Legal Practice Notes

This Practice Note sets out the procedural steps for applications for entry clearance or for leave to remain by a child whose parent is applying for, or has already been granted, limited leave as a partner under Part 8 or Appendix FM. See Practice Note: Children applying for indefinite leave under Part 8 and Appendix FM: procedure for details of the procedural requirements for children seeking indefinite leave to enter or remain under Part 8 and Appendix FM. GOV. UK information pages on applications in this category The GOV. UK pages for this immigration route aim to offer a clear summary of the essential points on eligibility, process and fees. Nonetheless, these pages should be approached with care, as in some sections the eligibility requirements are omitted or set out in a manner that could be potentially misleading to...

Practice Note This Practice Note outlines the steps for applying under section 91(14) of the Children Act 1989 ( Ch A 1989) for an order that bars any application of a defined type concerning the child from being issued by any person identified in the order unless the court first grants leave (permission) (a s 91(14) order). It also describes, in outline, the procedure to be followed by a person named in a s 91(14) order who seeks the court’s leave to pursue a specified application, and it explains the test the court should apply to any request for leave. On determining any application for an order under Ch A 1989, the court may direct that no application under that Act of any specified kind shall be made in relation to the child by any person named in the order without the court’s leave. This power is...

Child sexual offences are chiefly set out in sections 5–8 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 ( SOA 2003). They include: sexual assault on a child under 13 ( SOA 2003, s 7) assault by penetration of a child under 13 ( SOA 2003, s 6) rape of a child under 13 ( SOA 2003, s 5) causing or encouraging a child under 13 to take part in sexual activity ( SOA 2003, s 8) These are examined in more depth below. The 'old' law and the 'new' law Earlier law is split into three eras, determined by the date of the alleged conduct: 1 January 1957 to 21 December 1976 are governed by section 1 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956 ( SOA 1956). Consolidated statutes, amended by the Sexual Offences Act 1967, in relation to homosexual acts 22...

Practice Note This Practice Note addresses the circumstances in which a claim for child support is made and paternity or parentage is contested. It sets out when the Child Maintenance Service ( CMS) may proceed on an assumption of parentage, the steps to follow where paternity or parentage is denied, and the resulting effect on liability. Section 26 of the Child Support Act 1991 ( CSA 1991) states that, where a person alleged to be a parent of a child for whom a maintenance calculation has been made denies being one of that child’s parents, the CMS must not make a maintenance calculation on the basis that the alleged parent is a parent, unless the matter falls within one of the categories listed in CSA 1991, s 26(2), see: Assumption of parentage. The CSA 1991 also contains provisions dealing with a denial of...

Stop Press: On 31 March 2026, Sir Andrew Mc Farlane, President of the Family Division, published consolidated guidance on allocation and gatekeeping in children proceedings before the Family Court, to take effect on 5 May 2026. This supplants the 2014 public and private law guidance, creating a single scheme for allocation across all children cases. It codifies the function of gatekeeping teams, maps allocation choices to contemporary procedural routes (including Child Focused Courts), and reaffirms the fundamentals of judicial continuity, proportionality, and the efficient deployment of judicial resources; see News Analysis: Consolidated allocation and gatekeeping guidance for children proceedings issued. This Practice Note is being revised to incorporate the President’s guidance. It sets out how to seek an order under section 8 of the Children Act 1989 ( Ch A 1989)—namely a child arrangements order ( CAO), a specific issue order, or a...

Child arrangements orders—regulating living arrangements From 22 April 2014, when section 12 of the Children and Families Act 2014 ( CFA 2014) took effect, the labels ‘residence order’ and ‘contact order’ fell out of use in private law children proceedings. In their place, a single mechanism—the child arrangements order ( CAO)—was introduced. A CAO determines: the person or people with whom a child is to live, spend time or otherwise have contact the occasions on which a child is to live, spend time or otherwise have contact with any person Questions arising from the exercise of parental responsibility that are not about where a child lives or with whom they spend time can be resolved through specific issue orders or prohibited steps orders. See Practice Notes: Specific issue orders and Prohibited steps orders. Where a CAO specifies with whom a child should spend time or have...

