Legal News

Impact Contracting Solutions Ltd v HMRC [2025] EWCA Civ 623 This important case considers the ambit of HMRC’s power to cancel a taxpayer’s VAT registration where that registration is used solely or principally to enable fraud, and the taxpayer knew, or had the means to know, of such fraud, in line with the Ablessio principle as understood. The taxpayer, ICS, worked with mini‑umbrella companies to source labour and then supplied that labour to its customers, which were temporary work agencies at the time. HMRC regarded the arrangements between ICS and its customers as contrived and as having the result that those customers did not properly account for VAT. HMRC invoked the Ablessio principle to deregister ICS, on the basis that its VAT registration was being used to facilitate fraud. Because both HMRC’s decision to deregister ICS and ICS’s appeal against that decision took place before 31...

This review forms part of a broader set of FCA actions in 2025 to reshape UK private funds regulation, alongside the 7 April 2025 consultation on wider regulatory reform; the 26 February 2025 ‘ Dear CEO’ letter, which assessed how UK fund managers handle conflicts of interest; and the 8 May 2025 findings concerning the conduct of smaller managers (see ‘further reading’ below) Context of FCA review The FCA’s review arises from concerns about the distinctive characteristics of private market assets. Unlike public market assets, these holdings are not traded frequently nor subject to regular price discovery. Consequently, firms rely on judgement-led valuation techniques, creating risks such as misvaluation, conflicts of interest, or insufficient expertise. The FCA also notes that UK private fund managers operate under a range of different structures. Open-ended funds, which permit redemptions throughout the fund’s life, encounter more acute...

Competition policy Commission adopts proposals to sign EU- UK Competition Cooperation Agreement The Commission has endorsed proposals for Council decisions to sign and formally finalise the EU- UK Competition Cooperation Agreement (the Competition Cooperation Agreement). Under the EU- UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement ( TCA), a distinct arrangement is envisaged to govern effective co-operation and coordination among the Commission, EU Member State national competition authorities ( NCAs) and the United Kingdom’s competition authority(ies), including potential provisions on sharing and handling confidential information. Following a Council Decision in June 2023, the Commission was authorised to begin negotiations with the UK, which officially started in spring 2024. On 29 October 2024, the Commission and the UK Department for Business and Trade ( DBT) confirmed that technical talks on a competition co-operation agreement between the EU and the UK have now been...

Variation of budget after trial, oppressive behaviour, Part 36, and a payment on account of costs ( Barry & Barry v Barry) Barry and another v Barry [2025] EWHC 819 ( KB) What are the practical implications of this case? There are several practical takeaways from this decision. It emphasises the need to move quickly to seek a variation of your costs budget when a significant development arises; hesitation may prove fatal to the application. The ruling also illustrates that a budget can be amended even where the relevant costs have already been incurred. The court further signalled a robust commitment to the purpose of Part 36 when a reasonable proposal is made but refused without any good reason. Part 36 is crafted to both encourage and punish; if the penalties are not enforced, the incentive disappears. Mr Justice Dexter Dias offered clear guidance on the...

The company said it is the first insurer to integrate Cyber Cube’s ‘portfolio threat actor intelligence’ service into its exposure management strategy, enabling the insurance company to judge which of its companies are most vulnerable to specific cyberthreats. The service, which Aviva said it will use together with a claim of other Cyber Cube analytics services, employs large language models to gather intelligence from digital forensics data and data leaks tied to ransomware groups, the statement notes. It will enable Aviva to obtain further insights into how digital actors operate and the tactics they use to carry out attacks......

Vanhove v Secretary of State for Education and another [2025] EWHC 191 ( Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? This judgment clarifies the proper approach for courts when hearing appeals under the Teachers’ Disciplinary ( England) Regulations 2012, SI 2012/560, reg 17. The appellant maintained that the appeal ought to be a full rehearing, whereas the respondent argued the court should conduct a review of the Professional Conduct Panel’s (the Panel) decision to check that it was lawful and procedurally fair. Mr Justice Sweeting concluded that the correct course is a review. Reaffirming principles from earlier authorities, he stressed that Panels, having observed the witnesses first-hand, are best placed to determine disputed factual issues. Consequently, the court should attach weight to the Panel’s evaluation of witness credibility and to the expertise of both the Panel and the Secretary of State for...

