In April 2014, the EU issued Regulation 537/2014/EU (EU Audit Regulation) and Directive 2014/56/EU (Statutory Audit Amending Directive). The EU Audit Regulation had direct effect in the UK from 17 June 2016 and Member States had until that date to transpose the requirements of the Statutory Audit Amending Directive into domestic legislation. The Statutory Audit Amending Directive contains a prohibition on contractual clauses restricting a company’s choice of auditor (so-called Big 4 clauses) (Article 1(30)). This restriction applies to audits of all companies (not just public interest entities). The requirements of Article 1(30) were transposed into UK legislation pursuant to the Statutory Auditors and Third Country Auditors Regulations 2016 (SATCAR 2016), SI 2016/649 which provides that any term in a contract which, in relation to the conduct of a statutory audit of an

It is well established that the duty to maintain the highway is imposed by section 41(1) of the Highways Act 1980 (HiA 1980), which provides as follows: ‘The authority who are for the time being the highway authority for a highway maintainable at the public expense are under a duty, subject to subsections (2) and (4) below, to maintain the highway.’ The duty under HiA 1980, s 41 is subject to the statutory defence, provided by HiA 1980, s 58. The provision in HiA 1980, with regard to street lighting, is to be found in HiA 1980, ss 97 and 98, the former of which provides: ‘A highway authority may provide lighting for the purposes of any highway or proposed highway for which they are or will be the highway authority, and may for that purpose— (a) contract with any persons for the supply of gas, electricity or other means of lighting; and (b) construct and maintain such lamps, posts

If a lease is for a term of more than seven years, then if it was created after the Land Registration Act 2002 (LRA 2002) came into force on 1 October 2003, it will only take effect as a legal interest if it is registered at HM Land Registry (LRA 2002, ss 4(1)(c) and 7(1)(2)(c). If there is a failure to register a lease of more than seven years, then it takes effect as a contract made for valuable consideration to grant or create the legal estate concerned. The registration requirement is that the grantee be registered as proprietor and that notice of the lease be entered in the register (LRA 2002, s 27(1) and Sch 2, para 3). A lease in respect of which the registration requirements have been met will take effect as a legal interest, but if the variation

This Precedent is a letter to a director informing them that the company has received notice in relation to a proposed ordinary resolution to remove them from office. For a precedent of the notice, which should be enclosed with this letter, see Precedents: Ireland—Notice of proposed ordinary resolution to remove a director from office and Ireland—Notice of proposed ordinary resolution to remove a director from office—and request to convene general meeting. A director can be removed from office at any time by ordinary resolution passed by the shareholders of the company at a general meeting, despite anything to the contrary in any contract between the directors and the company. The resolution cannot be passed by way of written resolution; it must be passed at a general meeting. For further information, see Practice Note: Ireland—Removal of a director. The proposed resolution to remove a director is

In answering this Q&A, we have assumed that the scenario relates to an above-threshold contract for social or other specific services listed in Schedule 3 to the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, SI 2015/102 (PCR 2015) (PCR 2015, SI 2015/102, Sch 3). When determining whether a framework agreement meets the relevant financial threshold for application of the relevant rules under the PCR 2015, SI 2015/102, the value to be taken into consideration is the maximum estimated value (net of VAT), of all the contracts envisaged for the whole term of the framework agreement (see: PCR 2015, SI 2015/102, regs 5–6). For further reading, see Practice Note: The EU public procurement thresholds. Framework agreements By way of background, the PCR 2015, SI 2015/102 implement Directive 2014/24/EU, which provides that framework agreements should not be used improperly or in such a way as to prevent,

The general provisions relating to a gift with reservation of benefit (GROB) are set out in section 102 of the Finance Act 1986 (FA 1986). FA 1986, s 102(1) sets out the conditions required for there to be a GROB: ‘(1) Subject to subsections (5) and (6) below, this section applies where, on or after 18th March 1986, an individual disposes of any property by way of gift and either— (a) possession and enjoyment of the property is not bona fide assumed by the donee at or before the beginning of the relevant period; or (b) at any time in the relevant period the property is not enjoyed to the entire exclusion, or virtually to the entire exclusion, of the donor and of any benefit to him by contract or otherwise; and

