The Accelerated Settlement Taskforce report that explores the potential for faster settlement of securities trades in the UK has been published. The government has accepted all the recommendations made to the government and has appointed Andrew Douglas to chair the Technical Group to take forward the next phase of the work.

Where a defined benefit pension scheme’s accrual rate is greater than (usually) one sixtieth of pensionable remuneration for each year of pensionable service.

Many countries offer a regulatory pathway that will expedite the evaluation of certain medicinal products so that they reach patients faster. In the EU, the accelerated assessment procedure reduces the timeframe for the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) to review a marketing authorisation (MA) application from 210 to 150 evaluation days. Applications may be eligible for accelerated assessment if the CHMP decides the product is of major interest for public health and therapeutic innovation. In the UK, the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) offers a 150-day assessment timeline for all high-quality new MA applications in an effort to accelerate the availability of new medicines for patients in the UK. The MHRA evaluates the application for a UK, Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland) or Northern Ireland MA and reaches its opinion on whether to approve the licensing of new medicines within 150 days of submission of a valid application. See also: marketing authorisation (MA).

A way of placing shares with investors in a short space of time once the announcement of the proposed fundraising has been released with little or no marketing. Legally binding commitments to take up shares are received by the broker/investment banks from investors over the telephone once the announcement of the fundraising has been made and the fundraising is usually closed on the same day it was announced.

Accelerated depreciation is the set of HM Revenue & Customs rules that allow businesses to deduct from their taxable income the declining value of business-related investments ie equipment and machinery, faster than the value of those assets actually declines. The most common types of accelerated depreciation are 'sum of the years digits' and 'double declining balance'.

This flowchart sets out the steps to be taken when the accelerated first appointment procedure is available in the Financial Remedies Court, which is a subsidiary structure within the Family Court. To access detailed practical guidance on the steps in the flowchart including relevant overviews, Practice Notes, precedents, procedural guides, client guides, legislation, forms and further reading links, see: Financial provision—practice and procedure—overview or click on the related

This Practice Note considers the accelerated first appointment procedure set out in the Financial remedies guide (March 2026) (the FRG), including when the procedure may be used, steps that must be taken to comply with the procedure, how the application is determined and situations where the procedure cannot be used. It also addresses the drafting of an agreed directions order, use of the online system for financial remedies and providing for a private financial dispute resolution appointment. First appointments in the Financial Remedies Court may be dealt with using an accelerated procedure (not to be confused with the fast-track procedure or the express financial remedy procedure pilot). Parties involved in cases at all judicial levels are ‘encouraged’ to agree directions based on this procedure, which avoids the attendance of parties and legal representatives at the first appointment hearing. This procedure was introduced by the Primary Principles document issued alongside the Statement on the efficient conduct of financial remedy hearings in the Financial Remedies Court below High Court judge level (11 January 2022) but is now contained

The Finance Act 2014 (FA 2014) introduced the concepts of an accelerated payment notice (APN) and a partner payment notice (PPN) to help combat tax avoidance by disincentivising taxpayers from entering into tax avoidance schemes, including by removing the cashflow benefit of entering into them. In direct tax disputes where an APN has not been given, HMRC often agrees to a taxpayer’s application to postpone recovery of the tax in dispute until the matter has been resolved by the First-tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber) (FTT). Where an APN or a PPN is issued, payment of the disputed tax cannot be postponed and, if it has already been postponed, the postponement ceases to have effect. Therefore, APNs or PPNs require taxpayers to pay the tax in dispute before their case (and therefore before the final amount of tax due) has been decided. The tax paid in accordance with an APN or a PPN will be repayable if the taxpayer is ultimately successful in the course of litigation (or HMRC withdraws from the dispute). Since 17 July 2014 HMRC has had the

This Practice Note examines the circumstances in which an award of compensation may be subject to a discount for accelerated receipt, ie where a sum is received before the date on which it would have been received if the individual had remained employed. Claimants who bring successful wrongful dismissal claims, which result in an award of compensation, may receive payment in respect of certain sums either before or after the date on which they would have received those sums had they remained employed. Where a sum is received before the date on which it would have been received if the individual had remained employed, a discount for accelerated receipt may be appropriate, which is discussed below. Where a sum is received after that date, the claimant will be entitled to interest (see Practice Note: Interest in wrongful dismissal claims). Discount for accelerated receipt Accelerated receipt is the counterpart to interest. Interest compensates a party who did not receive money when it was due, because late payment deprived that party of the opportunity to invest

Ireland-Property analysis: This article, written by Aaron Boyle, partner (Energy and Planning), of Arthur Cox LLP, outlines the government’s Critical Infrastructure Bill 2026 (Ireland) and related circulars, including the proposed designation of critical infrastructure projects/programmes, prioritisation duties for public bodies, Ministerial oversight powers and measures aimed at streamlining regulation for infrastructure delivery.

This Practice Note looks at considerations prior to, and when accelerating a loan. It discusses: • what is meant by acceleration • the circumstances in which lenders may accelerate • alternatives to acceleration, and • risks and legal considerations in relation to acceleration What is meant by acceleration? The term ‘acceleration’, in the context of a loan, refers to the declaration (usually by notice) by a lender (or lenders in a syndicated facility), that the loan (and certain other borrower liabilities under the loan) must be repaid early, ie before the agreed repayment date. The lender(s) will typically only be permitted to demand early repayment of a loan under certain circumstances. These will be set out in the loan agreement and are termed ‘events of default’. The acceleration clause is typically located after the list of events of default in a loan agreement and should be reviewed carefully to determine what rights the event of default has given the lender(s). Events of default often give rise to other consequences under facility documentation—eg a drawdown request

Planning analysis: The government has published a Planning Reform Working Paper titled ‘Streamlining Infrastructure Planning’ (the Paper), inviting views on further action to streamline the development of critical infrastructure, in particular Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs), across England. The proposals include: changes to the updating procedures for National Policy Statements (NPSs); speeding up decisions under the Planning Act 2008 (PA 2008) procedure, by amending the consultation and post-consent stages, introducing greater flexibility into the regime and strengthening statutory guidance; and related improvements to transport specific consenting regimes.