This Practice Note sets out immediate measures available in child abduction matters, including location orders, passport orders, port alerts, collection orders, and directions for enforcement by the court Tipstaff. Measures covered include location orders, passport orders, port alerts, collection orders, and orders requiring action by the court Tipstaff. It also summarises the procedural obligations under the Family Procedure Rules 2010, PD 12E ( FPR 2010), and the President of the Family Division’s guidance issued in March 2018 and revised in March 2023. Together, these materials explain the emergency steps and procedural requirements to be followed. For further practical guidance on practice and procedure in child abduction cases, see: Practice Notes Child abduction—overview and commencing proceedings (1980 Hague Convention) Child abduction—procedure and evidence ( Hague Convention) Child abduction—orders to find and recover a child within the UK In some cases,...

A CRO is brought into a debtor business to steer financial or operational restructuring, often where financial distress is present or (anticipated). This Practice Note examines the function of a chief restructuring officer ( CRO) inside a distressed company, covering why they are engaged, what they are engaged to do, the expertise and qualifications they bring, and the boundaries of their responsibilities and liabilities. Appointment At the outset of distress, the lending group or creditors’ committee may require that an independent chief restructuring officer ( CRO) be appointed within the debtor company as a condition to ongoing restructuring talks or support. Appointing a CRO reassures them that information will be accessible and accurate, that changes will be implemented, shows the company is treating issue seriously, and should ease later discussions......

Chemical sites in the UK Across the UK there are many active and former chemical facilities. Most sit within industrial zones, yet that does not remove environmental sensitivity; in the North East, for instance, rivers such as the Tyne are adjacent to mudflats designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest ( SSSI). Numerous older plants have since been redeveloped, and those closer to the centre of towns and cities may have been converted to residential end use. Potential environmental liabilities associated with chemical works Operational chemical sites can present environmental risk arising from bulk liquid storage, processing areas and waste streams—especially via the drainage network. Fires at such facilities can also inflict major harm; a notable example is the 2011 Chemie Pack blaze in Rotterdam. Case study— Chemie Pack, Rotterdam 5 January 2011—a catastrophic fire broke out at the Chemie- Pack facility on a large...

Dated May 2022, this guidance was issued by the Chartered Governance Institute (previously known as ICSA: The Governance Institute) ( CGI) to...

Issued in May 2022, this guidance was formally published by The Chartered Governance Institute (formerly ICSA: The Governance Institute) ( CGI) to...

Charity trustees Under the Charities Act 2011 ( CA 2011), ‘charity trustees’ are the individuals who hold the general authority to direct and manage the administration of a charity. In support of management best practice, the Charity Commission has set out six principles to guide trustees in running a charity. These principles indicate that an effective board will deliver good governance and leadership by: understanding their responsibilities ensuring the organisation’s purpose is delivered working effectively as individuals and as a team exercising effective oversight and control acting with integrity being open and accountable The reference to a ‘board’ suggests that something more than amateur, ad hoc trustees is generally expected in the management of a charity......

Charity trustees exercise authority sourced from several places: the express terms of the charity’s governing document, the Charities Act 2011 ( CA 2011) and other legislation, and from common law and statutory principles arising from the charity’s nature as a legal person and as an entity in its own right. All such powers must be used only to advance the charity’s objects and to preserve its assets; where trustees apply a power for some other end, or act in a way that is not in the charity’s best interests, the decision may, if intentional, be a ‘fraud on a power’, or otherwise a negligent (or inadvertent) breach of trust for which the trustees could be held personally liable. Powers and the charity format The character of the charity itself may determine, in part, the range of powers open to the trustees, and therefore be relevant to what they can...

Investments and general assets A charity is perfectly entitled to appoint a manager to oversee its investments and general assets if it wishes. For Common Investment and Common deposit funds, day-to-day investment tactics are in any case handled by fund managers who manage implementation and monitoring. Numerous charities simply lack the in-house people or expertise to run their investments, so they employ investment managers to assist, often on an 'execution only' and 'advisory' basis. In practice, advisers, using their own discretion, will buy and sell investments for the charity and give broad guidance on the strategy to adopt, in broadly the same manner as fund managers act on behalf of individuals. As another option, the charity might retain an adviser on a 'discretionary' basis. That approach allows the charity to establish its investment policy while leaving the day to day purchasing and selling to its...

