. This approach, consistent with EPO Boards of Appeal jurisprudence and domestic authorities including Dr Reddy’s Laboratories v Eli Lilly, is of particular significance for those drafting or contesting patents in areas where inventions are characterised by combinations of known attributes. Applying that test, the court found the UPenn application canvassed a wide spectrum of modified...

The WFE’s study on extended trading has floated the prospect that DCM markets could, in time, lengthen their trading day. While the WFE casts ‘extended trading’ widely—spanning equities, derivatives, bonds, currencies and digital assets—its discussion concentrates on equities, where arguments are intense. Although the paper ranges across asset classes, its emphasis on equities reflects where the debate is most alive, and where implementation is already under way. Because debt markets rely on the same rails and workflows, any shift of those systems to longer hours may transmit consequences to DCM participants. The paper makes clear this is no longer hypothetical: equity venues are already moving to extended sessions, backed by infrastructure overhauls such as revised clearing set‑ups, daily official close price processes, and broader safeguards. It further points to investor demand—domestic retail, overseas retail, and overseas institutional money—as the primary impetus in...

See Q& A: A protectively issued claim under the Inheritance ( Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 is scheduled to be resolved through mediation. As more than two years have elapsed since the date of death, the parties cannot obtain any retrospective tax treatment linked to a Deed of Variation in these circumstances now......

See: Wrongful trading claims under sections 214 and 246ZB of the Insolvency Act 1986—flowchart. For additional guidance regarding wrongful...

Mergers The Commission approved the takeover of shared control concerning Frontier Global Investments Pte. Ltd. and Evolution DC Capital Pte. Ltd...

For further details on the FCA Monzo fine, see: FCA fines Monzo £21m for financial crime control failings, LNB News 08/07/2025 10. Background Between 2020 and 2022, Monzo brought on more than 34,000 high-risk customers without adequate due diligence. As a result, blatantly fictitious addresses, including ‘10 Downing Street’ and ‘ Buckingham Palace’, were not challenged. The FCA noted the bank did not evolve its controls as its customer numbers grew, exposing it to contemporary fraud typologies such as synthetic identity fraud, where criminals mix genuine and fabricated data to build convincing profiles. The Monzo episode prompts the question of whether banks and other firms lean too heavily on manual AML review—a method vulnerable to inconsistency and human error. Could automated technology, particularly AI-driven tools, have helped avoid such failures? AI's helping hand Rapid progress and broad adoption of AI in recent years has shifted its role in...

Francis Campeau may press on with his claim for a declaration that Gottex Real Asset Fund 1 ( OE) Waste SARL relinquished its right to bring proceedings against him over what the fund alleges were negligent negotiations for the disposal of one of its portfolio companies, the High Court ruled. Judge Christopher Butcher held that Campeau was entitled to serve a claim form on Gottex outside the jurisdiction, in Luxembourg, and to do so without permission because the fund had contractually accepted that approach. According to the judgment, the share purchase agreement between Gottex and Geco Holdco Ltd, the buyer of the fund’s holding company, contained jurisdiction provisions enabling third parties to submit their disputes to the English courts......

Spirit ( Legacy) Pension Trustee Ltd v Alexis [2025] EWHC 2237 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? Pension scheme governing instruments frequently cite statutory provisions. Many also contain an explicit interpretation clause clarifying whether statutory citations should, by default, be read as catching subsequent amendments to the legislation, or instead as fixing the reference to the law as it stood when the instrument was executed. The former approach is commonly labelled ‘dynamic’; the latter, ‘static’. In this matter, the Scheme lacked any such clause, leaving the court to determine the proper construction without a built-in presumption either way. The ruling is noteworthy as an instance where a ‘static’ rather than ‘dynamic’ reading was preferred. Although the submissions turned on the particular Scheme, the strands of reasoning may assist in analogous disputes. This dispute centred on how statutory references in the...

Morningstar DBRS Morningstar DBRS noted the sector is in a soft market, characterised by plentiful supply and muted demand, which is keeping prices down. However, the firm cautioned this phase may reverse if capacity — especially across reinsurance capital markets — diminishes, forcing rates higher. The industry has also endured successive years of escalating losses triggered by natural catastrophes, including hurricanes and wildfires. In the first six months of the year, insurers posted US$80bn of claims, the highest tally for that timeframe in over a year to date so far......

In a survey released on 11 September 2025, accountancy group BDO reported that companies were actively preparing for significant disruption as the government readies a substantial package of fiscal measures for the formal Budget statement to Parliament, scheduled for 26 November 2025. Industry rumours within the sector have intensified that ministers could scrap the National Insurance ( NI) relief applied to salary sacrifice arrangements for both employers and employees. BDO engaged polling firm Censuswide to question 505 C-suite leaders at mid-market businesses in August 2025 about their expectations for the forthcoming changes. The research indicated that 49% considered curbs on salary sacrifice schemes quite likely, while 45%......

