The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 has received royal assent and become law, providing Companies House with enchanced powers to improve the quality and reliability of its data.

The Sanctions (EU Exit) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2026, SI 2026/443 have come into force, introducing a series of amendments across the UK financial sanctions framework. These include changes to relevant firms reporting so that, across all UK sanctions regulations, monetary thresholds for high value dealers and art market participants are now expressed in pounds sterling rather than euros, with the €10,000 threshold replaced by £10,000. This aligns sanctions reporting obligations with forthcoming amendments to the UK money laundering regulations and removes the need for reporting in different currencies.

The British Embassy Algiers has announced that from 26 April 2023, all applications made in Algeria for a UK visa must be paid for online. This will change the current process, where applicants can choose to pay via cash at the Visa Application Centre or to use the official UK government website to pay for their visa application. The British Embassy has said that this change will allow streamlining of the application process.

This practical guidance relates to the pre-Procurement Act 2023 regime This Practice Note contains guidance relevant to public procurement exercises commenced before the Procurement Act 2023 (PA 2023) came into force on 24 February 2025. In-scope procurements begun on or after this date are governed by PA 2023. Under the transitional and savings provisions for PA 2023, the previous public procurement regimes continue to apply to the extent necessary to allow contracting authorities to complete and manage procurements commenced before PA 2023 came into force (ie ongoing procurements). This Practice Note should be read in that context. For background reading, see Practice Note: Introduction to the Procurement Act 2023—PA 2023. Further practical guidance on PA 2023 is set out in a separate subtopic, see: Procurement Act 2023—overview. Implications of changes during the public procurement procedure This Practice Note provides guidance on the circumstances when a contracting authority can vary its award criteria during a procurement procedure, primarily with reference to procurement procedures run under the Public Contracts Regulations

On 9 July 2026, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) made the Biodiversity Gain (Town and Country Planning) (Amendments and Transitional Provisions) (England) Regulations 2026, SI 2026/790, which were laid before Parliament on 13 July 2026 and come into force on 6 August 2026. The Regulations revise the biodiversity gain hierarchy for non-major development, introduce new exemptions from the biodiversity gain planning condition, remove the exemption for certain self-build and custom build development, and make transitional provision.

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note is archived and is not maintained. This Practice Note explains the changes introduced by the: • Early Years Foundation Stage (Miscellaneous Amendments) and Childcare Fees (Amendment) Regulations 2021, SI 2021/432 (in force from 1 September 2021) to the: • Early Years Foundation Stage (Learning and Development Requirements) Order 2007, SI 2007/1772 • Early Years Foundation Stage (Welfare Requirements) Regulations 2012, SI 2012/938 The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards that all early years providers must meet to ensure that children aged 0–5 learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe. As part of the national response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, local authorities are undertaking a wide range of essential and additional functions, while also contributing to local resilience planning and continued delivery of local services. This legislation has been introduced to support early years providers during the present outbreak of coronavirus in England, by ensuring sufficient flexibility in supporting the ability to easily

Dispute Resolution analysis: The Civil Proceedings Fees (Amendment) Order 2016 has been laid before Parliament and will come into force on 6 March 2017. It contains forthcoming changes to the Civil Proceedings Fees Order 2008, which sets out the court fees payable in civil claims. The changes relate to the timescales for payment of trial fees when a claim is listed for trial, and also remove the ability to claim a refund of the trial fee if the matter settles or is discontinued after the fee has been paid. There is no change to the amount of the fee.

From 15 July 2026, legal aid providers will be given delegated authority to grant legal representation for private law children applications proceeding under the child focused model (previously known as the Pathfinder Courts pilot scheme). This will only apply where legal representation has already been granted up to ‘family help (higher)’.

Ireland-Banking and Financial Services analysis: This article was written by Ciaran Flynn and Daibhi O’Leary of Arthur Cox LLP.

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. This Practice Note provides information on the changes to the service gateways for permission to serve out of the jurisdiction (CPR PD 6B, para 3.1) which came into force on 1 October 2015 (as set out in the 81st Update PD Making Document). Practitioners dealing with service out of the jurisdiction will be well aware of the need to comply with the requirement that the claim falls within one of the service gateways set out in CPR PD 6B, para 3.1 when the court's permission is required to serve out. For guidance on all the service gateways, see Practice Note: Cross-border service—jurisdictional gateways (principles). Difficulties had been encountered with some of the service gateways while in other cases there is no gateway to deal with the type of claim being brought. To address this, the Mance Committee, or the Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Private International Law to give it, its official title, made

Ireland—Employment analysis: This article, was written by Niamh Fennelly, Of counsel at Arthur Cox LLP.

Life sciences analysis: Ian Jones, partner of Gill Jennings & Every LLP, discusses the changes to marketing authorisations (MAs) and Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) in the UK, following the release of the UK Intellectual Property Office’s (UKIPO) statutory guidance on changes to SPCs for medicines due to come into force on 1 January 2025.