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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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On 23 June 2016, the United Kingdom held a referendum on its EU membership, with a majority opting for the UK to leave the EU. On 29 March 2017, the Prime Minister sent formal notice of the UK’s intention to withdraw, setting in motion the Article 50 TEU process. At 11 pm on 31 January 2020 (exit day), the UK’s withdrawal took effect in law and the UK ceased to be an EU Member State. Exit day signalled the close of the Article 50 withdrawal phase and the beginning of a time-limited transition/implementation period, during which the interim arrangements in Part 4 of the Withdrawal Agreement applied. These transitional measures created a standstill period while the UK and the EU set about implementing the Withdrawal Agreement and negotiating the legal terms governing their future relationship, to apply after the transition ended. The EU- UK Trade and...
ARCHIVED: This archived Practice Note sets out details of the Data Protection, Privacy and Electronic Communications ( Amendments etc) ( EU Exit) Regulations 2019, SI 2019/419, together with the Data Protection, Privacy and Electronic Communications ( Amendments etc) ( EU Exit) Regulations 2020, SI 2020/1586, plus salient elements of the EU- UK Withdrawal Agreement and the EU- UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement insofar as they concern data protection. It is no longer updated and is provided for background only. For guidance on continuing divergence between data protection requirements under the GDPR frameworks, refer to Practice Note: Introduction to the EU GDPR and UK GDPR. This Practice Note examines how Brexit affects routine processing of personal data under the General Data Protection Regulation, Regulation ( EU) 2016/679 ( EU GDPR), which took direct effect in the UK and all other EU Member States on 25 May 2018, and,...
FORTHCOMING CHANGE : The Pensions Regulator ( TPR) has opened a consultation on a new enforcement strategy, signalling a move to a more proactive and prudential style of regulation. The draft strategy sets out a framework centred on four principal outcomes: prevention, reparation, accountability, and saver confidence, and is underpinned by five strategic objectives that include targeting the most significant risks to savers, taking decisive action against non-compliance and economic crime, harnessing data to enable smarter enforcement, collaborating across the sector for greater impact, and improving transparency to strengthen trust and raise standards of conduct. The proposals are designed to sharpen TPR’s response to both emerging risks and breaches within the pensions sector through a more agile, collaborative approach. Consultation closes on 11 November 2025. TPR plans to issue the final strategy and its consultation response in early 2026. Later in 2026, TPR will also...
This archived toolkit sets out the key matters around pensions auto-enrolment and draws attention to the practical measures employers needed to take to meet their auto-enrolment responsibilities for employees in the UK. The Pensions Regulator also issued useful guidance to help employers get ready for auto-enrolment. Overview The auto-enrolment legislation took effect on 1 October 2012 and creates a legal duty on employers to enrol their workers automatically into a pension scheme that meets at least the minimum standards, unless workers opt out. Employers that fail to follow the auto-enrolment rules risk fines of up to £50,000 and, for wilful and persistent breaches, imprisonment for up to two years. Checklist—preparing for auto-enrolment Employers would have needed to complete the following preparatory actions for auto-enrolment: Speak to their benefits adviser (if they have one) or consider appointing a new adviser to support them in meeting their...
THIS PRACTICE NOTE RELATES TO OCCUPATIONAL PENSION SCHEMES This Practice Note cites decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union ( CJEU). For direction on whether EU judgments bind courts in the UK, see Practice Note: Assimilated law— Assimilated case law. VAT basics The United Kingdom’s Value Added Tax ( VAT) regime, originating in European law, is principally set out in the Value Added Tax Act 1994. VAT is a levy on consumer spending. A VAT-registered business must account to HMRC for VAT on the value of supplies of goods and services it makes, and therefore adds VAT to the amount it charges its customers for those supplies. That business may obtain credit for VAT it incurs on goods and services it uses. The VAT added to its prices is termed ‘output tax’, while VAT recoverable on its purchases is termed ‘input tax’. VAT only...
THIS PRACTICE NOTE APPLIES TO TRUST- BASED OCCUPATIONAL PENSION SCHEMES This Practice Note considers the Pensions Regulator’s (the Regulator’s) powers to suspend or prohibit trustees of occupational pension schemes, and the statutory bases on which an individual or other legal person can be disqualified from acting as a trustee of an occupational pension scheme. Suspension and prohibition orders—reserved regulatory functions of the Regulator The Regulator’s powers to suspend or prohibit trustees of occupational pension schemes are: reserved regulatory functions exercised by the Regulator’s Determinations Panel and therefore subject to the standard procedure or, in special circumstances, the special procedure As part of the standard procedure, the Regulator must notify those persons who appear to be directly affected by a suspension or prohibition order that such an order is to be made. This will ordinarily include the continuing trustees of the relevant scheme. For further information on the...
