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This Practice Note outlines the law concerning criminal recklessness. The subjective test for recklessness Certain statutory and common law offences allow the prosecution to prove mens rea through ‘recklessness’. Put simply, recklessness is where the accused takes an unjustified risk that results in unlawful harm or damage. The House of Lords in R v G reaffirmed the subjective approach to recklessness. Before R v G, two distinct tests were used, depending on the offence charged: Subjective recklessness from R v Cunningham: the prosecution had to establish that the accused personally foresaw the risk. Objective recklessness from R v Caldwell: the prosecution only needed to show that the risk would have been obvious to a reasonable person, without proving the accused themselves foresaw it. In R v G, the House of Lords concluded that the objective test could operate unfairly where a defendant did not foresee the
This Practice Note examines the remedy of rescission, explaining when and in what manner a contract can be unwound (at common law, in equity and under statute) and thereby terminated and brought to an end. It covers the consequences and effects of rescission, the principal grounds for setting aside an agreement (misrepresentation, mistake, undue influence, duress, non‑disclosure, fiduciary misdealing and bribery) and the main obstacles to claiming rescission—affirmation, the intervention of third‑party rights and the impossibility of restitution. For further guidance on rescission in the context of misrepresentation, see Practice Note: Misrepresentation—rescission as a remedy. There are many ways in which a contract may reach its end; see: Terminating contracts—how and when a contract ends—overview for a brief and accessible summary, with links to the related further practical guidance, including Practice Note: Termination and expiry of contracts. For a table
What is a res judicata? A res judicata is a determination by a court or tribunal with jurisdiction over the cause of action and the parties, which finally disposes of the issues decided so they cannot be litigated again by those bound, save on appeal. Final judgments entered by default or by consent fall within this concept, whereas rulings on purely procedural points and any decision lacking finality do not. The doctrine’s aim is to bring litigation to an end and shield parties from being harassed by the same dispute twice. in personam—binds the parties and their privies in rem—binds all persons, privy or otherwise (ie a judgment binding the whole world) A party may rely on res judicata: as an estoppel to defeat an opponent’s claim or defence; and/or as the basis of their own claim or
The offence of causing grievous bodily harm with intent Wounding or causing grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent can be tried solely in the Crown Court on indictment. Elements of the offence Under the Offences against the Person Act 1861 (OATPA 1861), the prosecution must establish that the defendant unlawfully and maliciously: wounded with the intention of causing GBH, or caused GBH with that intention, or wounded intending to resist or prevent the lawful arrest or detention of any person, or caused GBH intending to resist or prevent the lawful arrest or detention of any person ‘Unlawfully’ and ‘maliciously’ Unlawfully The wounding or causing of GBH must be unlawful. Such conduct may be lawful if used: in self-defence in defence of another in defence of property for the prevention of crime where the victim gave express or implied consent For further information on these defences, see below:
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Practice Note This Practice Note includes several tables that outline the statutory caps on compensation (together with the relevant calculations) for every category of employment tribunal claim, along with any required period of continuous service to qualify. It also details the prevailing limit on a week’s pay and the compensatory award, the minimum basic award (eg for trade union, health and safety, working time representative, pension scheme trustee and employee representative dismissals, among others), and the daily ceiling for guarantee payments. Each table links to all pertinent legislation and related Practice Note materials. Limits are arranged by subject area—for example, discrimination, whistleblowing and unfair dismissal. Use the links in the Table of Contents to move directly to the section you need. Annual uprating of the week’s pay limit, guarantee payments, maximum tribunal compensation, and similar thresholds takes effect on 6 April each year......
Introduction The strand of domestic law that originally arose from EU obligations and was captured by the European Union ( Withdrawal) Act 2018 ( EU( W) A 2018) as retained EU law ( REUL) is, from 2024, referred to as ‘assimilated law’. This change follows the Retained EU Law ( Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 ( REUL( RR) A 2023). The new label signals notable shifts in the domestic standing and handling of assimilated law. Its objective is to advance the process of bringing former EU rules into the UK’s legal system and to support their reform... Reminder: what was retained EU law ( REUL)? To understand the move from REUL to assimilated law, it is useful to revisit REUL, which was established by EU( W) A 2018. For background on EU( W) A 2018, see Practice Note: Brexit—key legislation explained. After the Brexit...
