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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 Sole traders, informal partnerships and outdated partnership deeds are common.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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Scotland Gas Networks plc v QBE UK Ltd and others [2024] CSOH 15, 2024 Scot ( D) 18/2 What are the practical implications of this case? This will interest insurers, insured and their representatives. After this decision, insurers still have scope to contend that a wronged party cannot call on a policy, but that scope has been notably reduced. A judgment or decree in default stands on the same footing as a full merits determination for the purposes of TP( RAI) A 2010. Decisions under the Third Parties ( Rights against Insurers) Act 1930 (1930 Act) do not bear on this question. Insurers will therefore wish to ensure their insured’s proceedings are fully defended at first instance. What was the background? The pursuer ( Scottish term for claimant), Scotland Gas Networks plc (‘ SGN’), the statutory successor to the Scottish Gas Board, owns and operates a wide...
The government supported £77bn in total of loans across three relief programmes during 2020 and 2021. Around £47bn went out through the bounce-back loans scheme, with £1.79bn thought to be fraudulent, according to the department’s most recent figures. Lenders marked £5m of the £25.8bn issued under the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme as suspected fraud. No loans made via the third programme—the coronavirus large business interruption loan scheme—have been flagged as potentially fraudulent, the DBT stated. The DBT did not provide an immediate response to a request for additional comment......
The Tintometer Ltd and other company v Pitmans (a firm) and another company [2024] EWHC 370 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? This decision offers concrete guidance for advisers acting for a party added to ongoing proceedings and contemplating an application to set aside an order already made before its joinder. In such a scenario, a newly joined party lacks standing to apply to set aside any pre-existing order under CPR 3.3(5). The judgment also serves as a timely reminder that, when exercising its discretion to substitute a party as a defendant under CPR 17.2, the court will assess whether doing so accords with the overall interests of justice, and will properly weigh any material prospective prejudice to the proposed defendant. What was the background? The first defendant, Pitmans, sought to strike out the claimants’ professional negligence claim. The claim concerned advice given by...
In this issue: Transferring property Leasing property Property management Statutory compliance Property development Environment, energy and buildings Property taxes Property in Scotland Additional property updates this week Daily and weekly news alerts Trackers New Q& As Transferring property Death and/or administration of an estate not a bar to adverse possession claim In Nazir v Begum [2024] EWHC 378 ( KB), the King's Bench Division rejected an appeal challenging a conclusion that the respondent had been in adverse possession of the land in dispute. Under para 12 of Sch 6 to the Land Registration Act 2002 ( LRA 2002), an individual is not treated as in adverse possession of an estate held on trust. The appellants' father, the first registered owner of the land, died intestate; the appellants secured letters of...
R (on the application of Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site Ltd) and another v Secretary of State for Transport [2024] EWHC 339 ( Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? Numerous points depended on the case’s specific facts. The climate change ground and the Boswell decision could have broader reach, making the Court of Appeal judgment significant. Arguably the most generally relevant conclusion concerns Ground 8 and the sufficiency of briefing provided to Ministers before a determination. It is settled that a Minister can only consider matters personally known to him, or specifically brought to his attention, and he is not expected to range beyond that compass. The claimants contended the briefing was deficient, as it omitted points so plainly material that ignoring them would be irrational, and said those matters should have been flagged. The court concluded, however, that even if an issue is...
In this issue: Development consent orders Building Regulations Housing Environmental impact assessment Renewable energy Biodiversity Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Latest Q& A Related Documents Development consent orders Court of Appeal dismisses challenge to development consent for new nuclear power station ( TASC v SOS) R (on the application of Together Against Sizewell C Ltd) v Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero and another company [2023] EWCA Civ 1517 saw the Court of Appeal address, with brevity, two recurring issues about appropriate assessment of schemes under the Habitats Regulations. The first concerned whether infrastructure providing an essential utilities connection for the operation of a development could legitimately be treated as a distinct project. The court held that this turned on the particular facts and was a matter for the...
