The Insolvency Service has published the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (CIGA 2020) interim report which summarises the reasons for the introduction of CIGA 2020, and considers the results of 'Stage One' which considered the data arising from a series of semi-structured interviews of various stakeholders. The Insolvency Service noted that 'Stage Two' will continue with some further interviews and involve an online survey of the insolvency practitioner profession. CIGA 2020 was introduced during the 2020 'lockdown' of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and contained two new and permanent, business rescue procedures forming the biggest change to corporate insolvency framework in nearly twenty years.

For information: • on the revised Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), see Practice Note: Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (extended version 1 July to 31 October 2020) [Archived] • on holiday and holiday pay during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, see Practice Note: Coronavirus (COVID-19)—holiday and holiday pay [Archived] • on holiday and holiday issues generally, see Practice Notes: Holiday and Holiday pay It is clear that: • employees can take holiday while on furlough • the legal framework for calculating holiday pay applies to furloughed workers exactly as it applies to those not on furlough See the section of Practice Note: Coronavirus (COVID-19)—holiday and holiday pay [Archived] entitled: Furloughed workers, under the heading ‘Holiday pay’. The BEIS guidance Holiday entitlement and pay during coronavirus (COVID-19) has not been updated since it was first published in May 2020, and does not deal specifically with flexible furlough under the revised

This Practice Note focuses on the key legal considerations when a rights issue is being carried out by a company either: • admitted to listing on the official list of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) (Official List) and to trading on the main market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange (LSE) (Main Market) (listed company), or • admitted to trading on AIM, a market operated by the LSE (AIM company) (both a listed company and an AIM company being a company). For a description of the procedure for a rights issue, see Practice Note: Rights issue—procedure for a listed company. What is a rights issue? A rights issue involves a company: • making an offer of securities to its existing shareholders • in proportion to their holdings in the company • by means of the issue of a renounceable letter (or other negotiable document) (provisional allotment letter or PAL) The offer price will be payable in cash and is usually at a

One of the temporary changes introduced by the government in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is that those who are required to self-isolate are potentially deemed incapable of working and therefore entitled to statutory sick pay (SSP). However, the answer to the question whether a worker is entitled to receive SSP if they self-isolate in response to an alert from the NHS COVID-19 app remains unclear, as explained below. According to the Public Health England (PHE): guidance for contacts of people with confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) infection who do not live with the person, contacts who need to self-isolate will usually be notified and advised to do so by the NHS Test and Trace, including

The use of video-conferencing technology has become essential for lawyers since the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. If your client wishes you to attend rather than provide advice over the telephone when required, you will be better prepared if you have taken the advance steps set out in this Q&A. You should encourage existing clients to download video-conferencing facilities onto their smartphones now, before any issues arise. They should try and keep their phone battery well-charged, particularly overnight. Clients may need your advice urgently and you may need to see documents quickly in order to provide that advice. Offer your clients a ‘test call’ using this video-conferencing technology to ensure that, if they ever need to use it, they are familiar with the procedure for getting in contact with you. If you are required to advise a client during a search, the best advice is to use this technology to be ‘present’

Insurance & Reinsurance analysis: the High Court considered one of many topical insurance issues left unresolved by the recent Supreme Court ‘test case’ on business interruption insurance (The Financial Conduct Authority v Arch Insurance (UK) Ltd & Others [2021] UKSC 1), namely whether there was cover for losses arising from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic under a policy with a ‘closed list’ disease clause. The policy in question provided cover against the outbreak of a range of infectious diseases, including ‘Plague’ but not COVID-19. The policyholder argued that the word ‘Plague’ should be read as a general term for an infectious disease with a high mortality rate, epidemic or pandemic, such that loss caused by COVID-19 would be covered. The court rejected this interpretation and held that the word ‘Plague’ was intended to refer to the specific disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. The clause therefore did not cover loss caused by COVID-19 and the policyholder’s claim was struck out. Written by Martyn Naylor, barrister at 4 Pump Court Chambers. Martyn was instructed as junior counsel in the Supreme Court ‘test case’ and recently obtained summary judgment for an insurer in a ‘closed list’ disease clause case similar to the present.

