This Practice Note considers the effect of the means test, applied when financial assistance is requested from an English local authority (LA) for social care provision. The Care Act 2014 Since the creation of the welfare state in the 1940s, LAs have been given powers and subjected to duties to provide care and attention for those in need. However, the law was developed in a piecemeal manner and spread across a myriad of statutes and statutory instruments which were supplemented by numerous guidance documents. The Care Act 2014 (CA 2014) was enacted as a single comprehensive statute to: bring together and harmonise the existing law; reflect modern practices; and implement the recommendations of the Commission on the Funding of Care and Support headed by Andrew Dilnot in 2011. It applies to all English LAs. Detailed regulations are set out in a series of statutory instruments, the most important of which for the purposes of this Practice Note are: • the Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources)

Dispute Resolution analysis: A senior panel in the Court of Appeal has provided useful guidance on the quantification of damages in proceedings where claimants have been induced by fraudulent misrepresentation to buy property. Claimants in such circumstances are entitled to recover direct losses, calculated as being the difference between the market price of the asset at the relevant date and the price paid, as well as any consequential losses. Written by Phillip Patterson, barrister at Hardwicke.

In Hagen v ICI Chemicals and Polymers Ltd, the High Court held that the employees should receive damages as against what might be interpreted as a 'broadly comparable' scheme – which is what ICI had told the employees the new employer's scheme would be.

This guide enables organisations to commit to measure, manage and report on their greenhouse gas emissions, set legally binding and enforceable emissions-reduction targets, consider and comply with reporting and disclosure requirements, especially on scope 3 emissions, and commit to

Law360: The government announced on 21 May 2025 that forthcoming Pension Schemes Bill will include a programme to allow companies to tap into an estimated £160bn in surpluses in defined benefit pension schemes.

Reporting work in progress (WIP) is often the bane of a busy team’s life. Reports which look the same from month to month, which we suspect are not read let alone analysed, sucking up hours of time to prepare. This Practice Note provides a guide for ensuring that you are measuring performance and reporting on work in an effective and meaningful way. Reasons for reporting Reporting can be very useful if the purpose and parameters of the reports are properly set. There are probably only three good reasons to report anything: • there is a regulatory or contractual requirement • to demonstrate worth, contribution and value • to contribute to better decisions or process improvement, or business development opportunities Reports, therefore, should be framed to show this, but designed around the needs of the recipient. A report that is for a good reason and in a form useful to the recipient is a report worth making. Anything else is likely to be at best inefficient and at worst

This Checklist is intended for law firms. It is designed to help you determine whether you have the systems in place to monitor client feedback effectively. It should be read in conjunction with subtopic: How to measure client satisfaction. For firms that have or are working towards Lexcel accreditation: • you must have a procedure to monitor client satisfaction across all areas of the practice • the data from your client satisfaction survey—annual review may feed into your annual risk data analysis, eg see Precedent: Risk data—annual review Lexcel requirements are compulsory for firms that have or

Commercial analysis: In Hapag-Lloyd AG v Skyros Maritime Corporation and Agios Minas Shipping Company, the Court of Appeal has clarified the law on damages in relation to a claimant’s ability to recover market loss in circumstances where the claimant’s contractual arrangements with third parties mean that it would not have been able to take advantage of the market. The judgment deals with damages for late redelivery of vessels under a time charter but will be relevant to other claims for market loss, for example for early redelivery and in carriage of goods and sale of goods disputes. Anna Fomina and Alex Andreou of HFW consider the matter in their article below. Please note that the Hapag-Lloyd AG, the charterers in this case, have applied for permission to appeal to the UK Supreme Court and the outcome of their application is awaited.

This Practice Note deals with metrics for in-house legal teams. It considers: • how to capture the underlying data • how to store data and report it in a way that supports meaningful analysis, and • how to interpret the results in context For guidance on how organisations measure operational performance and drive improvement, see Practice Note: Managing operations for in-house lawyers—measurement and improvement. Building a reliable data-capture process Once you know what you want to measure, and why, the next question is how to capture the underlying data. Most in-house legal teams draw on a combination of sources, including: • matter intake tools • matter management systems and contract lifecycle management systems • e-billing systems • self-service portals and intranet analytics • surveys and feedback forms • time or activity recording • AI-assisted classification, extraction and analysis tools You should capture as much as you can automatically from the systems that work already flows through, rather than asking lawyers to record it manually. Manual recording may still have a

There are five key steps to improving efficiency in a continuous improvement context: • identify (define) what process needs improving • measure the problem • analyse the information • improve the process • control, ie embed the new process so it becomes business as usual Management consultants often refer to this is as the DMAIC framework. This Practice Note focuses on the importance of measuring the impact of the changes you have made to improve efficiency (through steps 1–5) and demonstrate levels of success. Also see Practice Notes: • Continuous improvement—law firms—step 1—identify and define the problem • Continuous improvement—law firms—step 2—measure the problem • Continuous improvement—law firms—step 3—analyse what's causing the problem • Continuous improvement—law firms—step 4—improve the process • Continuous improvement—law firms—step 5—embed the process—making changes firm-wide • Continuous improvement—law firms—step 5—embed the process—anticipating the response to major change Construct a simple control chart Control charts can become complex and deeply mathematical but in their simplest form they allow you to keep an eye on how things are progressing. Control

This Practice Note discusses how in-house legal teams can use metrics such as staffing, spend, income and client satisfaction to demonstrate their value. Metrics are a useful tool to increasing self-awareness, implementing strategic improvements, focusing on reducing costs, increasing the influence of your legal function and developing and motivating your team. Why measure? Self-diagnosis Identifying trends and the current state of play, for example, workload, spend and staffing. Implementing strategic improvements Gathering the information you need to build business-wide support for your management strategies, for example:—maintaining headcount—pushing work to the business—outsourcing or insourcing—de-skilling or skilling-up—technology or further investment Focus on reducing costs A true focus on savings means keeping on top of data on costs or income, for example:—monitoring volume of external spend, discounts and rebates under alternative fee arrangements—building a platform from which to work closely with finance and procurement functions to achieve further savings Increasing the influence of your legal function Helping your legal team to become a key influencer of the business, for example through:—demonstrating

MedCo is a system to facilitate the sourcing of medical reports in soft tissue injury claims brought under the Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims in Road Traffic Accidents.