Law360, London: The owner of a string of boutique hotels has said Howden Insurance Brokers Ltd must pay out over £20.4m for failing to arrange adequate insurance cover that allegedly left it short when the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic took hold and shuttered sites.

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is no longer maintained. It tracked the progress of UK legislative proposals and consultations relevant to the life sciences sector between 2019–2022 which were independent of events specifically related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and Brexit during that period which have their own dedicated, archived trackers. To track the progress of current UK legislative proposals, consultations and developments, as well as significant cases, which are relevant to the life sciences sector, see Practice Notes: Life sciences tracker—UK and Life sciences cases tracker—UK. To track the progress of current EU legislative proposals, consultations and developments, as well as significant cases, which are relevant to the life sciences sector, see Practice Notes: Life sciences tracker—EU and Life sciences cases tracker—EU. For older archived items about developments in the life sciences or those related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic or Brexit, see Practice Notes: • Coronavirus (COVID-19)—UK life sciences tracker [Archived] • Coronavirus (COVID-19)—EU life sciences tracker [Archived] • Life sciences—Brexit tracker 2020–2022 [Archived] • Life sciences—Brexit tracker 2017–2020 [Archived] • Patents

On 23 April 2020, the UK government announced it would legislate to temporarily ban statutory demands and winding-up petitions. This was supplemented by a press release last updated on 25 April 2020. While this announcement does not yet have legislative effect, the government has confirmed that the ban on statutory demands will be back-dated from 1 March 2020 and last until 30 June 2020. The ban on winding-up petitions will apply to those presented between 27 April 2020 and 30 June 2020. The ban applies to those based on the debtor’s inability to pay its debts due to coronavirus (COVID-19). The measures are due to be included in the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill, expected imminently. The restrictions expressly state they apply to statutory demands to and winding-up petitions against: • companies; that are • tenants of commercial premises; who • cannot pay their rent due to the coronavirus However, there are

The government’s guidance for employers: Claim for your employee’s wages through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme states as follows: ‘Employees who qualify for statutory maternity pay (SMP), will still be eligible for 90% of their average weekly earnings in the first six weeks, followed by 33 weeks of pay paid at 90% of their average weekly earnings or the statutory flat rate (whichever is lower). The statutory flat rate is currently £148.68 a week, rising to £151.20 a week from April 2020 If you

This week's edition of Insurance weekly highlights includes: Cosmetics studios sue Beazley over coronavirus (COVID-19) business losses; Air India crash likely to cost insurers US$200m; Lost Russian jets ruling has global implications for insurers; UK insurers press government for long-term flood resilience plan; EIOPA reveals findings from first EU mystery shopping exercise on insurance investment products; plus dates for your diary and key recent cases.

This Quick Look Brexit Financial Services Legislation Status Guide provides high-level information on the status of coronavirus (COVID-19)-related amendments to the Capital Requirements Regulation (EU) 575/2013 (the EU CRR) and Regulation (EU) 2019/876 (EU CRR II), made by Regulation (EU) 2020/873 (OJ L 204/4) (the EU Amending Regulation), under UK law with effect from 1 January 2021. For more detailed information on the effect of Brexit on prudential regulation and the CRR, see Practice Note: Impact of Brexit: CRR and prudential regulation—quick guide [Archived], and for more detailed information on the targeted EU banking package issued in response to the coronavirus pandemic, see Practice Note: Coronavirus (COVID-19)—targeted EU banking package. For high-level information on the status of the EU CRR and EU CRR II with effect from 1 January 2021, see Practice Note: Quick Look Brexit Financial Services Legislation Status Guide—CRR [Archived]. The EU Amending Regulation was proposed by the European Commission on 28 April 2020 as part of a banking package of targeted legislative

The ban on evictions was most recently extended by the Public Health (Coronavirus) (Protection from Eviction) (England) (No. 2) Regulations 2021, SI 2021/164. These came into force on 22 February 2021 and extend the ban for England only. According to SI 2021/164, reg 3 they expire on 31 March 2021, although it is quite possible that further regulations will be made in advance of that date to extend the ban further. The ban prevents any person (including County Court Bailiffs and High Court Sheriffs) from 'attending a dwelling house'

With effect from 11 November 2021, a person may not enter a CQC-registered care home without evidence either that they have had a complete course of coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination, or that they should not be vaccinated for clinical reasons, unless they are: • a resident • a friend or relative of a resident • visiting a resident who is dying, or providing comfort or support in relation to a bereaved resident • it is reasonably necessary for them to provide emergency assistance in the premises • attending the premises in the execution of their duties as a member of the emergency services • providing urgent maintenance work in the care home, or • under the age of 18 The person

Law360, Expert analysis: On 9 February 2024, the High Court of Justice of England and Wales handed down a decision in Unipolsai Assicurazioni SpA v Covéa Insurance plc, which addressed an unusual reinsurance dispute concerning coverage for the initial coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown. Daniel J Healy, partner, at Brown Rudnick LLP considers the key arguments and rulings from the case.

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

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note provides details of the various versions of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) guidance on the Kickstart Scheme, and provides tracked change versions, showing updates between one version and the next, to enable practitioners easily to ascertain which version of the relevant guidance was live at any given date. It is not maintained and is for background information only. For information on the Kickstart Scheme generally, see Practice Note: Kickstart Scheme—CLOSED. Separate sections of this Practice Note cover: • the Apply for a Kickstart Scheme grant guidance • the Help employers with the Kickstart Scheme (Kickstart gateway) guidance • Kickstart Scheme terms and conditions • the Check if you can apply for a grant through the Kickstart Scheme (withdrawn) guidance • the Check if you can apply for a Kickstart Scheme grant on behalf of a group of employers (withdrawn) guidance • the Apply for a Kickstart Scheme grant: 30 or more job placements (withdrawn) guidance • the Apply for a Kickstart Scheme grant: 29 or less job placements (withdrawn) guidance • the

Immigration analysis: Partner Jennifer Stevens, PSL team co-ordinator Joshua Hopkins and paralegal Milo Grounds of Laura Devine Immigration look at the ‘unsuitable’ requirement for Tier 2 (General) migrants to obtain written confirmation from their employer that they will be required in the role for the ‘foreseeable future’, when applying for indefinite leave to remain. The article also looks at how employers may refuse to provide the confirmation, amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.