ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. This Practice Note is a summary of the key legal developments of relevance to personal injury and clinical negligence practitioners as of 20 October 2020. For the most recent horizon scanner, reference should be made to PI and Clinical Negligence horizon scanning—overview. Accommodation claims—Swift v Carpenter On 9 October 2020, the Court of Appeal handed down the long awaited judgment in Swift v Carpenter which involved reconsideration of the mechanism for assessing the loss to a claimant of having to fund the purchase of special alternative accommodation. The previous mechanism, derived from the decision in Roberts v Johnstone, was challenged as being ‘unfit for purpose’, both by reason of the current negative discount rate which produced a nil valuation in all cases, and more generally. What did the court decide? The Court of Appeal held that Roberts v Johnstone does not give full and fair compensation and should be replaced. Instead, a new mechanism has been created,

Welcome to the 11 April 2024 highlights from the Immigration team, which provides links to key news stories from the last week, as well as a round-up of new and updated content in Immigration.

When an organisation obtains a sponsor licence it must comply with a number of duties and responsibilities to the Home Office. When it applies for the licence it is declaring that it understands and is capable of complying with all of these. The consequences of failing to comply with the duties can be serious, including the licence being revoked, with a cooling-off period of 12 months imposed before it can apply for a fresh licence, and the permission of existing sponsored employees being cancelled. In some circumstances where there have been repeated breaches, there can be a longer cooling-off periods of 24 months. The details of the sponsor duties and responsibilities are not contained in the Immigration Rules or any legislation, but instead in the Workers and Temporary Workers Sponsor Guidance. In R (New London College Ltd) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (SSHD); R (West London Vocational Training College) v SSHD, the Supreme Court held that the Immigration Act 1971 provides a general statutory

This Practice Note is an introduction to the system of national non-domestic rates (NNDR) (also referred to as business rates) for non-domestic properties in England and Wales. It outlines the background to the operation of the scheme and provides detail on how the valuation process works. It explains how to check and, if necessary, make a challenge to amend a local list or appeal against decisions that have been made. As a tax on property, rates have existed in some form since 1601. The framework currently in place was largely established by the Local Government Finance Act 1988 (LGFA 1988), as amended. LGFA 1988 established that: • rates were to be raised only on non-domestic property—occupiers of domestic property would instead pay community charges (replaced by council tax from 1993, see Practice Note: Council tax) • rates bills were to be set nationally by way of government specified multipliers to be applied to rateable values for each financial year • local authorities would administer and collect rates income, but pay the proceeds

Scope of this Practice Note This Practice Note outlines the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) custody rules found in the Client Assets sourcebook (CASS), which forms part of the FCA Handbook, with which regulated firms must comply when they are safeguarding and administering investments. The rules apply to custody assets, which include safe custody investments (which are designated investments which a firm receives or holds on behalf of a client), and any other assets that are held in the same portfolio as safe custody investments for the same client. What do the FCA custody rules cover? The custody rules contained in chapter 6 of the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) Client Assets sourcebook (CASS) provide details on what a firm must do when it carries on the regulated activity of safeguarding and administering investments. See Practice Note: Safeguarding and administering investments for more information on this activity. The rules apply to custody assets, which include safe custody investments (which are designated investments which a firm receives or holds on behalf of a client), and any other assets that are

This Practice Note considers the key issues in relation to the enforcement of guarantees in the context of a financing transaction, specifically, a transaction where a lender (which is most likely to be a bank) has made a loan to a corporate borrower which is guaranteed by a corporate entity in the borrower’s group (eg the parent company of the borrower or a subsidiary of the borrower). This Practice Note considers the following issues: • what is the nature of claim that a lender has against a guarantor? • how does a lender enforce a guarantee? • how do you enforce under a multi-guarantor guarantee? • are there any specific issues to note in syndicated transactions? • are there any specific issues when dealing with guarantees from individuals? The law governing guarantees is complex and sometimes inconsistent, accordingly this Practice Note is intended to provide a starting point from which a more detailed analysis can be undertaken. What is the nature of claim that a lender