For information on the tripartite relationship between an agency worker, the agency with which they have a contract and the hirer or end user (sometimes known as the principal), see Practice Note: Employment status of agency workers. For information on the right to be accompanied to a disciplinary or grievance hearing generally, see Practice Note: The right to be accompanied. Under section 10 of the Employment Relations Act 1999 (ERA 1999), a worker who is required or invited by their employer to attend a disciplinary or grievance hearing, and makes a reasonable request to be accompanied, has the right to be accompanied at that hearing. Workers may choose the person they wish to accompany them. That person must be: • another of the employer's workers or • a trade union

Every case involving these issues will be dependent on the specific facts of the matter. Schools will need to take advice each time, from their local support and possibly specific legal advice too. Background The governing bodies of maintained schools have a duty from section 175 of the Education Act 2002 that they shall make arrangements for ensuring that their functions relating to conduct of the school are exercised with view to safeguarding and promoting welfare of pupils at school. Academy schools have similar requirements from Regulation 3 of the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014, SI 2014/3283. Teachers at maintained schools, and those at academies where their contract incorporates it, have similar duties under the annual school teachers’ pay and conditions document. Schools also have a common law duty of care

Under the Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR 1998), SI 1998/1833, reg 16, during any period of statutory holiday a worker is entitled to be paid at the rate of a 'week's pay' for each week of holiday. Regulation 16 provides that sections 221 to 224 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) apply for the purposes of calculating a week's pay for each week of leave (see Practice Note: Calculating a week’s pay). However, it should be noted that: • references to 'employee' in the ERA 1996 must be read in this context as also applying to anyone with the status of 'worker' (see Practice Note: Worker status) (and likewise with references to an 'employee's contract') • 'the calculation date' must be read as 'the first day of the period of leave in question' • ERA 1996, ss 227 and 228 do not apply, so the statutory cap on

It is a question of construction whether a contractual licence is revocable. If the contract specifies a notice period, then that provision must be complied with. Otherwise, in most cases, a contractual licence will be terminable on giving reasonable notice to licensee (a non-contractual/gratuitous licence is always terminable). For ‘periodic’ residential licences, section 5 of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 specifically provides: ‘(1A) Subject to subsection (1B) below, no notice by a licensor or a licensee to determine a periodic licence to occupy premises as a dwelling (whether the licence was granted before or after the passing of this Act) shall be valid unless— (a) it is in writing and contains such information as may be prescribed, and (b) it is given not less than 4 weeks

An employee with at least two years’ continuous employment is entitled to a redundancy payment when they are dismissed by reason of redundancy. It will be a question of fact whether, in the circumstances, an employee has been dismissed (and whether by reason of redundancy). For further information, see Practice Note: Entitlement to statutory redundancy payment. There are specific situations in which an employee is considered not to have been dismissed, such as when suitable alternative employment is offered within a particular time frame and accepted. The statutory scheme in sections 138 and 141 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) encourages the employer to offer, and the dismissed employee to accept, new or renewed employment as an alternative to a statutory redundancy payment. Assuming that the dismissal is by reason of redundancy: • if the employee's contract of employment

Three different areas of law are relevant in this context: • terms and conditions: this is primarily a contractual issue based on the law of contract and in particular the rules on acceptance. See further Practice Notes: Standard terms and conditions—incorporation and Forming enforceable contracts—acceptance • privacy policy: the provision of certain information to data subjects in relation to the processing of personal data, and the need to have a lawful basis (such as consent or legitimate interests) for processing that data, is a requirement of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Regulation (EU) 2016/679 • email marketing consent: the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (PECR 2003), SI 2003/2426 prohibit the sending of unsolicited texts or emails to individuals without their consent, save in limited situations when marketing similar products or services to existing contacts who have not objected The