UPDATE (22/2/22): As announced by the Prime Minister on 21 February 2022, the Cabinet Office has published the government’s COVID-19 Response: Living with COVID-19, which sets out the government plan to remove the remaining coronavirus (COVID-19) domestic legal restrictions in England from 24 February 2022. For more information, see: LNB News 22/02/2022 8 and News Analysis: Coronavirus (COVID-19)—How should employers respond to the scrapping of self-isolation rules?. For information on the position from 24 February, see Practice Note: Living with coronavirus (COVID-19) in the workplace from 24 February 2022 [Archived]. This Practice Note has been archived and is no longer maintained. This Practice Note has been archived and is no longer maintained. It reflects the position under the Cabinet Office COVID-19 Response: Autumn and Winter Plan 2021 and guidance on how to stay safe and help prevent the spread before the 24 February 2022 changes. For information on the position from 24 February 2022, see Practice Note: Living with coronavirus (COVID-19) in the workplace from 24 February 2022 [Archived]. For

Dispute Resolution analysis: Travelport and 12 others sought declarations and specific performance to the effect that Wex was contractually obliged to complete the purchase of two groups of companies engaged in the business of facilitating payments in the travel industry. The agreed price for the purchase was approximately $US 1.77bn. The court had ordered the trial of 11 preliminary issues (some of which included sub-issues) on an expedited basis because the completion date was imminent. The contract included a material adverse effects (MAE) clause. Wex sought to invoke this clause in order to avoid completion, relying on the effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This analysis is concerned only with the burden of proof and with issues surrounding the proper construction of a MAE clause. Written by Charles Joseph, barrister, at Tanfield Chambers.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published its annual statistics, reporting 124 worker fatalities in Great Britain between April 2024 and March 2025. This marks a decrease of 14 compared to the previous year and remains consistent with pre-pandemic levels. The construction industry recorded the highest number of deaths at 35, followed by agriculture, forestry and fishing with 23 deaths; the latter also had the highest fatal injury rate per 100,000 workers. Falls from height were the leading cause of fatal injuries, accounting for over a quarter of the total. An additional 92 members of the public died in work-related incidents during the same period. The HSE has also released data on mesothelioma, showing 2,218 deaths in 2023 due to past asbestos exposure. This figure is 62 fewer than in 2022 and below the ten-year average of 2,508 deaths per year from 2011 to 2020. The HSE expects the decline to continue as historical exposures diminish.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) has announced the launch its new Notices Hub platform on 15 July 2025, addressing critical challenges in delivering derivatives termination notices. The platform aims to replace physical delivery requirements in ISDA Master Agreements, solving problems that emerged during pandemic lockdowns and the Ukraine invasion when office closures and safety concerns made physical delivery difficult. The platform will feature secure online delivery, automatic alerts to designated recipients, and the ability to update physical address details across all agreements through a single entry. The service will be free for buy-side firms, with dealers receiving a two-year discount for early adoption. ISDA has opened a free pre-adherence process for firms to sign the protocol updating their agreements. The platform will also allow for the exchange of waivers, such as those for net asset threshold events, bringing structure to what has traditionally been an ad hoc process.

Welcome to the 11 April 2024 highlights from the Immigration team, which provides links to key news stories from the last week, as well as a round-up of new and updated content in Immigration.

This week's edition of Life Sciences weekly highlights includes analysis of the new UK Clinical Trials Regulation which is a major overhaul of the UK regulatory framework and news that the MHRA celebrated the steps it has taken for clinical trial reform in the UK in an International Clinical Trials Day press release and further announced the launch of a six-week consultation on the use of real-world data (RWD) for external control arms of clinical trials following its two related guidance documents on the use of RWD and real-world evidence for regulatory decisions. Also included, is news that the UK Patents Court has handed down a judgment in relation to the rare blood disease biosimilar patent dispute between Samsung Bioepis and Alexion Pharmaceuticals, the EMA updated guidance on the implementation of Policy 0070 for the publication of clinical data, the EMA also updated FAQ guidance and several documents concerning the European Shortages Monitoring Platform, the EFPIA has criticised the proposal requiring pharmaceutical companies to launch and continuously supply products in all Member States and NICE published a modular update to its health technology evaluations manual for assessing health inequalities, among other stories.