This Practice Note is archived following the government’s announcement on Tuesday 18 October 2016 to scrap plans for a secondary annuity market, on the basis that the consumer protections required would have constrained the market’s development. For details of this decision, see Decision to cancel plans for the creation of a secondary annuity market, below. As a result, pensioners who sell annuity income remain liable to an unauthorised payment tax charge of 55%—rising to 70% in some instances—where they reassign their annuity. For further guidance on unauthorised payments, see Practice Note: Authorised and unauthorised payments. Meaning of 'secondary annuity market' The phrase ‘secondary annuity market’ first surfaced after the March Budget 2015, when the government indicated an intention to remove limits on buying and selling existing annuities, permitting pensioners to sell annuity income to institutional investors (eg insurance companies, pension funds, asset managers and...
Scope of this Practice Note This Practice Note sets out the regulated activities of setting up, running or winding up a stakeholder pension scheme or a personal pension scheme under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ( Regulated Activities) Order 2001, SI 2001/544, art 52 ( RAO), and includes links to other material explaining how funds are regulated. The regulated activities are the establishment, operation or winding up of: a stakeholder pension scheme; or a personal pension scheme. Coverage of stakeholder pension schemes formed part of the RAO from commencement. By contrast, the regulated activity in respect of personal pension schemes was not introduced until 6 April 2007, following implementation of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ( Regulated Activities) ( Amendment) Order 2006, SI 2006/1969. That amending order inserted into the RAO the specified activity of...
This Practice Note concentrates on the range of tax reliefs (income tax relief, national insurance contribution relief and corporate tax relief) available for member and employer payments into registered pension schemes. It further outlines how a member may obtain income tax relief for their own contributions, and explains the tax position of employer contributions paid on termination of the member’s employment. For broader guidance on pension taxation, see Practice Note: Tax treatment of pensions—an introduction. Member contributions to registered pension schemes Section 188 income tax relief A key benefit of registered pension schemes is the availability of income tax relief for members on contributions they, or a third party on their behalf, pay into the scheme. That relief, set out in section 188 of the Finance Act 2004 ( FA 2004), has the following features: conditions......
FORTHCOMING DEVELOPMENT: Section 10 of the Finance Act 2022 will raise the normal minimum pension age ( NMPA) from 55 to 57 on 6 April 2028, with the exception of members of the firefighters, police and armed forces public service pension schemes. The Finance Act 2022 will also permit members of registered pension schemes to access benefits before 57 where, on or before 4 November 2021, they either held an ‘unqualified right’ to take benefits, or were undertaking a substantive transfer to a scheme that, on or before 4 November 2021, provided an unqualified right to a protected pension age below 57. To rely on this new 2028 protection, the scheme’s rules must, as at 11 February 2021, have contained an unqualified right to draw scheme benefits before age 57. For further details, see Practice Note: Increasing the normal minimum pension age ( NMPA) to...
A pension transfer A pension transfer takes place when an individual’s rights under one pension scheme are moved to another. The ceding scheme passes the relevant assets to the receiving scheme, which then assumes responsibility for providing the benefits for the person concerned. Members of all UK registered pension schemes that are personal pension schemes have an overriding statutory entitlement to transfer the cash equivalent of their benefits to another pension arrangement, subject to meeting certain prescribed conditions. Many personal pension schemes also allow transfers out in wider situations than those giving rise to the statutory right, for example: partial transfers transfers of benefits that are in drawdown transfers of particular assets in non-cash form In practice, it is crucial that transfers paid from personal pension schemes constitute a recognised transfer for HMRC purposes and do not inadvertently forfeit any tax-related protections or statuses the member may...
This Practice Note explores the legal and practical considerations that arise when a personal pension scheme is wound up by its provider, the scheme administrator, and any trustee. What does it mean? Care must be taken to distinguish the winding up of a personal pension scheme from an employer’s choice to stop participating in the arrangement which, in the context of employee relations, may be portrayed as the winding up or closure of the employer’s group personal pension plan. Any pension arrangement that is not an occupational pension scheme is a personal pension scheme, and it must, in general, be created by a person with permission under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ( FSMA) to establish a personal pension scheme or stakeholder pension scheme in the UK. Unlike occupational pension schemes, a personal pension scheme does not have to be set up under...
Before 6 April 2006, personal pension schemes had to offer retirement benefits on a money purchase basis to gain HMRC approval. Although that rule no longer applies, its legacy—together with the original, narrow list of authorised providers—has influenced the investment structures and strategies that are typically available in the personal pensions market... Investment strategy Unlike trustees of occupational pension schemes, contract-based pension providers are not obliged to prepare a statement of investment principles ( SIP). Their main public-facing document is the Independent Governance Committee ( IGC) annual report. IGCs must act in the interests of policyholders. While their primary role is to assess value for money, the report goes beyond that: it sets out how the IGC has considered policyholders’ interests more broadly. It must also detail the arrangements the pension provider has established to ensure that policyholders’ views are directly conveyed to the IGC. For...
