Legal Practice Notes

Every public authority, when carrying out any of its functions, is subject to and must comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty ( PSED). The PSED is contained in section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 ( Eq A 2010). In performing their functions, public authorities are required to have due regard to the need, in particular, to: eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by or under the Eq A 2010 advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not Eq A 2010, s 149 replaced the earlier trio of standalone public sector duties on race, gender and disability equality ( Race Relations Act 1976, s 71, Sex...

This Practice Note condenses the law, guidance and practical approach to executing simple contracts and deeds. It highlights the main distinctions between deeds and simple contracts, pinpoints those transactions that must be effected by deed, and outlines the execution formalities for both. It also covers the need for signature, use of counterparts, dating, smart legal contracts, virtual execution and electronic signatures. We have created a comprehensive, interactive collection to help users recognise and navigate the concepts and recurring issues that arise when executing documents. Each section or phase provides practical guidance, precedent-style clauses and Q& As relevant to that stage. For further information, see: Execution collection. Creating contracts A contract is a binding agreement that confers rights and imposes obligations on two or more parties. There is extensive case law on contract principles which is not examined in detail here. Put simply, for a...

Pension loss typically arises only when someone has lost their job, together with the related workplace pension benefits linked to that particular position too......

What are leavers? People who depart are generally described as ‘leavers’. Under the terms of the relevant share award, the departure reason will typically determine whether someone is a ‘good leaver’ or a ‘bad leaver’, with different consequences arising accordingly. Usually regarded as ‘good leavers’ are those leaving due to: redundancy retirement death disability ill health or injury a transfer of employment protected by Transfer of Undertakings ( Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 ( TUPE 2006), SI 2006/246 the participant leaving because the employer company has ceased to be an associated company of the scheme organiser Conversely, individuals dismissed for any other reason, specifically for poor performance, or those who leave to join a competitor, are treated as ‘bad leavers’. These are not technical terms, but are widely used in share scheme provisions to set out the treatment of leavers and to...

An order for delivery up is a form of mandatory injunction that requires the return, within a specified timeframe, of documents or other property improperly removed from the employer. Applications for such relief may include: Delivery up under CPR 25 and section 4 of the Torts ( Interference with Goods) Act 1977, where the defendant is alleged to have wrongfully interfered with goods owned by the claimant (delivery up of goods) Delivery up of assets belonging to the defendant where there is concern they may attempt to evade enforcement of a judgment Preservation of property pursuant to CPR 25 When to apply Delivery up orders, search orders and freezing orders are generally pursued as an interim remedy, as matters for the employer are often urgent. Delay in seeking such orders can lead to the permanent loss or destruction of the items...

Principles for Businesses ( PRIN) This Practice Note outlines the Principles for Businesses ( PRIN) established by the Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA). These Principles sit within the FCA’s High Level Standards in the FCA Handbook and express the fundamental obligations owed by firms and other relevant persons under the regulatory regime. The Prudential Regulation Authority ( PRA) has comparable high-level standards in its Rulebook, known as the Fundamental Rules. There are significant differences between PRIN and the PRA’s Fundamental Rules, so firms regulated by both bodies must consider these distinctions when addressing their conduct and prudential duties. In particular, the PRA’s Fundamental Rules require firms to plan for resolution so that, if necessary, they can be resolved in an orderly fashion with minimal disruption to critical services. For further detail on the PRA’s Fundamental Rules, see Practice Note: Prudential Regulation Authority and Bank of...

This Practice Note explores the equal pay for equal work principle under the Equality Act 2010 ( Eq A 2010) and, notably, what counts as ‘pay’. It addresses whether pay has to arise from contract and clarifies the concept of ‘pay’ in Article 157 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union ( TFEU) (formerly Article 141 of the Treaty of Rome). It also reviews how termination payments, pensions and maternity pay are treated. The principle of equal pay for equal work Article 157 TFEU sets out the rule that workers are entitled to the same pay for the same work. Under European law, a distinction is drawn between equal pay (under Directive 75/117/ EEC, the Equal Pay Directive) and equal treatment of men and women (under Directive 76/207/ EEC, the Equal Treatment Directive and later measures). The Equal Treatment...

