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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 Sole traders, informal partnerships and outdated partnership deeds are common.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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In this issue: Pensions taxation The Pensions Regulator Daily and weekly news alerts Dates for your diary Trackers Pensions taxation The Pensions ( Abolition of Lifetime Allowance Charge etc) Regulations 2024 The Pensions ( Abolition of Lifetime Allowance Charge etc) Regulations 2024 ( SI 2024/356) were laid before the House of Commons on 14 March 2024 and take effect from 6 April 2024. These regulations provide consequential, transitional and saving measures linked to abolishing the lifetime allowance charge, and set out how the pension commencement excess lump sum should operate. In particular, the regulations: amend the Finance Act 2024 regarding when pension schemes must report tax on lump sums, and clarify the rules for the pension commencement excess lump sum adjust regulations to set the available overseas transfer allowance where a member has already used some of their lifetime...
Mergers AG issues opinion proposing Court of Justice set aside the General Court judgment and annul Commission decisions regarding Article 22 EUMR referral request in Illumina/ GRAIL merger Advocate General Emiliou has delivered his opinion in Joined Cases C‑611/22 P, Illumina v Commission, and C‑625/22 P, GRAIL v Commission and Illumina, concerning appeals against the General Court’s ruling in Case T‑227/21, which rejected an action to annul the Commission’s 19 April 2021 decision accepting a referral under Article 22 EUMR regarding Illumina, Inc.’s acquisition of GRAIL, Inc. ( M.10188). He proposes that the Court of Justice set aside the General Court’s judgment and annul the Commission’s decisions on the Article 22 referral. By way of background, the Illumina/ GRAIL transaction did not trigger notification thresholds under either national or EU merger control regimes, but, following a complaint, the Commission was invited to consider a...
The UK Intellectual Property Office ( UKIPO) blocked Certificial LLC's to protect its digital insurance certificate verification platform The UKIPO concluded the invention was excluded from patentability as it fell under intellectual property provisions barring protection for a ‘scheme, rule or method for doing business’ or for computer programmes. According to the hearing officer, issuing insurance certificates by checking policy requirements against a policy-holder’s cover sits squarely within economic activity; the invention has no purpose beyond that, and is a business method pursued for commercial ends. Certificial filed in 2020 to secure UK protection for the development, relying on an earlier US patent for the same software. As described in the patent materials, the platform performs digital verification of insurance certificates so that users, including brokers and insurance providers, can exchange policy information, manage renewals, cut fraud risk, and share insurance details, the patent...
In this issue: New technologies Internet Media Advertising, marketing and sponsorship Data protection Telecommunications Lex Talk®TMT: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information New technologies Council of Europe AI Committee finalises AI, HR, Democracy and Rule of Law Framework Convention The Council of Europe Committee on Artificial Intelligence ( AI) has completed the Framework Convention on AI, Human Rights ( HR), Democracy and the Rule of the Law. Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić noted that this first‑of‑its‑kind treaty is intended to ensure the development of AI aligns with Council of Europe legal standards on human rights, democracy and the rule of the law. The draft will now be sent to the Committee of Ministers for adoption and will be opened for...
As reported in the global directors’ and officers’ survey by broker WTW and law firm Clyde & Co, 84% of respondents viewed health and safety as a very or extremely important issue. That share represents a rise from an average of 45% across the preceding three years. Drawing over 900 responses from participants in more than 50 countries, the study found cyber-attack risks were the second-highest concerns for bosses. According to the report, this had been the top risk cited by directors over the last three years. Jeremy Wall, head of global FINEX at WTW, said the research marked the......
Group litigation—solicitors’ lack of authority to act may result in wasted costs and non-party costs orders ( Jalla & Chujor v Shell International Trading & Shipping Ltd) Jalla and others v Royal Dutch Shell and others [2024] EWHC 578 ( TCC) What are the practical implications of this case? Practitioners handling group actions should note the risks now facing the claimants’ solicitors after the court’s earlier finding that they lacked authority to issue the individual claims. Relying on the long‑established Yonge v Toynbee [1910] 1 KB 215, the court confirms that solicitors who warrant authority for persons named on a claim form may become liable for wasted costs and non‑party costs orders if that authority is later absent. The ruling emphasises the need for a careful, timely process to obtain actual authority from every named claimant before proceedings are started. It stands as a clear...
In this issue: Service Charges Trespass and adverse possession Disputes and remedies Easements and covenants Lex Talk®Property Disputes: a Lexis®Nexis community Additional Property disputes updates Daily and weekly news alerts Trackers Latest Q& As Service Charges Power to vary service charge proportions could only be exercised on an ad hoc basis ( Fitzroy Place Residential Ltd v Lovitt) In Fitzroy Place Residential Ltd v Lovitt [2024] All ER ( D) 91 ( Mar), [2024] UKUT 63 ( LC), the Upper Tribunal ( Lands Chamber) ( UT) rejected the appellant’s appeal from the First-tier Tribunal ( Property Chamber) ( FTT) regarding the construction of a standard-form lease employed across a large, flagship development containing both residential and commercial units. The challenge centred on the apportionments by which leaseholders of the private apartments were obliged to meet the cost of services supplied by the landlord for the development as a whole, and on the breadth of the...
