Both lawful and unlawful means conspiracy requires a combination or concerted action between two or more persons. There must be an overt act by one or more party to the concerted action, but not all of those involved need to carry it out—see Crofter Hand Woven Harris Tweed Co Ltd v Veitch at 146 and Kuwait Oil Tanker Co SAK v Al Bader at 312 and see Practice Note: Civil conspiracy claims (economic tort). There is no need however to prove that each conspirator acted upon the agreement, for participation may be either active or passive. In a group of companies, all of the individual companies have separate legal personality so, in principle, a parent company can combine

For information on business transfers under Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE 2006), SI 2006/246, reg 3(1)(a) generally, see Practice Note: TUPE—business transfers. This Q&A considers a restructure scenario which involves the following initial steps: • company A acquires the entire issued share capital of company B • the assets of company B are transferred to another entity within the same group (company C) • the employees of company B are transferred to a different entity within the same group (company D) It further contrasts this approach with the following approach to a restructure: • company A acquires the entire issued share capital of company B • the assets and employees of company B are transferred to another entity (company C) • a change of employer notice is given to the employees to transfer them to another entity (company D) A business transfer under TUPE 2006 occurs where there

In answering this Q&A, research has been limited to cover offences under section 1 and 2 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (MSA 2015) and other possible offences under other legislation relating to trafficking have not considered. MSA 2015, ss 1 and 2 provide for offences of human trafficking and slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour. It includes sexual and non-sexual exploitation. It came into force on 31 July 2015. The offence of slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour is defined in MSA 2015, s 1 as: • a person held by another person in slavery or servitude and the person knows or ought to know that the other person is held in slavery or servitude • the person requires another person to perform forced or compulsory labour and the person knows or ought to know that the other person is being required to perform forced or compulsory labour Note that it is possible for

The CSOP legislation under Schedule 4 to the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 (ITEPA 2003) does not generally specify the timing or circumstances in which CSOP options may be exercised. The exceptions to this are that, if the CSOP rules allow CSOP options to be exercised after the option holder’s death, the CSOP terms must explicitly state that the CSOP options must be exercised for a fixed period of 12 months following the death (see Practice Note: CSOP— Death of the option holder). In addition, the CSOP must also ensure that qualifying CSOP options cannot be exercised if the option holder has a material interest in a relevant company (see Practice Note: Who can be granted a CSOP option? — Material interest). Therefore it is possible to operate a CSOP which only allows options to become exercisable when there is an exit event of the company. However, it should be noted that

A living injured claimant who has received agreed damages or a court award, whether by way of interim payment or final compensation, may enter into a special needs trust (more commonly known as a personal injury trust) to protect their future entitlement to means tested state benefits and, less commonly, to protect the proceeds of the personal injury compensation claim from being taken into account in the assessment of capital in connection with local authority provision of residential care. Is a claimant who recovers damages for the personal injuries suffered by a deceased person, pursuant to section 1 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1934 (LR(MP)A 1934), able to take advantage of the same facility? It is very common for a personal injury claimant who has benefitted from a settlement

For information on whistleblowing detriment claims generally, see Practice Note: Types of whistleblowing claim. Where a tribunal accepts that a claimant was subjected to a detriment by any act or omission of their employer, which was done on the ground that they made a protected disclosure, it must always make a declaration to that effect. In addition, the tribunal may, if it chooses, award compensation. If it decides to do so, the amount of the compensation awarded will be whatever the tribunal considers just and equitable in all the circumstances, having regard to: • the infringement to which the complaint relates, and • any loss attributable to the act or omission which caused the detriment complained of In making this assessment: • 'attributable' is an ordinary

Compensation received from a personal injury (PI) claim can be placed in a PI trust at any time. Once in trust, the award will be ring-fenced for the purposes of means-tested benefits claims. Whenever possible, a PI trust should be established on or before damages being awarded, even if the claim is still in progress and the funds are released by way of an interim payment. The 52 week disregard period should be borne in mind in these cases. Complications may arise

Conditional exemption from inheritance tax derives from a policy pursued by the government for many decades to preserve property which is important to the nation’s heritage, whilst allowing it to remain in private ownership. Only certain heritage items will qualify, and there are strict requirements as to the allowing of access to the public. Undertakings will also be required in respect of access and in the case of chattels, their remaining in the UK, or a sale of the asset. Sections 30–35 and 78–79 of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 (IHTA 1984) (as amended, inter alia by the Finance

Legal professional privilege (LPP) There are two different types of legal professional privilege—both of which protect the relevant information from inspection. Firstly, legal advice privilege attaches to all communications made in confidence between a client and its legal adviser for the purpose of giving or obtaining legal advice (Price Waterhouse v BCCI). Secondly, litigation privilege protects from inspection—confidential communications whether oral or written, between the client (A) and third parties (C) and/or professional legal advisers (B) and third parties (C), or other documents created by or on behalf of A or B. For litigation privilege to apply, 'adversarial proceedings' must have commenced or must be ‘anticipated’, ‘apprehended‘, ‘contemplated’, ‘pending’ or ‘threatened’ at the time of the communication (Waugh v British Railways Board and Three Rivers v Bank of England (No 6)). For information on the general principles associated with privilege, the rationale

An individual’s status as an employee of a company is generally regarded as separate from their status as a shareholder (or their office as a director). There are three essential requirements for an unfair constructive dismissal: • there must be an actual or anticipatory breach of contract by the employer which is a fundamental or repudiatory breach, ie one that ‘goes to the root of the contract of employment’ so as to be sufficiently serious to justify the

The Practice Note: Sponsoring a Skilled Worker sets out in detail how salary fits into the eligibility criteria for the Skilled Worker route, but note that there are three thresholds that generally need to be met in whole or part: the relevant general threshold (expressed as an annual amount), the going rate for the role and the hourly rate. These are each calculated in accordance with the Rules and guidance, see the section ‘How is salary calculated’, and the relevant Immigration Rules, which are extracted below. The reference to weekly hours stated by the sponsor is explained

Where the owner of copyright in a work leaves a Will, the property rights (such as copyright and publication right) pass on death to the executors of their estate who in turn will vest the copyright in the beneficiary or beneficiaries. Generally, given that the rights require a specialist approach, a testator would ordinarily appoint a special executor/trustee to deal with those rights. Equally, the conventional situation appears to be that those rights are left to the special executor on trust for the ultimate beneficiaries. These approaches have the advantage of enabling a complex area to be administered for the benefit of the beneficiaries