This Practice Note considers the procedural framework applicable to equal pay (equality of terms) claims... Similarities and differences The procedure for equal pay claims, as with all other tribunal claims, is governed by the Employment Tribunal Procedure Rules 2024 ( ET Rules 2024), SI 2024/1155. They are commenced in the same manner as other claims (see Practice Note: Submission of a claim to the employment tribunal) and matters concerning like work and/or work rated as equivalent proceed under the ordinary procedural rules. The approach to obtaining information (formerly statutory questionnaires) in equal pay claims generally mirrors that for discrimination (prohibited conduct) claims (see Practice Note: Obtaining information for equality claims). Special procedures, set out below, apply where the claim advances that the claimant’s work is of equal value to a comparator (see Practice Note: Equal pay: equal work and comparators— Work of equal...

Dispute resolution appointments Following a successful pilot run first launched in the Midlands West region in 2020, dispute resolution appointments were officially introduced nationally in July 2023 as a form of alternative dispute resolution ( ADR) offered to parties during employment tribunal proceedings, with the aim of encouraging them to resolve their dispute by agreement. A dispute resolution appointment is a non-consensual, confidential and evaluative exercise for cases listed for six days or longer, generally the most complex discrimination and whistleblowing detriment claims. An employment judge provides the parties with an assessment of their respective prospects of success and the likely outcomes in terms of remedy. The intention is to help identify the real issues and what is at stake, and the potential consequences, thereby promoting settlement between the parties. If settlement is not reached, the process may still be valuable in...

STOP PRESS: The Data ( Use and Access) Act 2025 ( Commencement No 6 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2026, SI 2026/82 bring into force the remaining provisions of the Data ( Use and Access) Act 2025 ( DUAA 2025). From 5 February 2026, the provisions on subject access requests, legitimate interests, purpose limitation, automated decision-making, international transfers and enforcement take effect; the measures on penalty notices and complaints come into force on 19 June 2026. For further detail, see Practice Note: Data ( Use and Access) Act 2025—employment implications. This Practice Note will be updated shortly to reflect these changes. This Practice Note sets out the issues that arise when giving or seeking an employment reference (ie a reference concerning the employee’s work history) for a current, former or prospective employee. An employer may additionally be asked to supply a financial reference for an...

This Practice Note looks at circumstances in which an employer may pursue a contractual counterclaim against an employee in connection with a breach of contract claim made by that employee, under the Employment Tribunals Extension of Jurisdiction ( England and Wales) Order 1994 (the Order), SI 1994/1623. When an employer is permitted to make a contract claim (counterclaim) A respondent employer is entitled to bring a contract claim (that is, a contractual counterclaim) against a claimant only where that claimant has themselves included a contract claim in the ET1 claim form, and that ET1 has been properly served on the same respondent to whom the counterclaim would be addressed. If the ET1 does not include such a contract claim, then the respondent employer is not permitted to advance any contractual counterclaim in reply......

Listing of appeals The Employment Appeal Tribunal ( EAT) schedules the main hearing of the appeal according to how complex the case is. Most appeals are set for one day. More intricate appeals may be listed for one and a half days or two days. Only exceptionally will an appeal be fixed for more than two days (or for less than one). The hearing is timetabled to allow time for oral submissions, for the EAT’s questions to be answered, and for the arguments to be considered and judgment delivered. The EAT will have read the core bundle of documents before the hearing. Only those parties whose case has been listed at a Rule 3(10) hearing or at a preliminary hearing will have had the opportunity to give a time estimate in advance for the main hearing. When giving an estimate, a party must account for the time the...

Practice Note Some awards carry a right for the Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP) to reclaim, from any financial sum secured by the claimant, the value of any jobseeker's allowance, income-related employment and support allowance, universal credit or income support the claimant received before the tribunal proceedings conclude. This Practice Note considers employment tribunal awards to which the Employment Protection ( Recoupment of Jobseeker’s Allowance and Income Support) Regulations 1996 apply, and identifies the benefits that the DWP is entitled to recoup. It also sets out the process used by employment tribunals for the recoupment of benefits and explains how awards that are subject to such recoupment are worked out......

This Practice Note This Practice Note explores data protection considerations that arise when conducting disclosure in civil proceedings. It explains how the Civil Procedure Rules ( CPR) and the General Data Protection Regulation ( GDPR) frameworks intersect with disclosure, the handling of personal data and special category data, the redaction of personal data, the approach to documents protected by legal professional privilege ( LPP) under data protection law, and the treatment of data subject access requests ( DSARs). It addresses: the EU GDPR, Regulation ( EU) 2016/679 the UK version of the EU GDPR, retained in UK law by the European Union ( Withdrawal) Act 2018 the Data Protection Act 2018 ( DPA 2018), which operates alongside the UK GDPR Note that the Data ( Use and Access) Act 2025 ( DUAA 2025) received Royal Assent on 19 June 2025. Certain provisions took effect...