Part 14 of the Companies Act 2006 (the CA 2006) contains provisions which control: political gifts by companies to parties, other political bodies, and independent candidates in elections, and political spending undertaken by companies While only a small number of companies give money directly to politics or bear explicit political costs, the CA 2006 adopts broad definitions that can encompass forms of giving and spend that are not obviously or necessarily political. Accordingly, numerous companies table a standard resolution at each annual general meeting ( AGM) to authorise and confirm political donations and political expenditure. For an illustration of a shareholder resolution authorising such donations and spending, see Precedent: Notice of AGM of a listed public company......
This Practice Note considers awards of compensation or damages for injury to feelings and psychiatric personal injury arising in discrimination and other prohibited conduct claims under the Equality Act 2010 ( Eq A 2010). Injury to feelings Eq A 2010 expressly permits damages for injury to feelings. In successful claims, some compensation under this head will almost invariably be granted. However, a tribunal is not obliged to award it and may properly refuse where only a matter of principle is engaged, or where there is merely a ‘technical’ instance of prohibited conduct and the ‘victim’ in fact suffered no injury to feelings. Injury to feelings—general principles Once a decision is taken to make an award for injury to feelings, the general principles set out below should be kept in view. The purpose of the award An award for injury to feelings aims to compensate individuals for the hurt caused by the...
The UK Corporate Governance Code ( UKCG Code) Issued by the Financial Reporting Council ( FRC), the UK Corporate Governance Code sets out benchmarks of good practice for board leadership and effectiveness, remuneration, accountability, and how companies engage with their shareholders. The Code applies to companies with a listing of equity shares in the equity shares (commercial companies) category, irrespective of whether they are incorporated in the UK or elsewhere, although other companies may choose, on a voluntary basis, to adopt some or all of its provisions. Under the Financial Conduct Authority’s UK Listing Rules ( UKLR), all companies with a listing of equity shares in the equity shares (commercial companies) category must either comply with the provisions of the UKCG Code or set out in their next annual report to shareholders the reasons for any departure from...
This Practice Note explores the role of the Central Arbitration Committee ( CAC) and the way its members are appointed. It also reviews the CAC’s statutory responsibilities, including union recognition and derecognition, alongside voluntary and unilateral arbitration. In particular, it looks at the CAC’s power to determine: complaints and applications concerning the duty to consult under the Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004 ( ICER 2004), SI 2004/3426 complaints and applications concerning European Works Councils ( EWCs) under the Transnational Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 1999 ( TICER 1999), SI 1999/3323 various complaints under the European Public Limited- Liability Company Regulations 2004, SI 2004/2326 Establishment and membership The CAC is an independent arbitration body created by statute (section 259 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations ( Consolidation) Act 1992 ( TULR( C) A 1992)). Acas provides its staffing and...
Practice Note Since Lord Davies of Abersoch’s government-backed review into gender diversity on listed company boards appeared in February 2011, the issue of women’s presence in boardrooms has stayed firmly in the news. That review sought to pinpoint obstacles curbing women’s progression to the board and to propose steps for government and businesses to raise the share of women on boards. In 2017, the government-backed Parker Review, chaired by Sir John Parker, examined ethnic diversity across UK boards and concluded that directors from minority ethnic backgrounds were significantly under-represented within the country’s top companies. The report set out the business case for greater ethnic diversity and introduced a goal to eliminate ‘all-white’ boards by 2021 for FTSE 100 companies and by 2024 for FTSE 250 companies. More recently, the Financial Reporting Council ( FRC) and investor groups have sharpened attention on further facets of...
FORTHCOMING DEVELOPMENT : The Pensions ( Extension of Automatic Enrolment) ( No. 2) Bill secured Royal Assent on 18 September 2023, becoming the Pensions ( Extension of Automatic Enrolment) Act 2023 (the Act), and was published on 19 September 2023. The Act confers powers on the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to make regulations to: lower the minimum age at which otherwise eligible employees must be automatically enrolled and re-enrolled into a pension scheme by their employers; remove the Lower Earnings Limit from the qualifying earnings band so that contributions are calculated from the first pound of earnings; and revise the requirements for the annual review of the qualifying earnings band. Adjustments to automatic enrolment eligibility will proceed following a consultation on the detailed implementation method and timing. The commencement of section 1 of the Act is set to be ‘on such day or days as the...
