This Practice Note explains the fundamental right to bail, the serious offences to which that does not apply and the grounds for refusing bail. For information relating to the procedure for making bail applications, see Practice Note: How to make court bail applications and Court bail application—checklist. The right to bail The Bail Act 1976 (BA 1976) gives a general right to bail to: • any person appearing before a magistrates’ court, youth court or Crown Court • any person who has been convicted of an offence but only if the court is adjourning the case for the preparation of pre-sentence reports, and • any person appearing before the court for an alleged breach of a community order requirement—the full list of community order requirements is set out in the Sentencing Code at sections 201 and Sch 9 of the Sentencing Act 2020 (SA 2020). See Practice Note: Community order requirements. The right does not apply to an accused who has been charged with (or previously convicted of) offences specified

This Practice Note considers the statutory right to be accompanied under section 10 of the Employment Relations Act 1999 (ERA 1999). It examines who has the right, when it applies, disciplinary hearings, grievance hearings, meetings to discuss flexible working requests, who may accompany (work colleague or trade union official), reasonable requests to be accompanied, disabled workers, the right to a fair trial (Article 6 ECHR), legal representation (ie by a lawyer), the role of the companion, time off for companions, the right to postpone hearings, and the Acas Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures (the Acas Code). Any 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. For a general overview of the right to be accompanied, see: Right to be accompanied—overview. Review of the right to be accompanied The government confirmed on 7 July 2026 that it is carrying out a review of the right to be accompanied, expected

This Practice Note examines the right to ‘disconnect’ (or to ‘switch off’) which, generally speaking, refers to the right of workers not to engage in work-related activities outside of their normal contracted working hours. Any right to disconnect varies between jurisdictions and, while it can cover any form of work-related task, it most commonly refers to workers receiving electronic communications (eg emails and telephone calls) outside of their normal working hours. The number of workers carrying out their duties flexibly and remotely has increased significantly in the last decade, particularly following the Covid pandemic which required many workers to shift to remote working for the first time. While this flexibility has benefited many workers, the blurring of the line between workplace and home has made it more difficult for them to properly ‘switch off’ from work. The Acas guide on health, safety and wellbeing when working from home specifically notes that staff can find it harder to switch off from work and work longer hours when

The Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 (LRHUDA 1993) allows for qualifying tenants of flats to acquire the freehold to the premises within which those flats are contained. Additionally, the tenants are entitled to acquire the freehold of any property not comprised in the relevant premises but to which LRHUDA 1993, s 1(3) applies. LRHUDA 1993, s 1(3) provides that the right applies to appurtenant property which is demised by the lease or it is property which any such tenant

Under Part 2 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 (CLRA 2002), long leaseholders of flats in mainly residential buildings (subject to certain exceptions) have the right to take over the management of the building: • irrespective of fault on the part of the landlord • without having to pay compensation This right to manage can only be exercised through membership of a right to manage (RTM) company. Qualifying premises The right to manage applies to premises if: • they consist of a self-contained building or part of a building, with or without appurtenant property • they contain two or more flats held by qualifying tenants, and • the total number of flats held by qualifying tenants is not less than two-thirds of the total number of flats Self-contained A self-contained building is one that is structurally detached. A part of a building is self-contained if: • it is a vertical division of the building • the structure of the building could be redeveloped independently of the rest of the building, and • the services are provided

Before enactment of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987, Part II (LTA 1987), the court had always possessed a broad jurisdiction to appoint a receiver to take over the management of any property (including a block of flats) whenever it appeared just and convenient to do so. However, the jurisdiction was rarely invoked in relation to blocks of flats, probably because of the costs involved and the need in most instances to prove default on the part of the landlord or the managing agents as regards performance of the landlord’s repair, maintenance or insurance obligations under the lease. LTA 1987, Part II provides a substitute remedy by giving (what are now) the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) in England and the leasehold valuation tribunal in Wales the power to appoint a manager to take over the management of premises containing flats; however, this remedy is only available in the circumstances specified in LTA 1987, s 24(2). These include circumstances where there is some default on the part of the landlord or the managing