Company directors Merely holding the office of director does not, under company law, create an automatic entitlement to payment for acting as a director, or to repayment of expenses incurred while providing those services. Authority to remunerate directors for their services must be granted by the company’s constitution. A director may alternatively have a contractual right to remuneration by virtue of, or arising from, an agreement or arrangement with the company for their services......

This Practice Note maps the rules governing pay for directors of quoted companies, set against rising shareholder activism and greater media scrutiny of executive reward. It distils the statutory reporting regime on directors’ remuneration for quoted companies and highlights key provisions of the Companies Act 2006 ( CA 2006), the UK Listing Rules ( UKLR), the Financial Reporting Council’s ( FRC) UK Corporate Governance Code ( UKCG Code), together with best practice guidance on executive pay... Directors’ remuneration—law, regulation and best practice Legislation Under the CA 2006 and the Large and Medium-sized Companies and Groups ( Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008, SI 2008/410, directors of a quoted company must produce an annual remuneration report disclosing prescribed details of directors’ pay. For CA 2006 purposes, a quoted company is a UK company whose equity share capital: has been admitted to the Official List of the London Stock...

A director of a company that is limited by shares may encounter a broad spectrum of liabilities arising directly or indirectly from their actions or omissions in the ordinary conduct of the company’s business and affairs, whether grounded in statute, contract, or tort, as applicable. The Companies Act 2006 ( CA 2006) sets a general prohibition on excluding, restricting, limiting, or indemnifying directors for those liabilities (see the General rule against protection from liability). Nevertheless, statute recognises specific exceptions that permit directors to be protected against such liability by: the company taking out and keeping insurance for its directors against liabilities (see Insurance) the company granting qualifying indemnities to its directors in respect of certain liabilities (see Indemnities) Shareholders can also relieve directors from liability by ratifying acts of misconduct, so long as the conduct is capable of ratification (see...

This Practice Note concentrates on the legal framework and practical steps for appointing directors, and the procedures by which a director may retire or step down from office. It examines the role performed by a director. It also considers the different types of director in a company. It outlines the required notifications and related actions on any director change, including updating statutory registers and submitting filings to Companies House as necessary. The note reviews the pertinent provisions of the Companies Act 2006 ( CA 2006), together with the company’s articles of association. It further addresses the additional requirements for appointing, retiring and resigning directors of listed public companies, including the UK Corporate Governance Code ( UKCG Code), which applies to UK and overseas companies with a listing of equity shares in the equity shares (commercial companies) category in the UK (listed...

This Practice Note examines the issues to be considered in relation to medical evidence in disability discrimination claims in the employment tribunal, ie prohibited conduct claims under Equality Act 2010 ( Eq A 2010). It clarifies that deciding whether a claimant is disabled is the employment tribunal’s function, not the province of a medical expert. The Practice Note considers if the tribunal may take account of material other than clinical opinion, describes what a medical report will ordinarily address, places the burden on the claimant to supply medical evidence, explores when the tribunal may decline to accept such evidence, and sets out how statements from GPs about depressive conditions ought to be treated. It further records that, in general, a single, jointly-instructed medical expert should provide the evidence, and outlines the principles the tribunal should follow where a party seeks to instruct an...

Employers are legally obliged to consult with members, or their representatives, for a minimum of 60 days before introducing a “listed change” to occupational or personal pension schemes. What amounts to a “listed change” is defined in the Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes ( Consultation by Employers and Miscellaneous Amendment) Regulations 2006, SI 2006/349 (the Pension Consultation Regs). For wider considerations that may arise when amending an occupational pension scheme, see Practice Note: Amendment of occupational pension schemes—employer and trustee considerations. Statutory framework for the pension consultation requirements The consultation duty took effect on 6 April 2006. Its operative provisions are contained in: sections 259–261 of the Pensions Act 2004 ( Pe A 2004), and Pension Consultation Regs, SI 2006/349 In April 2010, the DWP published guidance to assist employers in complying with the consultation duty. The guidance recommends good practice but has no legal...