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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 Sole traders, informal partnerships and outdated partnership deeds are common.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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What do online services likely to be accessed by children need to consider? The ICO issued a refreshed Opinion on age assurance for the Children’s Code in January 2024, a little over two years after the initial publication. The updated document emphasises that this field is fast-moving, still advancing and in flux, with the recent growth in AI use and the commencement of the OSA 2023 driving changes to the earlier text. Although Ofcom will oversee the OSA 2023, Ofcom will draw upon the ICO’s work undertaken since the Children’s Code was first produced, and the two regulators have been—and continue to be—working closely together on these matters. Between the first and revised editions, the ICO shaped its guidance through focus groups and engagement with innovators, specialists, technologists and organisations. It also carried out voluntary audits, reviewing how online services recognise risks to...
High Court Judge Julia Dias ruled in favour of Delos Shipholding SA Owner of the Win Win, Delos Shipholding SA, together with the vessel’s commercial manager, technical managers and mortgagee, had brought proceedings against six insurers after cover was declined. Dias J dismissed the defence that an exclusion for customs or quarantine detentions permitted avoidance, concluding the arrest and detention stemmed from a governmental policy shift to assert sovereignty over waters, and that the master had no reason to think he was outside international waters. As the shipmaster had neither wilfully breached the law nor elected to anchor within Indonesian territorial seas, the judge held that indemnity should not have been withheld. Commenting on the circumstances, Dias J observed that the Indonesian episode was regrettable and that the vessel’s detention could be described as somewhat unlucky; the practice of detaining ships for alleged illegal...
The anti-corruption watchdog said it plans to apply for leave to contest a High Court ruling that ex- SFO staff unlawfully liaised with Neil Gerrard, the former head of white-collar investigations at Dechert LLP, to make unauthorised revelations about his internal probe into ENRC. An appeal in the ten-year dispute loomed as, at a High Court hearing on 25 March 2024, the SFO said it would, ahead of any appeal, pay £9m on account towards ENRC’s wasted costs and legal fees. ENRC maintains it prevailed on most claims against Dechert and Gerrard, totalling £18m, and £17.5m against the SFO. The miner also seeks recovery of its litigation spend—over £16.9m—plus interest of no less than £11.5m. The London-based miner said it and the SFO are discussing a settlement. Dechert, having paid ENRC £20m in 2022 and nearly £9m in February 2023, has agreed a...
Mergers The CMA approved the expected takeover of Atlanta Investment Holdings 3 Limited by Venus Topco Limited following a phase 1 review—see further, case page NOTE— For all live mergers before the CMA, see further, UK mergers—ongoing cases tracker Antitrust The CMA has revised its timetable for its probe into suspected competition law infringements in the procurement of freelance services and the hiring of staff who support the production, creation and/or broadcast of television content in the UK, excluding sport. The authority indicates it will undertake additional investigatory steps and review the evidence until October 2024—see further, case page The CAT issued an order (dated 15 March 2024) in Squibb Group Limited v CMA, an appeal against the CMA’s 23 March 2023 decision in Supply of construction services, which sought to have the decision quashed or partly annulled with a reduced...
What was the background to TPR’s guidance on private market investments? Following the government’s 2023 Mansion House reforms—designed to enable the financial services sector to unlock capital for UK industries, lift savers’ returns and support wider economic growth— TPR released guidance to help occupational pension scheme trustees evaluate whether private market assets could lead to better outcomes for savers. TPR expects trustees to act in savers’ best interests by giving due consideration to the full breadth of investment options, including private markets. The guidance also stresses that trustees should have the right level of knowledge and understanding so they can collaborate effectively with their advisers when judging how access to private market assets may meet their needs. This includes setting clear objectives for investment advisers in relation to advice on private market investments and on improving outcomes for pension scheme...
