Primary Class 1 (employees') national insurance contributions (NICs) are not payable by anyone over state pension age. Therefore, once an employee reaches state pension age, they will not be subject to any employees' NICs when there is a chargeable event in relation to any share incentive awards that they hold. However, employers

Considerations Natural England may take into account in granting wildlife licences Natural England is authorised to issue and enforce wildlife licences in the terrestrial environment in England as an ‘appropriate authority’ under the section 16 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (WCA 1981). The wildlife offences in WCA 1981, ss 1, 5, 6(3)–8 will not apply to anything done for certain prescribed purposes under and in accordance with the terms of a licence granted by Natural England. For example, a wildlife licence is required if there are plans to carry out an activity which will disturb or remove wildlife or damage habitats. Licences are only issued if the activity meets certain legislative requirements. There must also be a likelihood that an offence will occur; if there is a negligible

Frustration A contract may be frustrated if an unforeseen event occurs after the contract is formed and: • as a result of that event: ◦ the contract becomes impossible to perform, and/or ◦ the obligations under the contract are transformed into something radically different • the contract does not contain a clause intended to deal with the unforeseen event • the unforeseen event is not caused by either party’s conduct For more information generally, see Practice Note: Discharge by frustration and Commentary: Impossibility: Halsbury's Laws of England (22 (2019)) [258]. Failure of a third party to perform obligations under a collateral contract The general principles of frustration are applicable in establishing whether the failure of a third

Where property is jointly owned consideration must be given to both the legal and the beneficial ownership of that property. Legal ownership refers to the persons who are entitled to be registered as proprietors of the property, and will hold the legal ownership as joint tenants. The beneficial ownership will be held on trust by the legal owners for the equitable owners, who may or may not be the same persons. Equitable ownership can be by way of an equitable joint tenancy or as tenants in common. The former means that the beneficial owners together hold the whole indivisibly and upon the death of one the other becomes the sole proprietor

Law360: On 2 October 2024, the European Union General Court upheld a decision by the European Commission prohibiting Romania from paying a €178m award from the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes in favour of the Micula brothers.

This Q&A assumes that the trust is not a bare trust and that it is a settlement to which Schedule 16 to the Finance Act 2003 (FA 2003) applies. This Q&A further assumes that this transaction is not made in accordance with a person’s will. Under FA 2003, Sch 16, para 7 where a chargeable interest is acquired by virtue of the exercise

As explained in Practice Note: Data protection law—new starter guide, there are a number of distinct data protection laws in the UK. Two of those regimes are: • the UK GDPR regime—United Kingdom’s General Data Protection Regulation, Retained Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (UK GDPR) regime is the primary UK data protection regime and covers most personal data processing in the UK. The UK GDPR regime is supplemented by certain detailed provisions in the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) • the law enforcement processing regime—governs the processing of personal data by certain ‘competent authorities’ (eg the police) for the purposes of the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences or the execution of criminal penalties. Relevant provisions are primarily found in DPA 2018, Pt 3 (DPA 2018, s 29) For the purpose of this Q&A, it is assumed that: • the relevant organisation that may receive such as request

The general rule is that signatories to a deed should not act as witnesses to each other's signatures, even in cases where multiple individuals are signing the same or related documents. The rationale behind this rule is to maintain the integrity of the execution process. A witness must be independent and present at the time of execution to

Paragraphs 186–193 of the Immigration Rules Part 5 provide for leave to enter, leave to remain and indefinite leave to remain to be granted on the grounds of United Kingdom Ancestry. See Practice Note: Applying under the UK Ancestry route. A migrant holding leave to enter or remain in this category will be eligible for indefinite leave to remain if the requirements of the Immigration Rules, Part 5, para 192 are satisfied, which includes the requirement that the applicant: ‘(ii) has spent a continuous period of 5 years lawfully in the United Kingdom in this capacity.’ The Immigration Rules, Part 5, para 128A defines what constitutes continuous lawful residence for the purposes of indefinite leave

As explained in the Table in Practice Note: What does stamp duty apply to?, UK stamp duty can apply to an instrument transferring non-UK shares (ie shares issued by a company incorporated outside the UK). Section 14(4) of the Stamp Act 1891, which provides the territorial scope of stamp duty, does not refer to the governing law of any documents, but rather to the fact

This Q&A considers a scenario where the landowner (who is otherwise registered for value added tax (VAT)) has opted to tax the land for VAT purposes. It is unclear what activity is carried out on the land. The landowner also appears to have entered into an agreement whereby it will only negotiate a sale of the land with the other party to the agreement who pays a fee for this privilege. If a sale results from this arrangement, then the fee will reduce the sale price. If the sale does not happen because of a title defect

The fees which may be recovered when an authorised enforcement agent is exercising Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery (CRAR) on behalf of a landlord are set out in The Taking Control of Goods (Fees)