Accuro Trust ( Switzerland) SA (as trustee of the Tiodab Trust) v Revenue and Customs Commissioners [2025] UKFTT 464 ( TC) What are the practical implications of this case? With the shift to a residence-based IHT framework and the repeal of the specific statutory rule engaged here ( IHTA 1984, s 48(3)), the forward-looking utility of the FTT’s conclusions is now narrow. That said, the tribunal’s analysis of what counts as excluded property by reference to domicile still matters for live issues, such as arrangements where the settlor of an excluded property trust died before 6 April 2025. More broadly, the decision underlines the need to focus on the intended sense of statutory wording and sheds light on how the FTT reads Parliament’s purpose for the settlements regime. The judge emphasised that terms should carry their ordinary, natural meaning, a point worth...

Powell v HMRC [2025] UKFTT 528 ( TC) The taxpayer served as director and sole shareholder of T Ltd, a close company, and his director’s loan account with the company was overdrawn, giving rise to a charge on the company under section 455 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010 ( CTA 2010). In 2020, after a share‑for‑share exchange, T Ltd became a subsidiary of PHSW Ltd, where the taxpayer was also a director at the time. The taxpayer, T Ltd and PHSW Ltd then executed a novation of the outstanding loan account so that T Ltd’s rights were assigned to PHSW Ltd instead. T Ltd released the taxpayer from his obligations to it and PHSW Ltd acquired those rights, thereby becoming the taxpayer’s creditor in his place. The tax paid by T Ltd under CTA 2010, s 455 in respect of the loan was...

The ad hoc committee’s decision of 6 March 2025 in Peteris Pildegovics and SIA North Star v Kingdom of Norway sheds light on the procedural subtleties and evidential limits that frame annulment under the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes ( ICSID). The applicants, seeking to set aside an arbitral award, pursued targeted disclosure, anchoring their request in serious assertions of procedural impropriety and professional misconduct by the respondent, the Kingdom of Norway. The committee therefore had to decide whether to permit a disclosure phase at this late stage, assessing the purportedly exceptional circumstances advanced in support of the application. The order offers insight into the friction between the permissible ambit of evidence in annulment proceedings and the safeguarding of privilege and procedural regularity. It typifies the increasing sophistication of investor–state disputes and highlights the strict confines on reopening factual disputes...

Meta Platforms faces a lawsuit filed yesterday by a German consumer group that has asked judges to block the social media company's training of its AI model with personal data in Germany. Consumer organisation Verbraucherzentrale in North Rhine- Westphalia is moving to halt Meta’s plans via summary proceedings lodged with the Cologne Higher Regional Court. While the next procedural steps remain unsettled, the group told MLex it anticipates the court will set a date for an oral hearing. Meta has stated it intends, by the end of May, to begin using Instagram and Facebook users’ publicly accessible personal data — including posts, photos and comments — to train its AI systems. Users may opt out of this training before 27 May 2025 (see here). Lawyer Christine Steffen said the application for a preliminary injunction is designed to stop Meta from...

Mergers The Commission has been notified of the Mars/ Kellanova deal ( M.11753), proceeding under the ordinary merger procedure. Note— For details of all active merger investigations before the Commission, consult the EU mergers—ongoing cases tracker. State aid Under EU State aid rules, the Commission has cleared a Finnish scheme valued at €300m to merge Finnish State-owned firms operating in risk capital and private equity, forming the Tesi group—see also Midday Express. The application has been made public in Case C‑117/25, Canal Sea Services and Others, a national reference from Romania. ......

Antitrust The CMA issued an update concerning its ongoing probe into suspected anti-competitive conduct in the supply of fragrances and fragrance ingredients......

On 13 May 2025, the watchdog gave reassurance to the profession — and to Big Law in particular — that it will keep domestic turnover as the basis for penalties in the most serious breaches of its rules. Specialists in legal ethics expressed immediate public relief at the reversal. Julie Norris, a partner at Kingsley Napley LLP in London, said the proposal was 'ill-thought through' because it failed to account for the realities of different law firm ownership models and ways of sharing costs and profits. She added: ' Its potential impact was huge. At a macro level, it would have served to undermine England and Wales’ position in the global legal services market'. The solicitors’ watchdog had to overhaul its approach to financial penalties after it obtained new powers in March 2024 to issue unlimited fines for economic crime offences. In June 2024 it...

What is the background leading up to this consultation? Energy Performance Certificates ( EPCs) evaluate the energy efficiency of dwellings in England and Wales using a letter-based rating. Since 2018, the Energy Efficiency ( Private Rented Property) ( England and Wales) Regulations 2015 (‘the 2015 Regulations’), SI 2015/962, have required privately rented properties in England and Wales to hold a valid EPC with a rating of E or above, unless a valid exemption applies. In 2020, the previous government consulted on raising the minimum standard to an EPC C, proposing it would apply to new tenancies from 1 April 2025 and to all tenancies by 1 April 2028. No official response followed, and the proposals were subsequently shelved. The current consultation aims to advance the 2020 proposals, acknowledging the time that has passed and the altered context. There are multiple ways to enhance a...