Aon plc, the British‑ American management consultancy, said it would ‘naturally’ give company directors more sway over a scheme if trustees of defined benefit plans were obliged to obtain the sponsor’s agreement to a new ‘statement of strategy’, as outlined by TPR earlier in March 2024. TPR also stated that managers of defined benefit retirement schemes must lodge the strategy alongside their routine valuation documents from 22 September 2024. A defined benefit pension delivers a guaranteed income each year for life, determined by a worker’s final or average salary......
See Q& A: Our website displays staff names and images. Which legal basis should we use to process this personal information under the UK GDPR, and may employees also object?......
PE firms fuel 30% rise in 2023 European insurance M& A FTI Consulting reported 574 insurance-sector mergers and acquisitions in 2023, an increase from 435 logged in 2022 and 379 recorded in 2021, over the past two years. The upswing in dealmaking has occurred despite higher interest rates and a downbeat economic backdrop across the region, even as headwinds persist. The firm observed that, although investor appetite appears to have cooled worldwide, Europe bucks the trend for now. It added that present market conditions are not significantly constraining the......
Harjono and another v HMRC [2024] UKFTT 228 ( TC) The taxpayers acquired a property comprising a residential barn conversion with three acres of land. Roughly half of the acreage was a fenced paddock. This paddock bordered the garden and had two gates: one opening from the garden and another giving access to the road. The taxpayers agreed with a friend that she could graze her horse on the paddock for a fixed six-month period in return for a £50 monthly payment. Both parties signed the agreement before completion of the purchase, but it remained undated until after completion, when the taxpayers’ solicitor added the date as the effective date. The taxpayers filed their SDLT return on a mixed-use basis. They maintained that the paddock did not constitute part of the dwelling’s grounds because it was being used for commercial purposes...
Oaxaca Ltd (trading as Wahaca) v QIC Europe Ltd [2024] EWHC 394 ( Comm) What are the practical implications of this case? This judgment will catch the eye of insurance specialists on multiple fronts. To begin with, it contributes to the expanding line of authorities on coronavirus business interruption claims, alongside the Divisional Court’s ruling in Financial Conduct Authority v Arch Insurance ( UK) Ltd [2020] EWHC 2448 ( Comm) and the Supreme Court’s decision in the same litigation ([2021] UKSC 1). For litigators, this field has become familiar terrain and now supplies abundant direction on the courts’ likely treatment of recurrent questions, most notably issues of construction. That body of guidance appears set to be strengthened again when the Court of Appeal hands down its judgment in the pending appeal from Jacobs J’s decision in London International Exhibition Centre plc v Royal & Sun...
Business adviser and accountancy practice Hazlewoods LLP reports that 34 law firms in England and Wales shut down between November 2022 and October 2023—fewer than the 36 closures in the previous 12 months and the 55 logged in the equivalent window two years before. Despite this decline, the total still marked an uplift of over 140% compared with the 14 closures recorded from November 2018 to October 2019, Hazlewoods noted. The figures rely on the 2024 market report from insurance broker Howden Broking Group Ltd, released in January 2024......
Backing the residents, the UT dismissed HMRC’s claim that each person was liable for £606,480 ( US$766,000) arising from transfers their associated company, located in the island jurisdiction of Jersey, sent to the German arm of a Luxembourg enterprise called Centennial SARL......
South Square South Square Digest In this edition, David Alexander KC of South Square closely reflects on the recent Court of Appeal ruling in THG v Zedra Trust Company ( Jersey) Ltd [2024] EWCA Civ 158, confirming that the limitation provisions set out by the Limitation Act 1980 do apply to unfair prejudice petitions under s 994 of the 2006 Act. Tom Smith KC, Daniel Bayfield KC, Georgina Peters, Adam Al- Attar, Charlotte Cooke, Ryan Perkins, Madeleine Jones and Edoardo Lupi carefully consider the recent judgment in Re Project Lietzenburger Strasse Hold Co Sarl [2024] EWHC 468, which was the first Part 26A restructuring plan sanction application to come before the courts after the Court of Appeal’s judgment in Re AGPS Bondco [2024] EWCA Civ 24. Finally, Sir Antony Zacaroli also examines the concept of classes and, in particular, the growing role that the courts have to...
