Category: news

‘Account Freezing Orders (AFO) are an increasingly common feature of financial investigations in the UK, with HMRC in particular making growing use of these powers as part of its civil and criminal enforcement activity. Often obtained without notice and at an early stage of an enquiry, an AFO can have an immediate and far-reaching impact on individuals and businesses, freezing bank accounts and restricting access to funds overnight.’

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2 Hare Court, 23rd February 2026

Source: www.2harecourt.com

‘Custody Time Limits (better known as CTLs) are the length of time, under statute, for which someone accused of a crime can be held in custody before they are tried. Trials which take place in the Magistrates Court, be they summary only or either way, have a CTL of 56 days, or 8 weeks. Crown Court cases have a Custody Time Limit of 182 days, roughly six months.’

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2DRJ, 26th February 2026

Source: www.2drj.com

‘The backlog in England and Wales is serious but there are other ways to address it. There are many retired judges and calling them into action could be key.’

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The Guardian, 23rd March 2026

Source: www.theguardian.com

‘The Court of Appeal for England and Wales has overruled a longstanding High Court decision on the meaning of ‘building’ under the tenants’ right of first refusal provisions, providing further guidance but also, exceptionally, inviting government intervention, an expert has said.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 23rd March 2026

Source: www.pinsentmasons.com

‘Legal professionals are increasingly becoming involved in the conduct of investigations, in the workplace and elsewhere. Marina Wheeler KC joins Jim Duffy to look at how the skill sets of barristers can help determine what has happened and why, and increase the prospects of swift resolution and a clean break.’

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Law Pod UK, 24th March 2026

Source: audioboom.com

‘Six students from Sudan and Afghanistan have accused the home secretary of racial discrimination and launched legal action to try to overturn a ban on them taking up university places in the UK.’

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The Guardian, 23rd March 2026

Source: www.theguardian.com

‘At the end of January 2026, the Upper Tax Tribunal decided that severe baldness in women is a disability. I first wrote about the illogicality of equality law’s approach to baldness in 2020. Since then, there have been several judgments attempting – via different mechanisms and to different degrees – to recognise the social reality of baldness. This blog aims to explore where we are, how we got here, and where the law might go next.’

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UK Labour Law, 24th March 2026

Source: uklabourlawblog.com

‘The Court of Appeal has ruled, by a majority (Lord Justice Dingemans, Senior President of Tribunals and Lord Justice Cobb; Lady Justice Laing dissenting) that the Home Secretary has the power to withdraw a decision letter mistakenly granting an applicant Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) and replace it with a decision granting only limited leave to remain. The case is R (on the application of YC) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2026] EWCA Civ 285.’

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Administrative Court Blog, 23rd March 2026

Source: administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com

‘Some local authorities refer to the threat of prison in their first letter to people who have missed a council tax payment, a debt charity has said.’

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BBC News, 23rd March 2026

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

‘According to Civil Procedure Rule 54.1, a claim for judicial review is a claim to review the lawfulness of an enactment or a decision, action or failure to act in relation to the exercise of a public function. But as the Supreme Court made clear on 16 October 2024 in Re an application by Noeleen McAleenon for Judicial Review (Northern Ireland) [2024] UKSC 31 (at paragraph 50): ‘The forms of relief available in a claim for judicial review are discretionary…’ Moreover: ‘A court may refuse to grant leave to apply for judicial review or refuse a remedy at the substantive hearing if a suitable alternative remedy exists but the claimant has failed to use it.’ For: ‘As stated in R (Glencore Energy UK Ltd) v Revenue and Customs Commissioners [2017] EWCA Civ 1716…“judicial review in the High Court is ordinarily a remedy of last resort, to ensure that the rule of law is respected where no other procedure is suitable to achieve that objective”.’ So if: ‘…other means of redress are conveniently and effectively available, they ought ordinarily to be used before resort to judicial review’. ‘

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Law Society's Gazette, 20th March 2026

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

‘The Divisional Court (Lewis LJ, Chamberlain J) sitting in Cardiff has held that recognising a common law duty on Welsh ministers to consult before introducing legislation in the Senedd would infringe the constitutional separation of powers reflected in the Government of Wales Act 2006 (“GoWA”). The Court’s decision represents a muscular invocation of the pre-legislative, holistic view of devolution provided by Lord Hope in Axa. But that is no reason to think the textualist view of devolution provided by Lord Reed in that case has been departed from. The case is R (The Greyhound Board of Great Britain) v The Welsh Ministers [2026] EWHC 670 (Admin).’

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Administrative Court Blog, 22nd March 2026

Source: administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com

‘The current government has placed much emphasis on the perceived delays and chilling effects to the delivery of major infrastructure projects as a result of judicial review challenges by project opponents (framed as so-called “NIMBYs” or “blockers”), and has introduced some reforms targeted at minimising the impacts of these challenges following an independent review commissioned by the previous Sunak government. Among the issues raised in that independent review was the time taken for infrastructure challenges to proceed through the courts.’

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UK Constitutional Law Association, 23rd March 2026

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

‘The court found the commoners’ council could not rely on local people’s estimates of animal numbers to arrive at firm conclusions on this and so had failed to fulfil its duties.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 19th March 2026

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

‘The Court of Appeal has found the High Court was right to reject a judicial review that turned on whether a planning reserved matters application had been lawfully made.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 19th March 2026

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

‘The Court of Appeal has rejected an appeal from a passenger over a finding that he had participated in a breach of a car-cruising injunction obtained by the London Borough of Enfield.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 19th March 2026

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

‘Peers in the House of Lords have backed plans to decriminalise abortions, which MPs voted in favour of last summer.’

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BBC News, 19th March 2026

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

‘The government has reneged on a pledge to make all prison cells fire-safe or take them out of use by the end of next year, meaning tens of thousands of prisoners in England and Wales will remain at risk.’

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The Guardian, 19th March 2026

Source: www.theguardian.com

‘A High Court judge has rejected claims that the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) owns land earmarked for a major expansion subject to a statutory trust.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 19th March 2026

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

‘The Privy Council has today given judgment in A and 6 others v C and 13 others [2026] UKPC 11 on the role of trust protectors. The reassuring news for pensions lawyers is that this is not a case that needs to go straight to the top of the reading pile. The Board was dealing with a specialised offshore trust structure, and considering whether fiduciary protectors asked to consent to trustee decisions are confined to a narrow supervisory role or may exercise their own independent judgment on the merits. In preferring the latter answer, the judgment stresses that “protector” is not a term of art and that everything depends on the proper construction of the trust instrument.’

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Pensions Barrister, 19th March 2026

Source: www.pensionsbarrister.com

‘A religious father has lost a “heartbreaking” High Court battle over the final resting place of his teenage son, who died by suicide in December after struggling with mental health issues.’

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The Independent, 20th March 2026

Source: www.independent.co.uk