The country's design system is ready for reform but reviews of this sort may cause needless hold-ups for parties seeking to enforce their intellectual property rights in practice for users across the system in the UK. Likewise, outlawing computer-generated designs could be a knee‑jerk reaction to a supposed surge of AI applications that is not arriving. According to Max Thoma, a partner at Mathys & Squire LLP, alterations along these lines would fundamentally alter how users interact with the registered design system. The UK Intellectual Property Office ( UKIPO) has unveiled a comprehensive plan to review Britain’s design protection framework and is inviting expert responses on its preferred proposals to reform the current regime. This UKIPO consultation is the latest step in the government’s ongoing drive to overhaul the design system, following a striking 1154.9% rise in design applications since 2015. Since 2022, the...

Original news Ms N ( CAS-124815- S6D7)—26 May 2025 Summary The Pensions Ombudsman upheld a complaint concerning a delayed pension transfer. The complainant was awarded compensation for significant distress and inconvenience. However, she was not awarded compensation for financial loss because the Pensions Ombudsman was not persuaded about how she would have invested the transfer, and adding statutory interest to the transfer yielded a sum lower than the actual transfer value. This decision serves as a reminder that, in a pension transfer delay case, a member must evidence financial loss. What were the facts? Ms N was a member of the Scottish Widows Executive Pension Plan (the Scheme). Ms N’s ex‑husband ( Mr N) was the trustee director of the Scheme in this specific case......

ALK and another v The Chief Constable of Surrey Police [2025] EWHC 1964 ( KB) What are the practical implications of this case? ALK yields two concrete takeaways for practitioners and highlights two points for practice. First, Bourne J reaffirms the stringent threshold for the necessity of arrest under PACE 1984, s 24: courts will, among other matters, expect proof that arresting officers actively considered less intrusive measures, including whether they turned their minds to alternatives at the time. That inquiry can be determinative in itself. Engaging directly with the Parker Questions, Notes 2F and 2G to Code G, and surveying the authorities, the judgment confirms that assessing alternatives is no mere formality, but a real requirement. Practitioners should therefore ensure the evidence shows an officer’s consideration of alternatives if arrest is to be justified, whilst claimants should scrutinise any failure to do so. ...

Personal Representatives of the Estate of Maurice Hutson ( Deceased) and others v Tata Steel UK Ltd [2025] EWHC 1594 ( SCCO) What are the practical implications of this case? This ruling offers welcome certainty to practitioners and lawyers pursuing proceedings for estates. Relying on Mosson v Spousal ( London) Ltd [2016] EWHC 53 ( QB), defendants have opposed recovery of probate expenses, contending they are part and parcel of administering an estate and therefore irrecoverable. Rowley J was squarely asked to determine whether probate outlay could be recovered as litigation costs. He set a bright line: where probate is secured solely to enable the claim to be issued, those expenses are recoverable. The decision matters both for resolving a recurrent and troublesome point and, in substance, for enhancing recovery of costs for claimants, frequently modest estates. For those representing claimants, the judgment stresses the need to...

The Prudential Assurance Company Ltd v HMRC [2025] UKSC 34 On the facts, the supplier could levy success fees only once a hurdle rate had been achieved. That threshold was not reached until after the supplier had left the VAT group, so the supplier applied VAT. Prudential then lodged a non-statutory request with HMRC asking whether VAT ought to have been charged. HMRC concluded that it should, and Prudential appealed that conclusion to the First-tier Tax Tribunal. The dispute then moved on to the Upper Tribunal and, thereafter, the Court of Appeal. The questions before the Supreme Court concerned three lines of reasoning advanced to sustain Prudential’s contention that no VAT was due, and the counter-arguments relied upon by HMRC to maintain that VAT had been correctly charged. The strands of argument advanced for Prudential were as follows......

See: Misfeasance claims under section 212 of the Insolvency Act 1986—flowchart. View misfeasance claims under section 212 of the Insolvency Act 1986—flowchart......

The King (oao Hotelbeds UK Ltd) v HMRC [2025] EWHC 2312 ( Admin) Under the VAT Regulations 1995 ( SI 1995/2518), regulation 29(2) lays down a general rule that a person claiming a deduction of input tax must possess VAT invoices to back the claim, and it also confers a discretion on HMRC to accept alternative evidence of the VAT incurred in place of such invoices. Notice 700, paragraph 16.8.2, explains that HMRC will consider exercising that discretion where it is satisfied that reasonable steps have been taken to obtain VAT invoices; however, it will not entertain using the discretion where there has been a systematic failure to secure VAT invoices. In the circumstances of the case, HMRC’s stance was that there had been a systematic failure to obtain the required VAT invoices......

See: Preferences under section 340 of the Insolvency Act 1986—flowchart...