Prior to the EU General Data Protection Regulation coming into force on 25 May 2018, the Data Protection Act 1998 ( DPA 1998) defined the data protection duties on pension scheme trustees and employers when processing personal data as a data controller (see: Terminology below). For more information on the requirements applying in a pensions context on and from 25 May 2018, see Practice Note: Data protection for pensions lawyers. Terminology Terms commonly used under the DPA 1998 included: Processing: an all‑embracing concept covering obtaining (collecting), recording, holding (storing), using, disclosing or erasing (deleting) data Data subject: an individual who is the subject of the data held. In a pension scheme context, typical data subjects are scheme members, and any beneficiaries or dependants of those members Personal data: data relating to a living individual who can be identified from that data Data controller: the person or...
FORTHCOMING CHANGE: The Finance Bill 2025–26 includes provisions bringing unused pension funds and death benefits within a deceased member’s estate, and thus within the inheritance tax ( IHT) regime, with effect from 6 April 2027. Under these proposals, unspent pension savings and death benefits will fall within IHT from 6 April 2027. The rules will not cover death-in-service payments to active members in relevant employment, nor a dependant’s scheme pension (defined as a DB scheme spouse’s or dependant’s pension). Existing exemptions, including those for spouses and civil partners, will continue in force. Personal representatives will have primary responsibility for settling any IHT. For further detail, see: Practice Note: Inheritance tax and pensions News Analyses: HMRC— Reforming inheritance tax—unused pension funds and death benefits HMRC confirms new IHT rules on unused pension funds to apply from 6 April 2027 HMRC policy paper: Inheritance Tax: unused pension funds and death...
This Practice Note summarises the characteristics of the different forms of allowance protections. Allowance protections exist in several variants. Their initial role was to curb or eliminate exposure to the lifetime allowance ( LTA) charge. With the LTA charge removed on 6 April 2023, and the entire LTA regime abolished from 6 April 2024, the emphasis of protections has shifted to: the higher lump sum allowance, and the higher lump sum and death benefit allowance, that they can confer—for further information, see What does the protection do?, below the prospect of a higher tax-free lump sum—for further details, see Lump sum protections, below HMRC provides a protection look-up facility giving registered pension scheme administrators and practitioners the means to verify whether the allowance protection (or enhancement) a member relies upon is valid for a higher lump sum allowance and/or lump sum and death...
FORTHCOMING CHANGE : On 10 October 2025, the Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP) stated it plans to consult on the £30,000 threshold that obliges pension scheme members to take independent financial advice before moving safeguarded pension benefits into a flexible benefit scheme, amid increasing scrutiny of whether the £30,000 level remains suitable in view of inflation and higher advice fees. For further information, see LNB News 22/10/2025 44. On 6 April 2015, pension freedoms were brought in, enabling members with flexible benefits (namely, money purchase benefits and cash balance benefits) to access their pension pots in additional ways, including through drawdown or by taking one or more lump sums known as uncrystallised funds pension lump sums ( UFPLSs). These pension freedoms do not extend to safeguarded benefits (namely, defined benefits ( DB) and other benefits that are not money purchase or cash...
Broadly speaking, tax applies to UK registered pension schemes in three different areas: the tax treatment of member and employer contributions, including any repayment of member contributions the tax treatment of assets held by the scheme, including the investment returns generated by those assets the tax treatment of benefits paid out by the scheme Where an individual participates in more than one registered scheme, the contributions paid to—and the benefits received from—each arrangement are combined and considered together when establishing that person’s overall tax liability. This Practice Note concerns registered private sector pension schemes. Public sector pension schemes are predominantly governed by separate legislation. Their tax position is broadly similar, though not invariably the same, as that which applies to registered private pension schemes......
ARCHIVED This archived Practice Note outlines how the lifetime allowance regime worked before its abolition on 6 April 2024. It is not maintained. For further details, see Practice Note: Abolition of the lifetime allowance. The core principle of the pensions tax regime is that members of registered pension schemes receive: various tax advantages while building up retirement and life assurance benefits; and certain tax advantages when specific benefits are paid from a registered pension scheme (eg the tax-free pension commencement lump sum) In return, and to avoid tax charges, a registered pension scheme must comply with a range of restrictions relating to the: accrual of benefits payment of contributions; and payment of benefits Until 5 April 2024, a key constraint on the build-up of members’ benefits within the pensions tax regime was the lifetime allowance, which limited the amount of benefits that could be...
FORTHCOMING DEVELOPMENT : Under section 10 of the Finance Act 2022, the normal minimum pension age ( NMPA) is set to rise from 55 to 57 with effect from 6 April 2028, excluding members of the public service schemes for firefighters, police and the armed forces. It also introduces a right for members of registered pension arrangements to access benefits before 57 where, on or before 4 November 2021, they already held an ‘unqualified right’ to do so, or were actively transferring to a scheme that, by that date, offered an unqualified right to a protected pension age below 57. To rely on this 2028 protection, the scheme’s rules must have, as at 11 February 2021, conferred an unqualified right to draw scheme benefits before age 57. For more detail, see Practice Note: Increasing the normal minimum pension age ( NMPA) to...
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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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