The Local Government Association (LGA) has announced that Hampshire County Council failed to meet the needs of an elderly, man suffering with dementia, after leaving him to pay for the costs of his care even though his capital had fallen below the £23,250 threshold. The Ombudsman's investigation found that the council failed to complete a Care Act compliant assessment and failed to review the man’s needs in 2019, and 'either failed to produce or to retain a care and support plan for him and therefore did not identify and meet his eligible need for help to maintain his home.' The council agreed to backdate the man's personal budget to the date in which his finances fell below the required threshold and backdate the amount of additional funding the man needed. The council also agreed to pay the man £200 and his relative £250 for the time and trouble caused in bringing the complaint.

The Zemo Partnership, a non-profit organisation that has been providing policy guidance to the government for the past two decades, has announced the formation of a Council for Net Zero Transport. This will be chaired by Lord Deben in an effort to support the incoming future government with achieving net zero transport. Members of the Council include prominent figures from academia, transport industry and environmental organisations and the aim is to provide strategic oversight to the decarbonisation of the UK’s transport. The Council will work with over 200 organisations to develop a comprehensive roadmap which will be supported by detailed sectoral plans and outlining the optimal pathways to achieve net zero by 2050. There will be quarterly progress reports and a broader summit planned for October 2024.

The Council of the European Union has formally adopted the new regulation on circularity requirements for vehicle design and end-of-life vehicle (ELV) management, marking the final step in the ordinary legislative procedure. The new rules are intended to make the automotive sector more circular and sustainable by requiring vehicles to be designed and produced in ways that support re-use, recycling and recovery. The regulation will apply to passenger cars and light commercial vans, while heavy-duty vehicles, motorcycles and special-purpose vehicles will be subject to a more limited set of requirements, mainly focused on ensuring their proper treatment once they reach end-of-life status. It will apply two years after its entry into force. A feasibility study, to be finalised one year after the regulation enters into force, will help inform future Commission targets for additional materials, including recycled steel, aluminium, magnesium and critical raw materials.

The Council of the European Union has formally approved delaying the implementation of key provisions in the revised Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) regulation for chemicals until 1 January 2028. This 'stop-the-clock' measure, part of the Omnibus VI package, aims to provide businesses particularly SMEs with legal certainty and additional time to adapt to requirements such as relabelling, mandatory formatting, advertising standards and online sales rules. Originally scheduled for mid-2026 and early 2027, these deadlines were considered burdensome for industry, prompting swift action under the Danish Presidency.

The Council of the EU has given final approval to the Detergents and Surfactants Regulation. The legislation is intended to facilitate the sale of detergents and surfactants across the EU while ensuring protection of human health and the environment. It simplifies consumer information and clarifies labelling requirements, updates the framework to cover innovations such as microorganisms used in cleaning products and supports sustainable practices such as refill sales. The regulation introduces digital labelling and a digital product passport, raises safety and environmental standards, strengthens market surveillance, particularly for imported products and improves transparency for authorities, health systems and poison centres. Animal testing in detergent production will be prohibited. Once in force, the rules will apply after a three-and-a-half-year transition period.

The European Council has formally adopted a targeted revision of the EU regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR), postponing its application until 30 December 2026 for all operators, with micro and small operators receiving an extra six-month extension. The revision excludes certain printed products from the regulation's scope and requires the European Commission to complete a simplification review by 30 April 2026. The revised regulation will take effect three days after its publication in the Official Journal.

The Council of the EU has failed to reach an agreement on its negotiating position for the proposed 'Traineeships Directive'. The Directive, aimed at improving working conditions for trainees and preventing disguised employment relationships, will require further discussion under the upcoming Polish presidency. Additionally, the Council has presented a progress report on a recommendation for a reinforced quality framework for traineeships, which advocates for fair pay, adequate social protection, and mentorship for all trainees. These developments underscore the ongoing efforts to enhance trainee rights and working conditions across the EU.

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. Councillors require a great deal of information in order to exercise proper management of the local authority (LA). It is sometimes difficult to know what information held by an individual councillor is theirs to share, what information must be shared with the public, what information must be kept within the confines of the council and what must be kept to the councillor. Councils and access to information Councils are subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000; and also to the specific public access to information regulations that apply to a council and, where it has one, the council’s elected mayor or leader and cabinet in relation to the decisions it makes. These information regulations were most recently changed in September 2012. There are also access to information provisions arising from a council’s audit process. Where information is withheld, it is under a specific set of exemptions provided by law. Most of these grounds for withholding information are subject to a public interest test:

The Council of the EU has announced the removal of checks on persons at internal land borders with and between Bulgaria and Romania, effective 1 January 2025. This decision marks the full integration of these countries into the Schengen Area. The Council had previously adopted a decision on 30 December 2023 to apply the remaining parts of the Schengen acquis and abolish checks at internal air and sea borders from 31 March 2024. This expansion will increase the Schengen Area to 29 countries, encompassing 420 million people in the world's largest free travel zone.

Pensions analysis: This case concerns an appeal against the Pensions Ombudsman’s decision (CAS-92836-R6B0, February 2024) not to uphold a complaint by the appellant in relation to his application for a cohabiting partner’s pension. The appeal was allowed on the basis that the respondent did not appear to have applied the correct test of financial dependency or interdependency. There was also a question as to whether business expenses could be taken into account when determining financial dependency. Written by Max Ballad, legal director at Freeths LLP.

The Council of the EU has adopted the EU Gigabit Infrastructure Act to ensure faster deployment of digital network infrastructure across the EU. The Act will replace Directive 2014/61/EU, the Broadband Cost Reduction Directive (BCRD). The text will be published in the Official Journal of the EU and will come into force three days after its publication. The new law will then apply 18 months after it has come into force with some specific provisions applying at a later stage.

The Council of the EU has adopted a Regulation and a Directive establishing common internal market rules for renewable and natural gases and hydrogen, which reforms the current EU gas legislation. The new rules will ensure the move to renewable and low-carbon gases, especially hydrogen, in the energy system, to achieve the EU’s decarbonisation targets and will stress the importance of integrated and transparent network planning across the EU. The new rules will also ensure that vulnerable customers and customers affected by energy poverty will have better protection and will include a voluntary mechanism to support the hydrogen market for five years. The Regulation and the Directive will now be signed and published in the Official Journal of the EU. The Regulation will apply six months following its publication and Member States will have two years to transpose provisions of the Directive into their national legislation.