The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy has just launched its consultation on the future of subsidy control law (previously known as state aid) in the UK.
The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy has just launched its consultation on the future of subsidy control law (previously known as state aid) in the UK. The government hopes that a new regime will give sufficient certainty to enable confident funding and investment decisions while avoiding undue bureaucracy and responses to the consultation will inform that balancing act.
The current subsidy control system in the UK is suboptimal to say the least – it consists of a combination of the old EU state rules incorporated through the Northern Ireland Protocol and new subsidy control rules drawn directly from the UK’s Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) with the EU. The new subsidy control rules draw heavily on the old state aid rules so in the absence of a more detailed regime most public authorities are still aligning with the old state aid regime as the only source of authority for how to comply with the principles within the new subsidy control regime.
Clearly this is not the government’s intention for the future of subsidy control so a new regime is to be welcomed. The consultation is wide ranging and surprisingly seeks opinions on implementing rules that in some cases go beyond what is required by the UK-EU TCA. This suggests the government recognises the advantages of a comprehensive regime even as it endeavours to reduce bureaucracy.
We will certainly be responding to the new consultation and we strongly recommend engaging with the process as it provides a rare opportunity to shape the future of subsidy control law in the UK.
Legal Director
alex.kynoch@brownejacobson.com
+44 (0)115 976 6511
Law firm Browne Jacobson has collaborated with Wiltshire Council and Christ Church Business School on the launch event of The Council Company Best Practice and Innovation Network, a platform which brings together academic experts and senior local authority leaders, allowing them to share best practice in relation to council companies.
In the Autumn Statement delivered on 17 November, rises to the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage rates were announced, to take effect from 1 April 2023.
Announced in September but scrapped on 17 November the investment zone proposals were very short lived. The proposal has now morphed into the proposal for a smaller number of clustered zones earmarked for investment.
Settlement agreements are commonplace in an employment context and are ordinarily used to provide the parties to the agreement with certainty following the conclusion of an employment relationship.
On 2 November 2022, the Supreme Court handed down its judgment in the much awaiting case of Hillside Parks Ltd v Snowdonia National Park Authority [2022] UKSC 30. The Court’s judgment suggests that the long established practice of using drop-in applications is in fact much more restricted than previously thought. This judgment therefore has significant implications for both the developers and local planning authorities.
In ‘failure to remove’ claims, the claimant alleges abuse in the family home and asserts that the local authority should have known about the abuse and/or that they should have removed the claimant from the family home and into care earlier.
Across the UK, homelessness is an urgent crisis, and one that is set to grow amid the rising cost of living. Local authorities are at the forefront of responding to this crisis, but with a lack of properties that are suitable for social housing across the UK, vulnerable individuals and families are often housed in temporary accommodation.
Settlement agreements in an employment context are ordinarily used to provide both parties with certainty following the conclusion of an employment relationship – but what happens when there is alleged discrimination after entering into a settlement agreement?
Updates include UK Shared Prosperity Fund, contracts, Subsidy Control Bill, data controller liability, Government Covid-19 procurement and Highway Code revisions.
The complex and rather nebulous transitional subsidy control regime set out in the UK-EU Trade and Co-operation Agreement and the UK’s wider international commitments has made it difficult for public authorities and those working with them to proceed with certainty where subsidies are involved.
Investment zones have been introduced by the Conservative party to get the United Kingdom (UK) ‘working, building and growing’. They are to be designated sites which provide time-limited tax incentives, streamlined planning rules and wider support for local growth to encourage investment and accelerate the development of housing and infrastructure that the UK needs to drive economic growth. Processes and requirements that slow down development will be stripped back with the intention of attracting new investment.