In this issue: Practice Compliance forecast Financial sanctions Other financial crime Data protection Other Practice Compliance updates this week Question of the week Daily and weekly news alerts Trackers New and updated content Practice Compliance forecast Practice Compliance forecast as at 19 March 2024 Our latest Practice Compliance forecast (as at 19 March 2024) is now available. This month we cover: (1) a consultation reviewing the effectiveness of the MLR 2017; (2) the UK government’s sanctions strategy; (3) an update to the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill; and (4) ICO guidance on both biometric data and data protection fining. Refer to Practice Note: Practice Compliance forecast as at 19 March 2024. Financial sanctions Cabinet Office and PSFA announce upgrade to government AI fraud detection tool The Cabinet Office and the Public Sector Fraud Authority ( PSFA) have...
Sara Protheroe, the PPF’s chief customer officer, said most payments are on track to finish by March 2025, with the balance to follow a year after. This update follows an initial £9.4m disbursed by PPF’s Fraud Compensation Fund to investors in pension arrangements linked to Norton Motorcycles. Protheroe delivered remarks while giving evidence to the parliamentary Work and Pensions Committee, outlining lessons drawn from the Norton pension scandal. She explained that they are advancing swiftly through the queue of scam schemes. She added that, as set out in the strategic plan, the organisation aims to finalise the bulk of cases by March 2025, with the outstanding claims concluded by March 2026......
In this issue: Investigating criminal conduct Criminal procedure and evidence Sentencing Bribery, corruption, sanctions and export controls Consumer protection and cartels Environmental offences Financial services and pensions offences Fraud, forgery, tax and theft offences Health and safety and corporate manslaughter offences Local authority prosecutions Money laundering International Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Investigating criminal conduct Refusal to repurpose evidence in civil proceedings for criminal charging decision ( WFZ v British Broadcasting Corp) The High Court has recently clarified the circumstances in which a party will be permitted to rely on witness statements outside the proceedings in which they were first served. In ongoing injunction proceedings aimed at stopping publication of a BBC investigative report into sexual abuse allegations, the court determined that the accused could not use sensitive excerpts from that report in representations to the police intended to dissuade them from charging him. Mrs Justice Rice J held that this...
In this issue: EU fundamentals Commercial Competition and state aid Corporate Financial services Free movement, immigration and employment Energy Environment Insurance and reinsurance IP Life sciences Regulatory TMT Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Trackers EU fundamentals Council of the EU adopts reform of the Statute of the Court of Justice of the EU The Council of the EU has signed off reforms to the Statute of the Court of Justice of the EU, designed to streamline the administration of justice across the Court of Justice and the General Court. The package amends Protocol Three on the Statute so that, in defined areas, competence to deliver preliminary rulings is reassigned from the Court of Justice to the General Court. See: LNB News 19/03/2024...
Drawing on a survey of 50 charities in total, Spence & Partners Ltd reported that thirteen had paused deficit recovery payments, with others likely to follow suit in the coming months as they await the arrival of a new public sector consolidator in due course. Higher yields on long-dated government bonds over the last two years have pushed up funding positions for most UK defined benefit ( DB) schemes. ' While insurance buy-out will still be the right route in many situations, it may suit charities with smaller schemes to wait for a public sector consolidator to launch, and those with stronger balance sheets might choose to keep running their defined benefit schemes to deliver value for the charity and pension scheme members', said Alistair Russell- Smith, head of Spence & Partners’ charity and not-for-profit practice......
In this issue: Tax treatment Q& As Useful Information Weekly highlights from other practice areas Tax treatment National Insurance Contributions ( Reduction in Rates) ( No 2) Bill 2024 On 20 March 2024, the National Insurance Contributions ( Reduction in Rates) ( No 2) Bill 2024 received Royal Assent after passing through the Commons and the Lords without amendment. It has therefore become the National Insurance Contributions ( Reduction in Rates) Act 2024. The Act lowers the main Class 1 primary national insurance rate to 8% and the main Class 4 rate to 6%, both applying from 6 April 2024 (see: Share Incentives weekly highlights—14 March 2024— Tax treatment). For information on other NICs rates relevant to employee share schemes, see Practice Note: Tax and other rates which are relevant to share incentives— National Insurance contributions ( NICs). See National...
In this issue: UK, EU and international regulators and bodies Authorisation, approval and supervision Prudential requirements Financial stability Risk management and controls Financial crime and sanctions Consumer protection Investigations, enforcement and discipline PRIIPs Regulation of derivatives Banks and mutuals Sustainable finance and ESG Investment funds and asset management Consumer credit, mortgage and home finance Regulation of insurance Regulation of personal pension and stakeholder products Payment services and systems Spring Budget 2024 EEA Agreement Annex IX ( Financial Services) Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary UK, EU and international regulators and bodies FCA sets out business plan for 2024–25 and outlines its approaches to supervision, consumers, international firms and...
