‘A recent decision by the Upper Tribunal (UT) underlines the importance for UK taxpayers in carefully framing the proposed conditions when seeking suspension of an HMRC penalty, an expert has said.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 14th January 2026

Source: www.pinsentmasons.com

‘Since the withdrawal of legal aid for private family law disputes post-LASPO (Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders), separating couples have increasingly been encouraged to resolve their own financial disputes through private ordering. Although over half of financial arrangements made by divorcees are settled by the couple themselves, limited empirical insight exists into how such agreements are negotiated and whether they achieve substantive fairness. This article draws on qualitative research with 32 divorced military wives to examine the role of legal myths in shaping privately negotiated settlements. Participants report relying on heuristic understandings of law – such as ‘fairness equals a 50:50 split’, ‘what’s mine, is mine’, and ‘his money, he decides’ – which diverge significantly from the legal principles of needs, sharing, and compensation. These myths serve to guide and constrain financial negotiations of separating couples, often at the expense of the financially weaker party. This article argues that such myths are symptomatic of broader neoliberal and gendered ideologies that underpin current family law practices. In light of current debates around reforming financial remedies law in England and Wales, this article calls for renewed scrutiny of informal settlements and considers whether privately negotiated financial settlements subject to greater judicial oversight might better promote fairness in family breakdown.’

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Law, Policy and the Family, 30th December 2026

Source: academic.oup.com

‘Recent policy rhetoric underlines the value of listening to those with first-hand experience of the family courts to better understand how the system could be adapted to benefit parents’ participation. This paper examines the participative experiences of 28 parents who were involved in recent care proceedings in England and Wales, with a focus on the procedural justice concept of voice. In-depth, narrative interviews highlight embedded, systemic barriers to parents’ participation, including the formality of legal language, procedure, and courtroom layout. Parents’ assessments of their legal representation and their interactions with the judge are important markers of whether they felt heard in the proceedings. The wider implications of findings are examined, including the gulf that exists in interpretations of ‘voice’ between professionals and parents as parties in legal proceedings. Adaptations to professional practice and court processes to better accommodate parent voice are considered.’

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Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 14th January 2026

Source: www.tandfonline.com

‘A shoplifter has been jailed and banned from all Aldi stores in an Essex district after stealing nearly £800 worth of meat, including premium wagyu steaks.’

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The Independent, 14th January 2026

Source: www.independent.co.uk

‘The way UK product liability laws could be modernised has become clearer after the terms of reference for a review of the current framework was published.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 14th January 2026

Source: www.pinsentmasons.com

‘Zara Yusuf, of Three Stone Chambers, considers the recent Ombudsman determinations on the scope of the trustees’ responsibility for statutory transfers of pension benefits, and asks whether the approach adopted is overly restrictive.’

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Pensions Barrister, 15th January 2026

Source: www.pensionsbarrister.com

‘A potential government U-turn on changes to jury trials risks breaking a justice system on the brink of collapse, the new victims’ commissioner for England and Wales has said.’

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The Guardian, 14th January 2026

Source: www.theguardian.com

‘Two men have been jailed for creating a cannabis factory in a former fancy dress store.’

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The Independent, 13th January 2026

Source: www.independent.co.uk

‘In advance of a challenge against the Foreign Secretary’s refusal to provide consular assistance for a British national and her children currently present in Al-Roj camp in Syria, the High Court (Jay J) has held that claims for consular assistance fall within the “hard core of public authority prerogatives”, making them fall outside the scope of Article 6(1) ECHR and thus entitlement to AF (No. 3) gisted disclosure in national security cases. The case is R (C3) v Foreign Secretary [2026] EWHC 34 (Admin).’

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Administrative Court Blog, 13th January 2026

Source: administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com

‘The government has dropped plans requiring workers to sign up to its digital ID scheme in order to prove their right to work in the UK.’

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BBC News, 13th January 2026

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

‘The Justice Secretary’s proposal to restrict the use of jury trials has been met with furious opposition from all sides. So far, the debate has focused on his dubious claim that it will allow us to get a grip on the backlog of cases in the Crown Court, with critics arguing that funding the justice system properly after fifteen years of cuts is a better solution. But this debate shouldn’t be framed in purely managerial terms. We need to pay more attention to the anti-democratic consequences of the government’s plan.’

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UK Constitutional Law Association, 13th January 2026

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

‘A woman who was raped by her father as a child has told how he died before standing trial after she endured almost nine years of police and court delays.’

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The Guardian, 13th January 2026

Source: www.theguardian.com

‘The next stage of a new law being designed to stop cover-ups has been temporarily delayed after MPs raised concerns about whether it would apply fully to the security services.’

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BBC News, 13th January 2026

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

‘The presence of kerbs around a burial plot is frequently addressed in the consistory courts, and each diocese has its own Churchyard Regulations offering practical guidance to parishes on the legal permissions and procedures involved in caring for churchyards.’

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Law & Religion UK, 14th January 2026

Source: lawandreligionuk.com

‘The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has suddenly withdrawn proposed rule changes to improve how solicitors handle complaints from approval by the Legal Services Board (LSB).’

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Legal Futures, 14th January 2026

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

‘A roof repair fraudster who drove his van into a mother-of-three on a golf course after being pursued by police has been jailed for 13 years and six months.’

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BBC News, 13th January 2026

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

‘In 2024 the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) called for the law in England and Northern Ireland to be reformed to ban parents from physically punishing their children, similar to the laws that were introduced in Scotland in 2020 and in Wales in 2022. This call by the RCPCH, and the changes introduced in Scotland and Wales, makes it timely to consider the need for law reform to better protect children’s rights. However, neither domestic law in England and Northern Ireland, nor international children’s rights laws, provide children with an unambiguous and enforceable right to freedom from parental disciplinary violence. This article circumvents rights-based discourses and instead engages with Dixon and Nussbaum’s capabilities approach which conceptualises rights in terms of the capabilities, entitlements and freedoms needed to promote human flourishing. Analysing the child’s right to freedom from violence through the capabilities approach allows us to argue for redrawing the boundary between the private and public space of family life to challenge the ambiguous protection of children from violence in the family. The capabilities approach shifts the focus beyond the limitations of a solely rights‐based discourse to considering whether the protection from physical punishment provided to children in England and Northern Ireland sufficiently acknowledges the primary focus of the capabilities approach, namely to expand the child’s opportunities for human flourishing.’

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Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 11th January 2026

Source: www.tandfonline.com

‘Survivors of rape and sexual assault will no longer have to give police access to their counselling notes except in special circumstances, under a new code of practice that came into force on Monday.’

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BBC News, 12th January 2026

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

‘The UK government is threatening Elon Musk’s X with the nuclear option under the country’s online safety laws: a ban. The social media platform is under pressure from ministers after it allowed the Grok AI tool, which is integrated within the app, to generate indecent images of unsuspecting women and children.’

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The Guardian, 13th January 2026

Source: www.theguardian.com