Concerns over Meta Platforms harvesting users’ information to train artificial intelligence systems prompted UK legislators last night to push through a tweak to the nascent data reform bill, designed to stop training on people’s data without consent and, in turn, to shore up public confidence in AI. A peer in the House of Lords, Parliament’s upper chamber, tabled an amendment to the Data ( Use and Access) Bill—targeting how the legislation would modify processing of personal data for scientific research—and the government lost the resulting vote in the chamber on the UK measure. The change bears on the bill’s plan to revise Article 4 of the UK’s General Data Protection Regulation, which provides the definitions around research. Lords member Charles Colville, who advanced the proposal, condemned the state of affairs laid bare last year by disclosures about Meta scraping user data—at first without...

Meta Platforms Ireland’s challenge of an opinion by an umbrella group of EU data protection authorities on the ‘consent or pay’ business model has been rejected as inadmissible, the EU’s lower-tier General Court has ruled (see here) The action was thrown out on the basis that it was in part inadmissible and in part manifestly lacking any legal foundation, according to the General Court’s order dated 29 April, which was made public today. A Meta representative told MLex they were disappointed the court would not pronounce on the validity of the EDPB’s opinion, stressing that subscriptions offered as an alternative to viewing advertising are a well-established and economically viable business model used across numerous industries. The US technology giant had asked the court to declare the European Data Protection Board’s opinion, issued in April 2024, null and void (see here). The EDPB’s view was...

HMRC v Industria Umbrella Ltd ( In liquidation) [2025] UKFTT 494 ( TC) HMRC contended that Industria Umbrella promoted contractor loan arrangements intended to allow contractors to obtain the bulk of their gross contract fees as purported loans, with only a modest slice treated as salary processed through PAYE. Under these arrangements, each worker received an employment contract issued at the same time as a loan agreement. The employment terms specified a basic rate roughly aligned with the National Minimum Wage, whilst the loan documentation enabled payment of the balance of the contract value in a form that was not immediately subject to income tax or National Insurance contributions ( NICs). The paired documents operated together to channel remuneration as a loan rather than earnings. In substance, the structure was designed to elevate contractors’ net pay to around 80% of the gross contract value by...

Ergo has reached settlement terms with Derrysallagh Windfarm Ltd and its shareholder, EFS European Holdco, as recorded in a Tomlin Order issued by the High Court on 8 May 2025 and only recently made public. The settlement’s particulars were not released, and representatives of the companies were not immediately available to comment. The agreement follows a claim brought in 2022 by Derrysallagh and its shareholder against the British arm of the German insurer. They asserted they were owed funds after construction of the wind farm was delayed because Derrysallagh faced legal action from a neighbouring landowner. The claimants maintained that Ergo was obliged to indemnify them for the sums they say were lost owing to the delayed completion of the project in Ireland......

Under what circumstances can insurance payments be deducted from personal injury compensation? The starting point, as explained in Hodgson v Trapp [1989] AC 807, is that a claimant should account for advantages obtained because of the accident, since damages are there to compensate rather than to allow recovery twice over. There are, however, exceptions. The most frequently encountered concerns social security benefits, which are subject to a distinct statutory framework, ie CRU deductions, with which personal injury practitioners will be acquainted. Another exception, first formally recognised in the late nineteenth century in Bradburn v Great Western Rail Co [1874] LR 10 Exch 1, is the insurance exception. Under this rule, sums paid to a claimant under an insurance policy, consequent upon the claimant suffering an accident, are not to be taken off the damages award. The rationale for this principle, confirmed in Parry v...

Paul Baxendale- Walker HMRC cautioned that Paul Baxendale- Walker may incur civil fines or face criminal charges if he fails to cease promoting the arrangements. The avoidance arrangements involved offshore trusts intended to secure tax reliefs absent any bona fide commercial aim. According to HMRC, the schemes he marketed employ intricate frameworks to keep funds accessible to participants while purporting to sidestep tax liabilities. Records from the Solicitors Regulation Authority show Baxendale- Walker was removed from the roll in September 2006. The regulator did not state why the step was taken. Since then, he has worked as a chat show presenter and as an actor and producer in the adult entertainment sector. The government signalled in November 2023, as previously noted by HMRC......