In this issue: Key developments and horizon scanning Property transfers Property management Insurance Easements, rights and covenants Property development Property taxation Scottish property Further property updates this week Daily and weekly news briefings Trackers New Q& As Key developments and horizon scanning LURA 2023 From 31 March 2024, selected elements of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 take effect via the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 ( Commencement No 3 and Transitional and Savings Provision) Regulations 2024, SI 2024/389. These include Part 10 on high street rental auctions, and section 229 together with Schedule 2 concerning pavement licences. See: LNB News 20/03/2024 28. Impact of BSA 2022 qualifying criteria on joint owners The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities ( DLUHC) is reassessing the eligibility criteria for leaseholder protections under the Building Safety Act 2022 ( BSA...
PI & Clinical Negligence weekly highlights—21 March 2024 Occupational disease Co A upheld findings that intermittent/low asbestos exposure in the 1950s–70s was not a foreseeable risk; White v So S for Health; Cuthbert v Taylor Woodrow. Vicarious liability Piepenbrock v Michell: claims about a chambers profile were struck out—no pleaded entity, no vicarious liability, not authors/editors/publishers; out of time; extended civil restraint for three years. Abuse and criminal injuries AXO v FTT: UT misapplied para 49(1); no double recovery for lost parental services, but CICA may recoup £5,500 bereavement from £10,000 Article 2 damages. Costs Bill to amend s58AA CLSA 1990, reversing PACCAR; retrospective; second reading 15 April 2024. Hadley v Przybylo: fee earner attendance at rehab meetings not irrecoverable in principle; case-specific. Rainer Hughes v LV=: £3,000 wasted costs order upheld; solicitor negligence/breach; indemnity basis proper. Key PI & Clinical Negligence...
Latest REUL reform SIs laid for sifting On 19 March 2024, the following SI was submitted for sifting: Weights and Measures ( Intoxicating Liquor) ( Amendment) Regulations 2024 A comprehensive list of all proposed negative procedure SIs under REUL( RR) A 2023 is available here. Sifting process for proposed negative procedure SIs introduced under REUL( RR) A 2023 REUL( RR) A 2023 includes a suite of delegated powers enabling the government and the devolved administrations to bring forward SIs to revise REUL and assimilated legislation. The principal law-making powers are contained in REUL( RR) A 2023, ss 11–16. The key procedural obligations (including parliamentary scrutiny processes) for these instruments are provided in REUL( RR) A 2023, s 20 and Schs 4–5......
In this issue: UK mergers UK competition policy EU mergers EU state aid Lex Talk®Competition: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Caselex UK mergers Secretary of State ‘minded’ to refer Telegraph Media Group/ RB Investco Limited merger for a phase 2 investigation on public interest grounds The Culture, Media and Sport Secretary has stated she is ‘minded’ to send the proposed purchase of Telegraph Media Group by RB Investco to the CMA for a phase 2 probe. Two public interest intervention notices ( PIINs) were previously issued by the Secretary in relation to proposals to acquire TMG. The initial PIIN, dated November 2023, concerned a transaction involving Redbird IMI Media Joint Venture, LCC. The CMA has, however, advised the Secretary that there are no longer ongoing arrangements that would create a relevant merger...
State aid General Court issues further judgment regarding Spanish aid for the acquisition of ships The General Court has delivered its ruling in Case T‑519/12, Grupo Moera and Vallejo and DSA v Commission, an application seeking annulment of the Commission’s decision of 17 July 2013. That decision determined that a Spanish arrangement for purchasing ships — the SLTS — which linked leasing with financing via tax relief, involved unlawful State aid ( SA.21233) (the Commission’s 2013 decision). Under that arrangement, a shipowner could have a new vessel constructed with a rebate applied to the price demanded by the shipyard. To secure the reduced price (after the rebate was deducted), however, the shipping company had to undertake not to acquire the vessel directly from the shipyard but to buy it from an economic interest grouping ( EIG) established under Spanish law and assembled by a bank. The...
We track proposed regulatory changes relevant to law firm compliance so you can plan for developments that may affect your organisation. You should review this carefully, but key items that ought to be on your radar are highlighted below. New items we’re tracking this month Consultation on the effectiveness of the MLR 2017—on 11 March 2024, HM Treasury launched a consultation on the effectiveness of the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds ( Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 ( MLR 2017). See: AML, CTF and counter-proliferation financing Survey on the cost of complying with the MLR 2017—in parallel with the above consultation, HM Treasury is running a survey on the cost of compliance with the MLR 2017. See: AML, CTF and counter-proliferation financing FCA to produce interpretive guidance regarding domestic PEPs—in its Sectoral Risk...
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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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