The RTM company The right to manage can only be acquired and subsequently exercised by a right to manage company (RTM company). This must be a private company limited by guarantee which has the right to manage as one of its objects. The content of the company’s articles in England is prescribed by the RTM Companies (Model Articles) (England) Regulations 2009, SI 2009/2767 and the content of the company’s articles in Wales is prescribed by the RTM Companies (Model Articles) (Wales) Regulations 2011, SI 2011/2680 (together ‘the Articles Regulations’). It is not compulsory for the RTM company to have the letters 'RTM' in its name. The articles of association must define the premises sufficiently. The Articles Regulations provide for a variety of matters in relation to the conduct of the affairs of the RTM company, including: • directors must act without remuneration (unless approved by the members) but are entitled to reimbursement of expenses • a member cannot withdraw from membership of the company after a notice of claim

Claim notice To acquire the right to manage under Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 (CLRA 2002), the right to manage company (RTM company) must serve a claim notice. Failure to serve a notice of invitation to participate on all qualifying tenants does not invalidate or prevent a valid claim notice being served. See Practice Note: The right to manage blocks of flats—the RTM company and the right to participate. The claim notice must be served on the persons specified in CLRA 2002, s 79(6), namely: • the landlord(s) of the premises • any third party to any of the flat leases (eg a guarantor) • any manager of the premises who has been appointed under Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 (LTA 1987) There is no need to give notice to a person who cannot be found or whose identity cannot be ascertained (including those who existence is not known at all), and there is a special procedure if that means that no

Property analysis: In this appeal, the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) (UT) had to consider whether a lessee under a newly granted long lease which was not yet registered at HM Land Registry (HMLR) was a ‘qualifying tenant’ for the purposes of section 75 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 (CLRA 2002) and if they were, whether the failure to serve notice of invitation to participate on the lessee invalidated the claim notice served by the RTM company.

Under Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, s 71 (CLRA 2002), tenants can claim the right to manage the premises which contain their flats. To qualify, the premises must be a self-contained building or part of a building. In Triplerose v Ninety Broomfield Road, the Court of Appeal decided that a single right to manage company (RTM company) cannot exercise its right to manage over more than one set of premises. The right applies only to a single self-contained building (ie structurally detached) or part of a building. However, it does not matter if a part of a building can be further sub-divided into self-contained parts (see: Identifying the relevant part of a building under Vertical division below). Structurally detached A self-contained building must be structurally detached from any other building. There is no statutory definition of ‘structurally detached’. In Albion Residential v Albion Riverside Residents RTM Company [2014] UKUT 0006 (LC) the Upper Tribunal (UT) confirmed it was incorrect that as a matter of ordinary language, a building comprised only so much

This Practice Note considers an employee’s right to return to work after adoption leave under sections 75A and 75B of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) and the Paternity and Adoption Leave Regulations 2002 (PAL Regs 2002), SI 2002/2788. For information on the substantive right to take adoption leave, see Practice Note: Adoption leave. Broadly speaking, an employee who takes ordinary adoption leave (OAL) only is entitled to return to the 'same job' at the end of that leave unless that job is no longer available. For more information, see: Return from adoption leave below. An employee who also takes a period of additional adoption leave (AAL) is entitled to return to their old job unless it is not reasonably practicable for them to be allowed to do so. For more information, see: Qualified right to return below. The right is to return: • at the end of the AAL, if no earlier date of return has been notified, or • on a date duly notified to the employer as the employee’s

This Practice Note considers a woman’s right to return to work after maternity leave under sections 71 and 73 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) and the Maternity and Parental Leave etc Regulations 1999 (MAPLE 1999), SI 1999/3312. Broadly speaking, a woman who takes ordinary maternity leave (OML) only is entitled to return to the 'same job' at the end of that leave, unless that job is no longer available (see: Return from maternity leave and Return to same job, below). A woman who also takes a period of additional maternity leave (AML) is entitled to return to her old job, unless it is not reasonably practicable for her to be allowed to do so (see: Qualified right to return, below). The right is to return: • at the end of the AML, if no earlier date of return has been notified, or • on a date duly notified to the employer as the employee's intended date of return For further information, see: Return date below. If