An introduction to the legislation Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 Expedited by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (CIGA 2020) was introduced to the House of Commons on 20 May 2020 and received royal assent on 25 June 2020. The aim of CIGA 2020 is to promote a rescue culture to ensure companies in financial difficulties have greater opportunities to restructure and avoid formal (more often than not, terminal) insolvency processes during the coronavirus crisis and beyond. It is therefore a comparatively debtor friendly piece of legislation. It legislated for temporary measures announced by the government as part of its coronavirus response but, more significantly, it introduced permanent new tools into the UK corporate insolvency and restructuring framework. In this Practice Note, we provide summary information on the changes to insolvency and restructuring law set out in CIGA 2020 with a view to drawing out key issues and discussion points

Macfarlanes and Burness Paull advised Dobbies Garden Centres, the UK’s largest operator of garden centres, on its restructuring plan (RP) under Part 26A of the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006), which was approved by Lord Braid in the Court of Session in Scotland on 9 December 2024. A RP is a procedure pursuant to which a company in financial difficulty can make a compromise or arrangement with its creditors to eliminate, reduce, prevent, or mitigate the effect of its financial difficulties. Such compromises and arrangements can take a variety of forms, including amendments and extensions of debt, debt for equity swaps and amendments to the terms of, and compromise of rent payable under, leases and other property-related liabilities. The RP process was introduced during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020 to provide a new restructuring tool in the UK. While there is a great deal of similarity between the regime for RPs and

AI in business In 2023, the world changed again. Much like coronavirus (COVID-19), the use of generative AI tools (GenAI) spread like a pandemic. Eager to achieve the efficiencies promised, people and organisations embraced these exciting new tools. With the mass adoption of such general-purpose technology, there is a danger people and businesses are being carried along with the wave without fully appreciating how GenAI works and what problems arise as a result. Instead, they rely on the tool to do the ‘thinking’ for them. GenAI tools do not ‘think’ in the traditional sense. The underpinning program of the tool ‘simply’ accesses the vast amount of data which it has been ‘fed’, identifies appropriate patterns within that data to produce a response which is statistically most relevant to the question asked. The main issue with using GenAI tools is not knowing where the data being accessed has come from. The subsidiary issue is: have

The Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No 5) (Wales) Regulations 2020, SI 2020/1609 came into force on 18 December 2020 in exercise of the powers conferred by the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984, and expire at the end of the day on 26 November 2021. The purpose of the Regulations are to set out various provisions and restrictions arising out of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No 5) (Wales) Regulations 2020, SI 2020/1609, Pt 3 (SI 2020/1609, reg 5) sets out the requirement for a person to isolate where a person tests positive for coronavirus or has close contact with such a person. ‘Close contact’ is defined by SI 2020/1609, reg 5(1) as meaning contact that a contact tracer considers may lead to a risk of infection or contamination with coronavirus,

In recent months, the global demand for construction products has exceeded supply, causing a shortage of materials that has put pressure on the UK construction sector. The materials affected include timber, steel, cement, paints, and electrical components. Several factors have contributed to this imbalance of supply and demand, including the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and the effects of Brexit. Under most forms of construction contract (including those in the Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT) and NEC suites), the Contractor is responsible for providing the goods and materials needed to complete the works. Many Contractors will therefore wish to confirm whether they are entitled to: • additional time to complete, to allow for delays caused by material shortages (eg where materials are unavailable or subject to unusually long lead or delivery times), and/or • recover their delay-related costs In this answer, we have considered the position under the JCT Standard Building Contract (SBC) 2016

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has led to unprecedented social distancing measures and lockdowns being introduced. This in turn has had a significant impact on the ability of the courts, and court users, to carry out their normal functions. In order to deal with specific challenges relevant to insolvency proceedings, a new Temporary Insolvency Practice Direction was introduced on 6 April 2020. It expired on 1 October 2020 and has been replaced several times (all in the same form), the most recent version of which, the Temporary Insolvency Practice Direction Supporting the Insolvency Practice Direction (TIPD), has effect from 30 June 2021 and expires on 30 September 2021. For further details on the Practice Direction on Insolvency Proceedings which the TIPD supports, see Practice Note: The Temporary