St James's Place plc ( SJP) allocated a provision against its 2023 pre-tax earnings, reducing the group's after-tax cash outcome to £68.7m. A year before, the firm posted earnings of £410m. The wealth manager said it anticipates drawing on the provision over the next three years. This adjustment reflects an effect on reported cash. ' We experienced a significant rise in clients lodging complaints related to demonstrating and delivering historic ongoing servicing,' said SJP chief executive, Mark Fitz Patrick......
In this issue: Practice and procedure Private children Public children Lex Talk®Family: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts New content Updated content New Q& As Useful information Practice and procedure Cross-examination when no qualified legal representative is available ( Re: Z ( Prohibition on Cross-examination: No QLR)) The President of the Family Division’s ruling in Re: Z ( Prohibition on Cross-examination: No QLR) [2024] EWFC 22; [2024] All ER ( D) 99 ( Feb) sets out what should happen where the court has, under Part IVB of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984 ( MFPA 1984), ordered the appointment of a qualified legal representative ( QLR) for a party, but none can be secured. The court must then consider whether it should itself put questions on that party’s behalf and, if so, the...
In this issue: EU fundamentals Commercial Competition and state aid Data protection and cybersecurity Energy Environment Financial services IP Justice and home affairs Life sciences TMT International trade Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Trackers EU fundamentals New transparency and workload management measures for Court of Justice The European Parliament has endorsed reforms introducing a series of new transparency and caseload management measures to be adopted by the Court of Justice, following the agreement reached with the Council and the Court on 7 December 2023. Under these rules, references for preliminary rulings in specified areas, such as taxation and emissions trading, will be automatically reassigned to the General Court. Judges and advocates general tasked with preparing cases will follow the same procedural rules in the General Court as those...
In this issue: Funding, surplus and investment Pensions taxation The Pensions Regulator Trustees, governance and administration Daily and weekly news alerts New content Dates for your diary Trackers Funding, surplus and investment Withdrawn and re-laid: draft Occupational Pension Schemes ( Funding and Investment Strategy and Amendment) Regulations 2024 The draft Occupational Pension Schemes ( Funding and Investment Strategy and Amendment) Regulations 2024 were first laid on 29 January 2024, then withdrawn and re-laid on 26 February 2024. The revisions in the re-laid draft (the 2024 Regulations) are intended to ensure sponsoring employers, trustees and scheme managers all have equivalent time to prepare for the added requirements linked to the new funding and investment strategy and the statement of strategy. These updates are set out in regulation 20 of the revised draft, which would amend the...
Thompson v HMRC [2024] UKFTT 138 ( TC) The taxpayer had been employed in IT until 2013, when he chose to work for himself as an IT consultant. He secured assignments through an organisation ( BFB) that specialises in IT contracting, operating on the basis that he would be paid under the Pay-as-you-earn ( PAYE) regime, with deductions for income tax and National Insurance contributions ( NICs). Although the arrangements were not fully clear to the FTT, the taxpayer also received remuneration for his services from another company, Atlas Trustees Ltd. Neither BFB nor Atlas made any deductions for income tax or NICs. Mr Thompson’s 2013–14 tax return reported his employment income but omitted the amounts paid by BFB and Atlas. After opening an enquiry, HMRC wrote to the taxpayer setting out the further tax due and stating that HMRC......
The Irish lender announced that it will repurchase its shares on the Euronext Dublin exchange and subsequently cancel them. A notice to the London Stock Exchange ( LSE) stated the programme, scheduled and due to end by 18 December 2024 at the latest, will be executed by wealth manager J& E Davy Unlimited Co and UBS AG London Branch. Bank of Ireland, whose shares are listed on both the LSE and the Euronext Dublin, said that the initiative’s aim is to trim the group’s share capital. The lender did not name its legal counsel for the buyback plan under the programme......