ARCHIVED: This archived Practice Note sets out a destination table mapping how the Employment Tribunal Procedure Rules 2024 ( ET Rules 2024), SI 2024/1155, effective from 6 January 2025, align with the ET Rules 2013 (as contained in Schedule 1 to the Employment Tribunals ( Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2013 (2013 Regulations), SI 2013/1237). It supplies links to the relevant rules, whether found in the ET Rules 2013 or the ET Rules 2024, SI 2024/1155. It also incorporates the notes from the comparison table prepared by Regional Employment Judge David Franey and published on the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary Practice Directions and Guidance for Employment Tribunals ( England and Wales) page. In a joint letter dated 18 December 2024, Judge Barry Clarke, President of the Employment Tribunals ( England and Wales), and Judge Susan Walker, President of the Employment Tribunals (...
ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained Employment law dates for your 2025 diary This Practice Note outlines the principal legal developments that influenced employment lawyers across 2025. Set out month by month, it arranges, in chronological sequence, key dates spanning cases, legislation and consultations relevant to employment practice. More detail and links to related news items can be found in: Case tracker— Employment Archived—2025 Case tracker— Employment Legislation tracker— Employment Consultation tracker— Employment Archived— Consultation tracker— Employment January 2025 1 January 2025 — Legislation in force — Recognition of professional qualifications. [ Archived] The Recognition of Professional Qualifications and Implementation of International Recognition Agreements ( Amendment) ( Extension to Switzerland etc) Regulations 2024, SI 2024/1379, give effect to the UK– Switzerland Recognition of Professional Qualifications Agreement under the Professional Qualifications Act 2022, enabling UK...
ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. Employment law dates for your 2023 diary This Practice Note provides a summary of the principal legal developments that impacted employment lawyers over the course of 2023. The tables below set out, in chronological sequence, dates of relevance to employment lawyers, covering cases, legislation and consultations, organised by month throughout 2023......
This case tracker presents a curated selection of significant employment judgments issued in 2025. Details on major ongoing matters appear in Practice Note: Case tracker— Employment. Where available, links to Employment news analysis reports are provided. Entries are grouped by topic. The Lexis Nexis® Employment team is keen to receive notice of other decisions that may interest subscribers—please use the ‘ Feedback’ option above and the Lexis Ask function (see Lexis Ask button below) to send us details... Case Name Case citation Topic Main issue Case history Augustine v Data Cars Ltd [2025] IRLR 624, [2025] ICR 19 — Status and worker categories. Main issue: whether a worker’s part-time status must be the ‘sole reason’ for less favourable treatment. The EAT rejected the ‘sole reason’ approach adopted by the Court of Session in Mc Menemy v Capita Business...
This Practice Note Sets out answers to common questions on how the right to paid annual leave interacts with maternity leave and with other categories of family leave, namely: adoption leave parental leave shared parental leave paternity leave neonatal care leave parental bereavement leave bereaved partner’s paternity leave This Practice Note provides: concise responses to the FAQs, and links to more in-depth guidance within our core materials on paid holiday entitlement, including the following Practice Notes: Statutory paid holiday—the right Statutory paid holiday—calculating holiday pay Statutory paid holiday—carry-over Statutory paid holiday—payment on termination Statutory paid holiday—enforcement and claims Paid holiday—contractual issues The FAQs consider the position of: all workers for holiday years beginning on or before 31 March 2024 workers, other than irregular hours or part-year workers (as defined by WTR...
The remedies available in cases involving attempts to enforce post-termination restrictions For ease, these can be split into: interim remedies available before a final trial, and remedies available after the case is finally tried Interim remedies generally take the form of injunctions and associated orders, including: Interim injunctions in employee competition claims and confidentiality claims Springboard injunctions in employee competition claims Delivery up orders in employee competition claims and confidentiality claims Search orders and imaging orders in employee competition claims and confidentiality claims Freezing orders in employee competition claims Although courts often direct an expedited trial in employee competition disputes, many claims to enforce post-termination restrictions do not proceed to a final hearing. The key confrontation usually occurs at the interim stage, where the employer seeks, and the employee opposes, injunctive relief. After that initial...