On 21 March 2024, the DWP revealed it has to date identified 97,000 state pension payments that were underpaid, with individual shortfalls ranging from £2,192 to £12,486. Having uncovered historic errors in benefit payments, the department has embarked on a major review of state pension provision. The Office for Budget Responsibility indicates the exercise could cost the DWP around £3bn in total. The department confirmed that these underpayments pertain to the period from 11 January 2021 to 29 February 2024. As the DWP noted: ‘ These are cases for which a current or historical...’...
Beyond the items reported in depth in the Financial Services news feed on 25 March 2024, subscribers may wish to note these further developments: ESRB: Occasional Paper Series No 25 – Joining up prudential and resolution regulation for systemically important banks ECB Banking Supervision welcomes the European Parliament’s “ Resolution on Banking Union – Annual Report 2023” of 16 January 2024 FCA: 2024 fine ECB: Technical considerations on the provision of multiple digital euro accounts to individual end users FCA: Decision Notice: Gerald A Pacitti Decision Notice: Hasan Fazal Decision Notice: ERS Office Supplies Ltd Decision Notice: First Call Heating Limited Decision Notice: Cavendish Property...
In its statement, the Commission added that it was directing the tech firms to ‘retain certain documents to monitor the effective implementation and compliance with their obligations’. The firms now enter a twelve‑month probe as the Commission assesses adherence and may mandate additional adjustments. Should they be judged to have breached the law, penalties can reach up to 10% of global turnover. Repeated breaches can trigger steeper fines and more intrusive measures affecting corporate structures. Under the DMA, platforms must curb how they monetise data, keep their platforms open for business customers, and guarantee interoperable services. At present, the rules cover Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Byte Dance, Google and Meta Platforms, and all of them published reports earlier this month detailing how they were meeting the law, on compliance with it......
See Practice Note: PRA enforcement essentials—settlement For additional details, consult FCA and PRA investigations, enforcement and discipline—overview......
Practice Note: PRA enforcement essentials—information gathering and the Early Account Scheme See Practice Note on PRA enforcement essentials—covering information gathering and Early Account Scheme. For details, see FCA and PRA investigations, enforcement and discipline—overview......
The ruling is rare, partly as reinsurance rows in England are usually settled behind closed doors in arbitration rather than aired in open court. Consequently, such written judgments are infrequent. It also raised an issue over what many UK insurers label ‘non-damage’ Covid-related claims, implying losses where premises sustained no physical injury yet fell within reinsurance protection, that is, claims triggered by the pandemic without any tangible breakage or alteration to structures. The cover in dispute concerned business interruption during the government-ordered lockdown, regardless of any structural impact to the business premises, or any physical alteration to the site. This piece sets out the principal arguments and determinations arising from the case, in summary. The reinsurers appealed arbitral awards obliging them to indemnify their insureds, namely the direct insurers, under their reinsurance contracts. Central questions included whether the surge in coronavirus cases before the lockdown order...
Mergers Commission issues statement of objections in its phase II investigation into acquisition of ITA Airways The Commission has issued a statement of objections to Deutsche Lufthansa AG ( Lufthansa) and the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance ( MEF) regarding its ongoing phase II investigation into the proposed acquisition of joint control of ITA Airways ( ITA) by Lufthansa and MEF ( M.11071). Lufthansa and ITA operate wide domestic networks, short‑haul services across the EEA, and long‑haul connections between the EEA and the rest of the world. Lufthansa is also party to a joint venture with United Airlines and Air Canada, through which they co‑ordinate pricing, capacity and timetables and share revenues on transatlantic routes. On 23 January 2023, the Commission referred the proposed transaction due to concerns that it could reduce competition in the market for passenger air transport services on several...
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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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