Legal Service Board report: The misuse of non-disclosure agreements: call for evidence themes and summary of evidence The LSB reported that clients and their legal advisers deploy these binding agreements to hide conduct that is lawful yet unethical, including bullying, settlements involving consumer products, and conflicts in construction and building. Numerous respondents also indicated NDAs are used across workplaces to conclude employment disputes. Matthew Hill, the LSB’s outgoing chief executive, voiced his gratitude to those who contributed to the review, which ran from May to July, noting that the exercise helped to illuminate a corner of legal practice that is, by its very nature, hidden. He further observed that the recurrent patterns set out in the report demonstrate that, when NDAs are misused, the consequences for people’s lives can be devastating......
Beyond the articles featured in full within the Financial Services news feed on 28 February 2024, subscribers might wish to note these further developments also of interest: FCA: Decision Notice: JM Financial ( UK) Limited FCA: Decision......
Monmore Properties Ltd v HMRC [2024] UKFTT 127 ( TC) The appellant acted as the representative member of a Value Added Tax ( VAT) group. The tribunal’s determination arose from a preliminary hearing convened to resolve two threshold issues: whether the appellant’s appeal had been brought within time, and whether HMRC’s assessments covering a 27‑month span (five VAT return periods) were out of time. The broader controversy was not addressed at this stage, as it was a matter for the substantive appeal, and concerned the VAT treatment of services provided by VAT group members to persons outside the VAT group. At the preliminary hearing it was also established that HMRC had not issued a single global assessment. That clarification was relevant because the wider dispute referred to......
Data from the Thinking Ahead Institute (a research network founded by WTW) shows an uplift on the US$50.1trn held by retirement funds in 2022. WTW said on 26 February 2024 that stronger capital markets were the main driver of 2023’s growth over the year. Jessica Gao, director at the Thinking Ahead Institute, noted that pension assets are rising again, as the pensions industry’s importance expands in a world confronting new challenges and avenues for future prosperity. She remarked that growth has returned to the agenda. Gao said that, while growth was not rapid, it was better than 2022......
The Society of Pension Professionals ( SPP) The Society of Pension Professionals ( SPP) stated on 26 February 2024 that the so‑called advice guidance boundary review, initiated by the Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA), represents a move in the right direction. The financial watchdog and the government say an advice gap bars people with smaller pots from seeking cost‑effective help. In an August 2023 consultation, the FCA flagged worries that too few adults obtain financial advice and that pension providers shy away from offering any sort of guidance to members. It has proposed three possible remedies which, it says, could enable a larger share of savers to gain from broader, more general guidance across the pensions landscape today......
Mergers The CMA has opened its phase 1 investigation and published an invitation to comment regarding the completed purchase of HAS- Vent Holdings Limited by Lindab International AB—see further, the case page here. NOTE— For all live mergers before the CMA, please refer to the UK mergers—ongoing cases tracker. Upcoming dates For forthcoming UK competition developments, please see the UK Competition calendar......
See Q& A: H was convicted of manslaughter of W. H and W own joint bank accounts. Does the forfeiture rule apply to monies held in joint bank accounts? Section 1 of the Forfeiture Act 1982 ( Fo A 1982) states that the ‘forfeiture rule’ is a public policy principle that, in specified circumstances, bars a person who has unlawfully killed another from obtaining any benefit as a result of the killing. Under Fo A 1982, ss 2(1) and 2(4) concern the idea of an ‘interest in property’ to which the rule applies......
State aid General Court dismisses actions regarding the financing of the Fehmarn Belt fixed link between Denmark and Germany The General Court has handed down its rulings in Cases T-390/20 Scandlines Danmark and Scandlines Deutschland v Commission, T-364/20 Denmark v Commission, and T-390/20 and T-7/19 Scandlines Danmark and Scandlines Deutschland v Commission, being actions challenging the Commission’s State aid decisions in relation to the Fehmarn Belt fixed rail-road link project ( SA.39079 and SA.51918, respectively). By way of background, the Fehmarn Belt link project between Denmark and Germany takes the form, amongst other things, of an immersed tunnel under the Baltic Sea between Rødby, on the Danish island of Lolland, and Puttgarden in Germany. The tunnel, which is approximately 19km long, will consist of an electrified railway line and a motorway forming the Fixed Link. The Danish public entity Femern A/ S is...
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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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