On 12 August 2020 a tragedy occurred on Scotland’s railways. A passenger train, already turned around due to blockages on the line, derailed. Three people tragically lost their lives. After months of investigation the Rail Accident Investigation Board (“RAIB”) has released its formal report into the incident. The report details a number of failings, which led to the tragedy ...
Parents of children with special educational needs who are moving to further education should consider all options and make sure their local authority sticks to its deadlines, says Shoosmiths’ Guv Samra. The advice from the education law specialist comes as an important deadline looms for young people with Education, Health and Care plans (EHCPs)who are transitioning to post 16/19 placements ...
On 14 March 2022 in Philipp v Barclays Bank UK Plc [2022] EWCA Civ 318 the Court of Appeal gave further guidance on the extent of the Quincecare duty owed by banks to their customers. What is a Quincecare duty? It is well established that banks have a duty to use reasonable skill and care in carrying out customers’ orders which includes not complying with instructions if they have reasonable grounds for believing the order was an attempt to misappropriate funds ...
What we know about the cybersecurity risks arising from the Ukraine, steps UK organisations should consider taking now, the insurance position and novel issues that might arise from Ukraine-linked cyber attacks. What has been happening? A few weeks into the war in Ukraine the cybersecurity implications for companies in the UK remain unclear, but some trends are emerging: Initial state sponsored activity seems purely to be targeted by Russian groups at Ukraine and vice versa ...
In association with Macmillan Davies and led by Employment Partner, Emma Morgan and Associate, Lauren Bholé, this webinar focused on the “right to disconnect”. From February 2022, Civil servants in Belgium now have a legal right to disconnect so that they can no longer be contacted by their employer outside of working hours ...
We take a look at the options open for Ukrainian nationals fleeing to come to the UK and what you can do to help. The requirements for each are summarised below: 1. Ukraine Family Scheme This allows the family members of British citizens, people who are settled in the UK, people who hold pre-settled status in the UK under Appendix EU or people with refugee status or humanitarian protection to join their family members in the UK ...
Undertaking post-employment notice pay (“PENP”) calculations when an employee leaves a business can be complex and easy to get wrong. We discuss some of the issues facing employers when carrying out these calculations. Background PENP is relevant to determining the correct tax treatment of termination payments ...
As the world becomes ever more focussed on environmental and climate change issues, so businesses are increasingly concentrating on whether their people are working in ways that best achieve the green credentials many organisations now aspire to. Employment practices and policies can be adjusted or altered in ways that will help organisations positively contribute towards lessening their environmental impact ...
Over 100,000 charitable bequests are made each year. However, every year, over £1 million is left to misnamed charities. This note explains the eight ways that personal representatives can work out who should receive an ambiguous charitable gift. The problem It is not unusual for a testator to misdescribe a charity in their will. The most common mistake is to try to leave money to ‘cancer research’ ...
Following a landmark judgment issued this week, every local council in England must now keep to fixed legal time limits when reviewing the needs of children and young people with special educational needs. The annual review process involving Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans will now be subject to strict timelines following R (L,M, and P, v Devon County Council [2022] EWHC 493 (Admin). EHC plans, which must be reviewed annually, will now have to be reviewed within 12 weeks ...
This week, the Ministry of Justice announced details about a new forward-thinking approach in private law children cases. The pilot scheme is intended to improve the way local authorities, the police and the family court share information to improve the support provided to victims of domestic abuse. The scheme The new approach is being piloted by family courts in Wales and Dorset, in cases dealing with child arrangement, specific issues and prohibited steps orders ...
We consider the first post Lloyd v Google decision considering loss of control damages under the GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 and its implications for the future of data and privacy litigation. It suddenly became much more difficult to bring collective privacy claims in England in November last year when Google succeeded in the Lloyd v Google litigation before the UK Supreme Court ...
The insurance industry typically has a significant role to play in public inquiries, and in this article we consider this from the perspective of insurance companies and policyholders. The Rt Hon Baroness Heather Hallett DBE has been appointed Chair of the upcoming UK COVID-19 Inquiry (“the Inquiry”) and we currently await publication of the Terms of Reference, which will determine the scope of the investigation ...
The Charity Commission enjoys a range of protective powers under the Charities Act 2011. This note looks at the conditions that must be met before the Commission may exercise those powers, with a specific focus on the powers contained in s76 of the Act ...
On 24 February, following the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine a wave of sanctions have been initiated by the US, EU and UK, Japan, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand. As the conflict continues, the level of sanctions applied are likely to increase. The sanctions imposed by the UK include amendments to Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (the “2019 Regulations”) which were enacted in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 ...
Last week the government issued the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill. The bill looks set to become law later this month and it will have a significant impact on the process of overseas entities acquiring or disposing of land in the UK ...
The enforceability of restrictive covenants is critical to protecting organisations’ legitimate business interests. A recent summary judgment application sheds light on the approach to be taken where covenants are contained in a shareholders’ agreement ...
A summary of the visa concessions open to Ukrainian nationals and their family members. The UK’s initial response to help Ukrainian citizens affected by the Russian military invasion was somewhat underwhelming, limiting the aid offered to immediate family members of British citizens and offering concessions for Ukrainian citizens already in the UK. Now the Home Secretary has announced a second phase of support measures available to those fleeing the conflict ...
Creating a family using surrogacy is a popular option for male same-sex couples. Surrogacy is when a woman carries and gives birth to a baby for a couple, or another person. Altruistic surrogacy is available in the UK and preliminary considerations are likely to include, which of the couple will be biologically linked to the child and what type of surrogacy will be used ...
Investors were awarded compensation under a bilateral investment treaty, but under EU law, payment of the award constitutes unlawful State aid. This Catch-22 situation is at the heart of a long-running case across jurisdictions. In the latest development, the European Commission has decided to refer the United Kingdom to the European Court of Justice in relation to a judgement of the UK’s Supreme Court to lift the stay of enforcement of an ICSID arbitration award against Romania ...
Holiday pay cases continue to make their way through the court system. One of the most significant of these, brought by Mr Smith against Pimlico Plumbers, has hit the press again, leaving employers with yet more uncertainty. Background Workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks' paid holiday per year under the Working Time Regulations 1998 (the “WTR”), made up of 4 weeks’ leave derived from the Working Time Directive (Euro-Leave) and an additional 1 ...
This article examines whether the UK competition authority's decision means a change in the analysis of mergers in the digital economy. On 30 November 2021 the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) concluded in its Report that its concerns can only be addressed by Facebook selling GIPHY in its entirety to an approved buyer ...
The competition review of local market mergers is often complex. This series of three articles breaks down that complexity into ten key questions ...
The Court of Appeal has considered the question of whether it is fair and appropriate for a Court of Protection Judge to visit the person who lacks mental capacity and about whom the Judge is being asked to make a best interest decision. Mr Justice Mostyn, sitting in the Family Court, has recently provided further guidance about determining whether a party to litigation has mental capacity to litigate ...
German fuel distributor Mabanaft and its related company Oiltanking Deutschland recently suffered a substantial cyber-attack causing significant disruption to their business operations. In response they declared force majeure on a number of their contracts ...
