From 1 January 2021 the state aid principles set out in the Trade and Co-Operation Agreement are incorporated into law by the EU (Future Relationship) Act 2020.
From 1 January 2021 the state aid principles set out in the Trade and Co-Operation Agreement are incorporated into law by the EU (Future Relationship) Act 2020. Without regulations in place that flesh out the details, it’s a mess. We know that there must be an independent authority and rights to challenge breaches and that the de minimis threshold is roughly doubled. Beyond that, many of the familiar principles will apply but will need to be developed to apply specifically to the UK (Northern Ireland apart).
Unless regulations pop up from nowhere, a sensible approach would be for Government guidance stating that the existing regime will broadly continue until a new, more streamlined one is developed. So, treat awards in line with General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) as a safe harbour, for example. It would be a bold grant funding authority that says state aid bets are off until a statutory instrument is in place.
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.