Many charities seek to invest in ways that accord with their purposes, and public expectations have often driven a requirement for an ethical footing to investments. Although trustees can frequently do so in principle, this may pose serious challenges under trust and charity law where such choices do not deliver the strongest available return. This note outlines: a short overview of ethical investment; the former position on charity trustees adopting an ethical investment policy (still a key consideration); and the updated position following the Butler- Sloss case. What is an ethical investment? The key question is what counts as an ‘ethical’ investment? Earlier guidance from the Charity Commission provided a broad and useful description: ethical investment is a wide term that encompasses many different approaches to investment strategy. An ethical policy may involve seeking companies that exemplify best practice in areas such as...

Plenty of charities would say none of what they do amounts to trading, as their work seems unlike standard commercial activity. Yet a good number of those undertakings may, in fact, constitute trading, and failing to review them periodically could trigger an unwelcome tax liability. Regular reviews are therefore essential. HMRC will not be the only body paying attention to such matters. The Charity Commission will assess such operations against a charity’s core purpose of raising funds to be applied to charitable ends, and will scrutinise closely whether there has been a breach of trust or an ultra vires act. The Commission’s position is that, although charities may trade with relative freedom when directly furthering their charitable aims, there are limits on trades whose aim is to generate income for the charity. Specifically, charities should not enter into...

There may come a point in a charity’s life when every realistic avenue to avoid a surplus on fundraising has been exhausted. Plainly a surplus is not unwelcome, yet the accompanying tax exposure is far from ideal. Nonetheless, there are methods by which the impact can be eased, if not removed entirely. The usual approach is to create a trading subsidiary wholly owned by the charity. In broad terms the subsidiary is chargeable to corporation tax on its profits, but by passing those profits to its parent charity that liability can be neutralised. The effect is that no tax is paid by the company and the charity receives income not within the trading regime, and so falls outside those rules. Consequently, the proceeds of trade are received exempt from tax. To achieve this in practice, the income must be transferred using permitted...

Devolution of tax powers in Scotland Across the United Kingdom, the bulk of charity tax reliefs arise from Acts of Parliament and related regulations framed and enacted at the Westminster Parliament. A number of taxes, however, are the subject of devolved competence within Scotland. In Scotland, those powers sit with the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood in Edinburgh. Beyond specific devolution, His Majesty may, by Order in Council, devolve further taxes he considers expedient, and make any other necessary or expedient modifications to taxes already devolved ( Scotland Act 1998, s 80B). This note sets out below which aspects of Scottish taxation are devolved and the particular charity tax relief provisions that attach to them, for ease of reference. For taxes that remain reserved within the UK, see the Practice Note Tax treatment of a charity. Such reserved matters are applied on a consistent basis for charity reliefs across the...

Established under the Charities Act 1993 ( CA 1993), the current register endures and is unaffected by the Charities Act 2011 ( CA 2011). The Charity Commission carries the ongoing duty to preserve and administer that register and to keep it up to date. The register is retained to provide: a lasting, central and official record of assets dedicated to charitable purposes comprehensive details on charities, whether universally accessible or limited to particular needs and areas a clear, authoritative method for deciding if an organisation is charitable in law; what appears on the register as charitable is deemed charitable for all purposes, save only for correction by the Charities Tribunal or the High Court The obligation to register By law and under statute, any charity located in England and Wales must register; where registration is required, the trustees must: formally submit an...

The Charity Commission for England and Wales The Charity Commission for England and Wales (the Commission) was formally set up following the Charities Act 1960 ( Ch A 1960). Its remit and authority were subsequently strengthened by the Charities Act 1993 and the Charities Act 2006. The Charities Act 2011 ( CA 2011) took effect on 14 March 2012; it replaces most of the Charities Acts 1992, 1993 and 2006, and the whole of the Recreational Charities Act 1958. The Commission operates from four offices in London, Liverpool, Taunton and Newport. For all charities, the initial point of contact is Charity Commission Direct (based at the Liverpool office); each charity is then thereafter routed to the office with the appropriate and relevant expertise for its particular needs accordingly......