The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published findings from its multi-firm review of liquidity risk management at wholesale trading firms, particularly brokers, under the Investment Firms Prudential Regime (IFPR). The review highlights the impact of recent stress events such as the COVID pandemic, the Russia/Ukraine war, and the failures of Credit Suisse and Silicon Valley Bank on firms' liquidity. It identifies both good and poor practices in liquidity risk management, emphasising the need for firms to update their stress assumptions and improve their risk management frameworks. Key findings include firms' failure to identify the full range of liquidity risks, underestimation of liquidity risk exposures, and reliance on immediate access to liquidity facilities. Actions taken by firms in scope of the review to address these issues include implementing remediation programmes and improving risk management frameworks.

Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence analysis: On 27 August 2024, a new Clinical Negligence Claims Agreement was signed by NHS Resolution and representatives of claimant medical negligence solicitors and injured patients. The new Agreement replaces the earlier COVID-19 Clinical Negligence Protocol 2020 (COVID-19 Protocol), which enabled claims to continue to be progressed efficiently during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The Agreement builds on the earlier Protocol by outlining ways in which parties should work cooperatively. It also acknowledges the importance, to injured patients and bereaved families, of ensuring that lessons are learned from patient safety incidents and that similar events are not repeated. Suzanne Farg, director at Fieldfisher, considers the main points to note from the updated protocol.

Commercial analysis: This case concerned the interpretation of an equity commitment letter (ECL) governed by English law under which the defendant had agreed to provide €93m to its indirect subsidiary for it to purchase a hotel business from a third party. The share purchase agreement governing the underlying transaction never completed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and is now the subject of Spanish litigation. The parties asked the High Court to consider seven issues of interpretation of the ECL including whether the defendant was obliged to put its indirect subsidiary in funds in circumstances where there was a dispute regarding the underlying transaction. The High Court found against the defendant on all issues bar one. Written by Emily Woodwark, associate, Payne Hicks Beach.

The Cabinet Office has published the communiqué from the eleventh Interministerial Standing Committee (IMSC) meeting, held via videoconference on 17 February 2026. At the meeting, the IMSC discussed ongoing joint work to ensure that electoral processes and election candidates across the UK are safeguarded from evolving physical and digital security threats and illegal practices ahead of the upcoming elections in Scotland and Wales. It also discussed preparations for government responses to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry’s Module 2ABC report, published in November 2025, which examined core administrative and political decision-making across all four nations during the pandemic. In addition, the committee confirmed that joint work remains under way to develop a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen the Sewel Convention. The next IMSC meeting is scheduled for summer or early autumn 2026, and the Northern Ireland Executive will chair the session.

Immigration analysis: The Health and Care Worker (HCW) visa was introduced in August 2020, to support the recruitment of international health and care professionals into the NHS and adult social care sector. By February 2022 the route was expanded to include care worker and senior care worker roles, ostensibly with a view to fill 165,000 vacancies in a sector that had been ravaged by the joint pressures of Brexit and the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This analysis looks at what has happened since then, including the various restrictions imposed on the route and its final closure for new applicants, the increase of enforcement actions against sponsors, the more limited worker-facing response, and the uncertain future introduced by the ‘Earned Settlement’ proposals. Written by Dr Dora-Olivia Vicol, CEO at the Work Rights Centre.

TMT analysis: In a claim for libel brought by Unite the Union (Unite) over 24 Facebook posts made by a disaffected former member, Mrs Justice Collins Rice awarded general damages of £50,000 and granted a final injunction. The posts made serious allegations of criminality in relation to Unite’s branch for British Airways cabin staff (BASSA) which had conducted negotiations with BA in summer 2020 over a proposed large-scale redundancy exercise necessitated by the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the travel industry. This is a rare example of a defamation claim brought by a trade union and, although it needs to be treated with a degree of caution, the judgment provides some insight into how damages in such a claim should be assessed. Written by Aidan Eardley QC, barrister at 5RB.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has published corrections to information regarding personal protective equipment procurement during the early COVID-19 pandemic, originally published in November 2021. The corrections include adding LUXE LIFESTYLE LTD to the High Priority Lane suppliers list following discovery of information during preparation for module 5 (procurement) of the UK COVID-19 Inquiry, with public hearings held in March 2025. The DHSC has amended referral details for P1F Ltd, replacing the previously named individual with the FCO Donations Team as both source of referral and actual referrer. Additionally, a spelling correction has been made to list Inivos Ltd correctly under the New Buy heading, previously misspelled as Invios. The corrections were announced in a written ministerial statement by Karin Smyth MP, Minister of State for Health (Secondary Care), on 30 October 2025.

