Local Government analysis: A judicial review claim has been brought by parents in Oxfordshire claiming the requirement for their children to take part in Christian learning amounted to religious indoctrination. Laura Berman, partner in the education team at Stone King discusses the legal foundations for parents challenging the curriculum, and highlights religious education, as well as sex and relationships education, as particularly contentious subjects.

Used in relation to statutory child support as to the parent with whom a child lives.

A guarantee given by a company's immediate holding company.

Immigration analysis: The Supreme Court’s examination in Makhlouf v SSHD of Northern Ireland of whether the deportation of a foreign criminal would be contrary to the best interests of his children is considered by Mary Higgins QC.

This Practice Note considers the right to parental bereavement leave (PBL) (also known as ‘Jack’s Law’) and statutory parental bereavement pay (SPBP) under provisions introduced under the Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Act 2018 (PB(LP)A 2018). It considers the entitlement to (or eligibility for) leave, notice requirements, what happens when parental bereavement leave is interrupted by another type of statutory leave, the employee’s rights and obligations during leave, protection against detriment, protection against dismissal and the right to SPBP. The Practice Note also sets out best practice recommendations, based on guidance from Child Bereavement UK. According to guidance from the charity Child Bereavement UK, bereavement is one of the most common factors potentially affecting employees’ performance at work; an estimated one in ten employees is affected by a bereavement at any point in time. Research for Co-op Funeralcare in 2018 showed that 58% of adults felt pressured to return to work after a loss, with 30% feeling they needed more than two weeks off before they were truly ready to come back. A survey by the stillbirth

Under EU competition law, a parent company may be held jointly and severally liable for antitrust violations committed by its subsidiary, where the parent company exercises decisive influence over the subsidiary. There has been much case law on parental company liability, which has the potential to open up considerable risk for companies. The legal basis for parental company liability The concept of an undertaking Article 101 TFEU applies to ‘undertakings’. The concept of an undertaking is not defined in the EU Treaties and/or regulations. The case law commonly describes an undertaking as a unitary organisation of personal, tangible, and intangible elements which pursues a specific economic aim on a long-term basis, regardless of its legal status and the way in which it is financed. Undertakings are thus economic, rather than legal entities. As a result, an undertaking under Article 101 TFEU does not necessarily correspond with the definition of a legal person under national corporate law (eg limited liability company)—an economic unit comprising different legal or natural persons may form a single undertaking for competition

[Insert address of [parent OR guardian] in home country] [Insert Home Office address where application is being sent] [Insert date] Dear [insert organisation name] Letter of support for [insert name, date of birth and nationality of child applicant] I, [insert name, date of birth and nationality] am the [father OR mother OR guardian] of [insert name of applicant]. I confirm that I support my child’s application for UK immigration permission under the [insert immigration category] category. [State the way in which you are responsible for your child’s care, eg jointly with your child’s other parent, solely due to the death your child's other parent, in accordance with a custody or guardianship order or as a person who has sole responsibility for the important decisions

A parent's statutory right to take unpaid leave for the purpose of caring for a child.

FORTHCOMING CHANGES: In measures expected to come into force on 1 October 2026, time limits for making certain claims in employment tribunals in Great Britain (and, in certain cases, industrial tribunals in Northern Ireland) will be increased from three months to six months. The changes are set out in section 152 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA 2025) and ERA 2025, Schedule 12 (not yet in force), and in The Employment Tribunals Extension of Jurisdiction (England and Wales) (Amendment) Order 2026 (draft), The Employment Tribunal (Extension of Time Limits) (Miscellaneous Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2026 (draft) and The Employee Study and Training (Procedural Requirements) (Amendment) Regulations 2026, SI 2026/473. This Practice Note will be updated as soon as the relevant statutory instruments are made. For more information, see Practice Note: Employment Rights Act 2025—tracker. This Practice Note sets out the right of parents of a child (born or adopted) to take 18 weeks’ unpaid parental leave to care for the child before the child’s 18th birthday. It details the entitlement criteria, the default statutory

Family analysis: In FG and another v IJ and others (Secretary of State for the Department of Education intervening) the President of the Family Division determined that a parental order can be made in favour of adoptive parents of a child who was born as a result of a US surrogacy arrangement, even though they were already deemed the legal parents by virtue of the US adoption being recognised in the UK. This judgment therefore confirms that it is possible to be a legal parent of a child by way of both a parental order and via adoption as the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 (HFEA 2008) and the Adoption and Children Act 2002 (ACA 2002) are compatible in this regard. The reason for the parental order application related to the child’s entitlement under a trust, which was not considered in this judgment. All parties, including the intervening Secretary of State for the Department of Education, agreed with the application. Shaili Gohil-Desai, solicitor at Burgess Mee Family Law, considers the decision.

All the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and his property.

Family analysis: In ‘Father’ v ‘Mother’ (The Secretary of State for Justice and others, intervening) and other cases, the Court of Appeal considered whether, where an individual was registered as a child's 'father' in their birth register entry, parental responsibility attributed by such registration attached to a 'father' who was not, in fact, the biological/genetic father of that child? Teertha Gupta KC and Isabella Hibbert-Robinson of 4PB consider the issues.