This employment consultation tracker details consultations, calls for evidence and inquiries (collectively referred to here as ‘consultations’) conducted by the UK government (and other bodies) that have an impact on employment law, which have closed and for which responses have been published between 2016 and 2024. Consultations are listed by topic, in reverse chronological response date order, ie the consultation which has the most recent response or outcome date will appear at the top of the relevant topic table. For details of the status of open consultations, and closed consultations for which responses are still being analysed, see: Consultation tracker—Employment. For details of consultations issued relating to the Employment Rights Act (ERA 2025), see: Employment Rights Act 2025—tracker—Consultations issued relating to the ERA 2025. For a summary of current key legal developments generally, including consultations, that are expected to impact employment lawyers, see: Employment—horizon scanner. This Tracker is not maintained. Government departments and other bodies move historical materials to The National Archives website on a regular basis. If you encounter any broken links to consultation documents or

This week's edition of Life Sciences weekly highlights includes news that the UK AI Bill completed its second reading on 22 March 2024 and the Advocate General Nicholas Emiliou’s Opinion regarding the Illumina-Grail merger cases was published recommending that the Court of Justice should set aside the General Court’s judgment which it found to be a misinterpretation of the Merger Regulation. Also included is news that the MHRA released guidance on the clinical investigation of electrical aspects of medical devices for certification markings, and news that the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld a complaint regarding a misleading ad for cranberry tablets which was found to make unsubstantiated health claims about their impact on bladder and urinary tract health, among other stories.

This week's edition of Insurance & Reinsurance weekly highlights includes: Case analysis written by Jennifer Haywood, barrister, arbitrator and mediator at Serle Court in relation to irreconcilable arbitral awards and judgments; Case analysis written by Crispin Winser KC, barrister at Crown Office Chambers on property insurance in relation to CAR policies; Top UK court won’t hear Excel business interruption test case; Arsenal, Liverpool settle with insurers in COVID-19 dispute; Early settlements could cut Russia aviation claims by US$10bn; Insurance losses from Baltimore bridge pinned at US$1.5bn; Global insurance prices dip for first time since 2017; The biggest developments in insurance in 2024; PRA corrects error in Solvency II standard formula mass lapse life underwriting risk rule; EU Solvency II: ESRB advice to EIOPA on criteria for identifying exceptional sector-wide shocks; EIOPA publishes strategic plan and work programme for 2024–2026; IRRD and Solvency II amendment published in Official Journal; cases and decisions; key dates for your diary; and other news highlights reported over the past week.

THIS PRACTICE NOTE APPLIES TO UK DEFINED BENEFIT (DB) OCCUPATIONAL PENSION SCHEMES ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. It considers the Pensions Regulator’s approach to funding defined benefit pension schemes for scheme valuations with an effective date before 22 September 2024, in accordance with the Code of Practice on funding defined benefits dated 29 July 2014 and relevant annual funding statements. It also summarises the Pensions Regulator’s approach before July 2014. For information on the Pensions Regulator’s approach for scheme valuations with an effective date on or after 22 September 2024, see Practice Notes: DB pensions funding reforms 2024 and The scheme-specific funding regime. When considering scheme funding matters, trustees and employers should take into account the Pensions Regulator's approach to funding defined benefits (DB benefits). How would the Pension Regulator communicate its approach to DB scheme funding? The Pensions Regulator's approach in relation to DB scheme funding was set out mainly in the following documents: • a code of practice on funding defined

What is the National Health Service Pension Scheme? The NHSPS is an unfunded, public service occupational pension scheme that provides retirement benefits to persons employed as health service workers on a salary-related or defined benefit (DB) basis. Since 1 April 2015, there are two separate NHSPS schemes: • the reformed NHSPS (sometimes referred to in NHS literature as the ‘2015 Scheme’), which was established on 1 April 2015 as a career average revalued earnings (CARE) scheme. New joiners have become members of this scheme since 1 April 2015. This scheme is the subject of this Practice Note • the legacy NHSPS (sometimes referred to in NHS literature as the ‘1995/2008 Scheme’). The scheme is composed of two separate final salary sections, the 1995 Section and the 2008 Section, which are closed to future accrual subject to the retention of a final salary link in that scheme. For further information, see Practice Note: The legacy National Health Service Pension Scheme Note that there are separate schemes in Scotland and Northern Ireland which are

This week's edition of IP weekly highlights includes: a hand-picked summary of news analysis, updates and new content from the world of IP. These highlights focus on the key rights of copyright and associated rights, database rights, trade marks and passing off, designs, and patents as well as covering issues relating to confidential information, know-how R&D and IP disputes all mainly from a UK and European perspective.