The Health & Care Professionals Council (HCPC) has published a blog on the subject of the importance of maintaining fitness to practise, wellbeing and seeking help where necessary. In the blog post, Head of Fitness to Practise, Laura Coffey, states: ‘We are increasingly aware of the demand and pressures on health and care professionals and indeed most recently with the added impact of the global [coronavirus (COVID-19)] pandemic. Increasing workload on professionals and healthcare services, combined with growing external scrutiny of their practise has often been linked directly to high stress and poor wellbeing.’ She also highlights that the HCPC is currently consulting on the standards of proficiency, and that ‘one key area of change being proposed within this consultation is the importance of our registrants maintaining fitness to practise as well as considering the role of mental health and being able to seek help where necessary’. This includes whether the standards should ‘mention mental health or wellbeing explicitly’.

Arbitration analysis: The Superior Court of Justice of Lima (Corte Superior de Justicia de Lima) annulled the arbitral award between Ingram Micro SAC and the Public Ministry, citing motivación aparente (apparent reasoning) in the arbitrator's decision. In the 2020 dispute over computer equipment delivery delays due to the pandemic, the Ministry terminated the contract and imposed penalties. The arbitral tribunal sided with Ingram Micro, rejecting the contract termination and penalties. However, the court's decision underscores the need for coherent and well-founded reasoning in arbitral awards. It highlights the delicate balance between arbitration autonomy and judicial oversight, emphasizing the importance of avoiding apparent reasoning. This case sets a precedent for arbitration in Peru, urging parties to provide thorough justifications to mitigate the risk of annulment based on perceived lack of substance in the arbitral decision Written by Seguimundo Navarro, partner at inARB | Arbitrator | MCIArb | ArbP | LLM, Spain.

Insurance & Reinsurance analysis: The Court of Appeal has given a further COVID-19 business interruption judgment on two important issues. First, whether each insured company under a composite policy was entitled to a separate limit of indemnity or, as insurers contended, the limit was an aggregate limit applicable to all insureds collectively. The Court of Appeal held in favour of insureds on this point. Second, and considered for the first time by the Court of Appeal, whether insureds must give credit for furlough payments received during the pandemic when calculating their business interruption losses. The Court of Appeal held, on the wording of the policies in this case, that they did. The court’s decision on both issues will have significant implications for many businesses seeking to claim COVID-19 business interruption losses. Written by Josephine Higgs KC, 7 King’s Bench Walk.

The Local Government Association (LGA) has published an independent report, prepared by Isos Partnership, which examines the rising needs of children under five and explores how councils and early years providers are responding to these challenges. The report finds that councils and providers are consistently seeing an increase in both the volume and complexity of needs, particularly communication and interaction difficulties, with more children presenting with very limited or no language and social communication skills. It cites poverty, family stress, neurodivergence and pandemic lockdowns as contributing factors, noting that providers are adapting to support these children but often face funding and capacity pressures. Practitioners and councils call for greater funding, a national workforce strategy and curriculum reforms to improve early years inclusion. The LGA urges the government to address these challenges through special educational needs and disability (SEND) system reforms and the Best Start in Life agenda.

This week's edition of Commercial weekly highlights includes: judgment of the Court of Appeal in Orion Shipping and Trading Ltd Llc v Great Asia Maritime Ltd where the court allowed the appeal against the High Court judgment that had overturned an arbitral award granting damages for loss of bargain, judgment of the Court of Appeal in Advanced Multi-Technology for Medical Industry v Uniserve Ltd where the court ruled on appeals arising from disputes over a supply contract and a commission contract signed during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and news that the Competition and Markets Authority has published guidance on how to report suspected breaches of competition or consumer law, detailing the process and expectations for complainants.