This Practice Note explores how employment tribunals deploy declarations and recommendations as remedies in a prohibited conduct (eg discrimination) claim. Declaration of rights An employment tribunal may make a declaration identifying the rights of the complainant and the respondent in connection with the matters to which the proceedings relate, where it concludes there has been a contravention of: Part 5 (work) (see Practice Note: Employment events which give rise to discrimination, harassment and victimisation claims) section 108 (prohibited conduct concerning relationships that have ended—see Practice Note: Employment events which give rise to discrimination, harassment and victimisation claims— After employment) section 111 (instructing, causing or inducing contraventions—see Practice Note: Liability of employers and employees under the Equality Act 2010— Instructing, causing or inducing contraventions) section 112 (aiding contraventions—see Practice Note: Liability of employers and employees under the Equality Act 2010— Aiding...
This Practice Note examines what makes someone an office-holder, whether they may simultaneously qualify as employees or workers, the particular equality protections available to them, and the questions that arise in relation to police, religious ministers and priests, judges and directors. Characteristics of office-holders An office-holder is typically an individual appointed to a role, often by a company or another organisation, but who may not have any contract governing that role. Examples of appointments that can give rise to office-holder status include: statutory appointments, such as registered company directors or secretaries, members of the boards of statutory bodies, or Crown appointments appointments under an organisation’s internal constitution, such as club treasurers or trade union secretaries appointments under a trust deed, e.g. trustees ecclesiastical appointments, e.g. church ministers An office-holder’s rights and duties are determined by the nature of the office, rather than by any...
This Practice Note reviews the deadline for challenging an employment tribunal judgment in the Employment Appeal Tribunal ( EAT). It addresses the 42-day period for lodging appeals, the point from which that period begins, receipt, and the absence of deemed service rule for documents dispatched by post. It further considers requests for extra time to commence an appeal under the extension provisions in Rule 37(1) and Rule 37(5) of the EAT Rules 1993 ( EAT Rules), and outlines the principles and factors for granting additional time, as reflected in the relevant case law. Calculating the time limit for presenting a Notice of Appeal An appeal against an order, direction, or decision must be filed within 42 days of the date of that order, direction, or decision. The EAT will regard an employment tribunal’s refusal to make an order or decision as itself amounting to an order,...
This Practice Note This Practice Note addresses the criteria governing an employer’s vicarious liability in tort, arising from particular legal relationships and specified conduct, including wrongful acts. It further reviews liability within ‘relationships akin to employment’ and the circumstances in which more than one employer may share responsibility (dual vicarious liability). It analyses, in particular, the ‘close connection test’, which identifies the necessary link between the relationship and the wrongdoing, as re-examined by the Supreme Court in Trustees of the Barry Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses v BXB. It sets out the stance regarding liability for the acts of independent contractors, and proceeds to outline when an employer might be answerable for torts committed by someone else’s employees, and where liability to third parties in contract (express and ostensible agency) can arise in practice. This Practice Note also details liability for breaches of...
This Practice Note considers the principles and application of the duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people in employment. The Equality and Human Rights Commission ( EHRC) characterises the duty to make reasonable adjustments as a fundamental element of the Equality Act 2010 ( Eq A 2010). It places a positive obligation on employers to remove barriers so that disabled people can obtain work, participate fully and progress in their careers. This extends beyond merely refraining from unfavourable treatment of disabled employees, candidates and potential applicants, and entails taking additional measures that are not owed to individuals who are not disabled... Discrimination against a disabled person arises where an employer does not fulfil the duty to make reasonable adjustments owed in relation to that individual. Treating, or proposing to treat, disabled people more favourably than non-disabled people does not amount to direct...
FORTHCOMING CHANGE: Section 25 and Schedule 3 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 will cut the qualifying period for claims of unfair dismissal from two years to six months. This forthcoming change shortens the qualifying period accordingly. The anticipated implementation date for this reform is 1 January 2027. For additional information, refer to Practice Note: Employment Rights Act 2025—tracker. Ordinarily, the right not to be unfairly dismissed only accrues where, by the effective date of termination of employment, the individual has been in continuous employment for at least two years. There are, nonetheless, numerous exceptions to this rule. For guidance on the principles to apply when deciding whether an employee has the necessary qualifying period of continuous employment, see Practice Note: Continuity of employment. Effective date of termination When calculating continuous employment, the effective date of termination will differ depending on the particular...
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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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