This week's edition of Life Sciences weekly highlights includes news that the Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal upholding the finding that the marketing authorisation of a Parkinson’s disease treatment was for a single active ingredient and not for a combination of active ingredients (Newron Pharmaceuticals v Comptroller), as well as, news that the British pharmaceutical industry recommended measures to be implemented in the Spring Budget on 6 March 2024, the DHSC announced £10m funding for eight innovative medtech companies and the HRA published its response to proposed revisions to the Declaration of Helsinki. Also included is news that the UK, Australia and Canada are collaborating to pilot a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) Single Inspection Program and the industry body representing EU Notified Bodies recommended lowering the device risk classification of coronavirus (COVID-19) diagnostic tests post-pandemic, among other news about EMA updated guidance and an ASA ruling finding breach for an ADHD product’s FaceBook ad.

This week's edition of Corporate Crime weekly highlights includes analysis of the lack of focus on financial crime in the political parties’ manifestos and of how the Labour Party plans to create a new coronavirus (COVID-19) corruption tsar to recoup public money lost in fraud and failed contracts during the pandemic. Also included is news of the FCDO’s updated guidance on Russian sanctions as well as 50 new sanctions designations and specifications targeting Russia, of a construction company fined £2.345m after an employee drowned in a river and that the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences (Scotland) Act 2024 received Royal Assent thereby automatically exonerating wrongly convicted Scottish sub-postmasters. All this, and more, in this week’s Corporate Crime highlights.

PI & Clinical Negligence analysis: Claims by factory workers for contracting COVID-19 during the pandemic have been reinstated as a result of a successful appeal of the decision to grant summary judgment to the defendant. Although recognising that the claimants faced ‘an uphill task’ to succeed on the claims, the appeal was allowed. The court held that the judge misunderstood the case on causation that the claimants put forward and fell into the well-known trap of conducting a mini-trial of the issues. This case can help practitioners decide whether to launch an application for summary judgment and how much evidence is required to satisfy the test in CPR 24.3(a). Written by Jasmine Murphy, barrister, at Gatehouse Chambers.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed an appeal brought by six second division Mexican football clubs—Club Atlético La Paz, Club Atlético Morelia, Cancún FC, CD Mineros de Zacatecas, Venados FC and Leones Negros de la UdeG—regarding the Mexican Football Federation’s (FMF) decision to continue suspending promotion and relegation in Liga MX for the 2025/2026 season. The appeal, filed on 19 May 2025, followed the FMF’s confirmation on 29 April 2025 that the suspension, originally introduced in 2019/2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, would remain in place. Following a hearing held in Mexico City on 28 August 2025, the CAS panel found that the FMF had clearly communicated the duration of the suspension and dismissed the appeal. A full CAS award will be published unless confidentiality is requested.

The Cabinet Office has reported that it met with the UK’s key intelligence allies to help coordinate the fight against coronavirus (COVID-19) fraud. It said that Cabinet Office Minister, Georgia Gould, will lead the meeting with top officials from the UK's key intelligence partners Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States to share strategies for combating coronavirus-related fraud. This Five Eyes alliance meeting intends to exchange best practices on detecting, recovering, and prosecuting pandemic-related fraud. The insights gained will inform the Public Sector Fraud Authority's ongoing efforts to enhance fraud prevention, detection, and recovery across government departments. This meeting is the main event of the International Public Sector Fraud Forum's fourth summit, currently taking place in London.

The Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson, has announced the second wave of a competition, backed by £120m worth of funding, to open eight new employer-led art Institutes of Technology (IoT), bringing the total to 20 across England. IoT's bring together further and higher education providers and offer 'higher technical STEM education and training... in key sectors such as digital, construction, advanced manufacturing and engineering, which will play a key role in helping to rebuild the economy' after coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The competition is open to all regions of the country without an existing IoT. The first wave of the competition saw 12 IoTs selected in areas such as the South West, Midlands, Yorkshire, the North East, and London.