Law360, London: A £4m fine against major sports broadcasters for colluding to fix freelancers' pay is a warning to employers to ensure their recruiters understand how to comply with competition law as enforcement grows.

Law360, London: The £5.5bn annual cost of tax evasion drawn up by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is probably 'vastly underestimated' and the authority has no plan to tackle the gap in the public purse, the government's spending watchdog warned on 12 February 2025.

Law360: The UK's lifeboat scheme said 8 April 2024 it has recovered £54m in the financial year ended 31 March 2024 from the estates of failed financial services companies.

ARCHIVED—this archived case hub reflects the position at the date of the decision of 30 September 2022; it is no longer maintained. See further, timeline and related cases Case facts Outline European Commission Article 102 TFEU investigation into alleged predatory conduct by CD relating to the provision of rail passenger transport services (particularly on the Prague-Ostrava route) in Czechia (AT.40156) Latest development On 30 September 2022, the Commission announced that it had closed its investigation. The Commission concluded that the evidence collected was not

Planning analysis: Defra’s Water White Paper signals a shift towards faster, more coordinated delivery of water and wastewater infrastructure, with planning reform used as a lever to unlock housing and growth. For consenting, the main practical messages are a stronger role for water companies in plan-making, a review of permitted development rights for smaller schemes, and an update to the National Policy Statements (NPSs) for water resources and wastewater to support major projects.

Law360: Pension scheme trustees should 'act now' to be ready for the long-awaited government project designed to connect workers with lost pots and avoid enforcement action for failing to meet their duties, the Pensions Regulator (TPR) warned in a blog post on 5 September 2024.

Arbitration analysis: This case involved an appeal against the dismissal of an application for an anti-suit injunction restraining the first respondent from continuing foreign court proceedings which had allegedly been brought in breach of an arbitration agreement. Although the foreign court proceedings involved a tortious claim in respect of damage to a trestle bridge caused by a vessel owned by the appellant, it was held that the claim arose out of or was in connection with certain bills of lading evidencing contracts of carriage entered into between the appellant and the first respondent, and had therefore been brought in breach of the arbitration agreement contained in each bill of lading. The appeal was allowed, and an anti-suit injunction granted. In the course of its decision, the court clarified the ambit and scope of the phrase ‘dispute arising out of or in connection with this contract’, which (either in these exact terms or some variation thereof) is commonly found in dispute resolution agreements. The court also provided useful guidance on when a dispute beyond the terms of a contract may nonetheless fall within the scope of an arbitration clause employing such terms. Written by KOH Swee Yen senior counsel, head (International Arbitration Practice) and partner (Commercial & Corporate Disputes Practice) at WongPartnership LLP, and Samuel LOW, associate at WongPartnership LLP.

This Practice Note discusses the nature and status of three types of public bodies: ‘non-departmental public bodies’ or ‘NDPBs’, executive agencies of government, and non-ministerial departments. What they have in common is that they are part of government, but are not themselves traditional government departments headed by ministers (although in the case of executive agencies, they are a part of such a department). They are collectively called ‘arm’s length bodies’ because they are said to operate ‘at arm’s length’ from government. To take one central government department as an example, the Department for Education currently works with 17 agencies and public bodies including two non-ministerial departments (Ofqual and Ofsted), two executive agencies, nine executive NDPBs and one advisory NDPB. These numbers are subject to change from time to time. Non-departmental public bodies A non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a body which fulfils a role in the process of national government but is not part of a government department. NDPBs operate at arm’s length from ministers, though a minister will be

This response considers whether there is a fixed period that a relationship needs to have lasted in order to fall within the definition of a relationship of ‘significant duration’ under section 62(3) of the Family Law Act 1996 (FLA 1996). The court may make a non-molestation order pursuant to FLA 1996, s 42 if an application has been made by a person who is ‘associated with the respondent’, or if in any family proceedings to which the respondent is a party the court considers that the order should be made for the benefit of any other party to the proceedings or any relevant child, even though no such application has been made (FLA 1996, s 42(2)). For further guidance, see Practice Note: Non-molestation orders. The term ‘associated persons’ is defined at FLA 1996, s 62(3).

In an email to stakeholders on 28 February 2025, the Home Office has confirmed that several thousand persons with pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) have now received a grant of settled status through the ‘automated’ conversion process announced on 17 January 2025 (as part of the package of measures put into place in response to the High Court’s decision in R (Independent Monitoring Authority for the Citizens' Rights Agreement) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (European Commission and another intervening) [2022] EWHC 3274 (Admin), [2022] All ER (D) 70 (Dec)). The email goes onto say that the Home Office ‘intend to expand this approach further as the year progresses, including through use of border crossing data’. Until now, Home Office communications such as the 17 January 2025 announcement have always said that automated evidence of residence has been confined to checks of tax and benefits records held by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). It is unclear what will be the source of this new border crossing data will be, ie passenger information records provided in advance of travel by carriers, or any Home Office IT recording actual entries and exits. The email also notes that a new portal has been launched for payment of the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS), which automatically calculates the required IHS fee using information provided in the visa application form. It is also stated to provide automatic notifications for refunds and clear descriptions of refund and top-up reasons which will help applicants better understand their payment status.

Where there are joint owners of a property, the legal owner (or owners) hold the beneficial interest in that property on trust for the beneficial owners. The beneficial owners can either hold as joint tenants (in which case, they each own the indivisible whole) or as tenants in common, meaning that they hold defined shares and can, for example, leave their shares by Will to whomsoever they may choose. Additionally, a tenant in common can dispose of their share to a third party, either by sale, gift, assignment or by settling the interest into a trust. Much will depend upon what A is seeking to achieve in disposing of their share and an inter vivos trust may not necessarily

Part I of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 (LTA 1987) gives qualifying tenants of flats a right of first refusal enabling them to purchase the interest of their landlord if and when they propose to dispose of it. The right is framed in negative terms, prohibiting