The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has prosecuted Natalia Kossakowska, a former company director of Daisy Home Care Ltd in Balby, Doncaster, for providing false documents to a service user’s family and the local authority, purporting that the company was registered with the CQC when it was not. Kossakowska pleaded guilty at Barnsley Magistrates’ Court to an offence under section 36 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008. She was ordered to pay a total of £4,102.36, comprising an £833 fine, a £333 victim surcharge and £2,936.36 in costs.

Law360: Southwark Crown Court sentenced two former directors of an ethical investment scheme on 15 June 2022 to 11 years each for defrauding investors out of nearly £37m through the promotion of the Brazilian forestry scheme.

FORMER LANDLORD'S NOTICE APPLYING FOR RELEASE FROM LANDLORD COVENANTS OF A TENANCY (Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995, section 7 and 8) To: [insert name and address of former tenant] IMPORTANT—THIS NOTICE IS INTENDED TO RELEASE THE FORMER LANDLORD OF THE PROPERTY FROM HIS OBLIGATIONS UNDER YOUR TENANCY. IF YOU CONSIDER THAT THERE IS GOOD REASON FOR THE FORMER LANDLORD NOT TO BE RELEASED, YOU MUST ACT QUICKLY. READ THE NOTICE AND ALL THE NOTES OVERLEAF CAREFULLY. IF YOU ARE IN ANY DOUBT ABOUT THE ACTION YOU SHOULD TAKE, SEEK ADVICE IMMEDIATELY, FOR INSTANCE FROM A SOLICITOR OR CITIZENS ADVICE BUREAU.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has reported that a former human rights lawyer, Phil Shiner, has been sentenced to two years imprisonment, suspended for two years, after pleading guilty to three counts of fraud at Southwark Crown Court. Shiner defrauded the Legal Services Commission by failing to disclose breaches of his legal aid contract and professional code when applying for funding. He fraudulently obtained nearly £200,000 for two claims, while his firm received approximately £3m in total legal aid funding. The CPS will now pursue confiscation proceedings to recover the proceeds of Shiner's fraud. This case highlights the CPS's commitment to prosecuting fraud against public sector bodies.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has reported that a former West Yorkshire Police employee, Andrew Roberts, has been imprisoned for four years for seven counts of fraud by abusing his position and stealing property from the Huddersfield police station’s evidence locker. This included money seized from arrested people, but also money taken from an elderly lady for safekeeping. According to the CPS, Roberts abused his position and ignored his duty to ensure that all property received at the police station was recorded, kept safe and properly accounted for, to steal £100,000 in cash from the evidence store over a five-year period. On 13 January 2023 the CPS secured a Confiscation Order for £59,816.28 against Roberts, after the Judge determined that his total criminal benefit was £166,824.16 and that he had £59,816.28 available assets to pay his order.

In Urenco UK Ltd v Urenco UK Pension Trustee Co Ltd, the High Court held that a scheme was not allowed to take cost-saving measures because of protections for former public sector workers resulting from a transfer under the Energy Act 2004 which meant they could receive no less favourable treatment than their previous arrangements, including with regard to pension schemes.

Law360, London: A former solicitor jailed for defrauding clients out of millions of pounds was ordered to repay his victims just £3,300 (US$3,800) on 15 January 2024 following a £1.7m fraud that prompted the legal services watchdog to shut down his practice.

The Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 (LT(C)A 1995) controls the liability of former tenants and their guarantors for rent and service charge after assignment of a lease. This Practice Note covers: • when arrears can be recovered from a former tenant or their guarantor • the notice procedure landlords must comply with in order to recover arrears from a former tenant or their guarantor (a ‘s 17 notice’) • the right to (and the terms of) an overriding lease, and the application process, and • key issues for landlords to consider before serving a s 17 notice Landlords must promptly serve notice in relation to any ‘fixed charge’ that has become due, or they lose their right to recover it. Former tenants and their guarantors are given the right to request an overriding lease following payment. LT(C)A 1995, s 17 was enacted to address a significant problem experienced by former tenants and guarantors in the recession of the early 1990s. Under the old privity of contract rules, the original tenant and any former

Law360, London: Radical reforms dispensing with jury trials for complex fraud and many other criminal cases may be the only way to stop the justice system from collapsing under its own weight, former chief prosecutors have told Law360.

A former tracing agent, Michael Isaacs, has been fined for illegally obtaining personal information, after pleading guilty to six counts of unlawfully obtaining personal data contrary to Section 55 of the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018). The investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has revealed that Mr Isaacs impersonated people who owed money to his former client, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), in order to access personal information, such as bank account details. The 80-year-old, who appeared at Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court on 15 June 2023, has been ordered to pay back £38,000 under a Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) confiscation order, and has been fined an additional £10,560, with court costs totalling £15,000.

It is common for cohabiting couples on separation to enter into an agreement to govern the terms of that separation, particularly regarding jointly owned property. Parties may enter into a settlement agreement which, depending on its terms, may amount to a contract and be enforceable as such if the necessary requirements of intention to create legal relations, offer, acceptance and consideration are present. Alternatively the parties may formalise the agreement by way of a deed, meaning that consideration is not required. The terms of the settlement agreement may govern the respective interests of the parties in the

For the purposes of inheritance tax, an individual: • who was born in the UK • with a UK domicile of origin • who is resident in the UK for the relevant tax year, and • who was resident in the UK for at least one of the two immediately preceding tax years For the purposes of income tax and capital gains tax.