‘The Court of Appeal in Re J, Re M and Re P (Parental Responsibility) [2026] EWCA Civ 344 has provided authoritative guidance on a fundamental question in family law: whether a person who is not a child’s biological father can acquire parental responsibility by being named on the birth certificate. The court firmly answered that question in the negative, clarifying the meaning of “father” under the Children Act 1989 and resolving a line of inconsistent first instance decisions.’

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UK Human Rights Blog, 9th April 2026

Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com

‘The UK sponsorship regime is undergoing a significant and deliberate shift. The Home Office has introduced a series of updates to sponsor licence guidance over the past year, with further changes continuing into 2026. While many of these amendments are presented as clarifications, their cumulative effect is clear: the compliance expectations placed on sponsor licence holders have been materially strengthened.’

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EIN Blog, 9th April 2026

Source: www.ein.org.uk

‘A reined-in legal ombudsman has vowed to make do with the reduced budget increase it has been allowed – but warned there will be consequences for how quickly complaints can be handled.’

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Law Society Gazette, 10th April 2026

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

‘Bar pupils who attended Oxbridge are 15 times more likely than others to obtain financial awards of £60,000 or more, according to the Bar Council’s latest pupil survey which asked about university education for the first time.’

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Law Society Gazette, 10th April 2026

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

‘The absence of clear legal powers to prevent people suffering mental health crises from leaving NHS emergency departments has forced lawyers to train healthcare professionals to break the law “in the least harmful way”. That is one conclusion of an investigation by the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB), which yesterday warned that a “significant legal gap” was putting patients in mental health crisis at risk – and creating an impossible choice for staff trying to keep them safe.’

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Law Society Gazette, 10th April 2026

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

‘The Bar Standards Board has become the latest legal regulator to seek an above-inflation budget rise next year. In its annual business plan for 2026/27, the BSB said it expected its total running costs ‘including our share of the costs of services which we share with the Bar Council – to be nearly £24 million’. This is 12% up on this year’s total of £21.141m.’

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Law Society Gazette, 9th April 2026

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

‘Allianz is seeking damages of almost £300,000 for protests at its UK offices in October 2024 and March 2025, in what is believed to be the first civil case brought against people accused of involvement in direct action with the protest group.’

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The Guardian, 8th April 2026

Source: www.theguardian.com

‘An “opportunistic” thief who stole a handbag containing an emerald-encrusted Fabergé egg and watch set worth up to £2.2m from a central London pub has been jailed for more than two years.’

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BBC News, 9th April 2026

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

‘Nottingham is one of a small number of crown courts running “blitz” hearings, where dozens of cases are pushed through in a day, with the aim of tackling massive court backlogs.’

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BBC News, 10th April 2026

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

‘You’ll often see this topic described as “stripping” or “removing” an abusive father’s parental rights but parental responsibility (PR) can’t often simply be taken away – although where the circumstances justify it, PR can be restricted or effectively suspended. There are quite a few changes in the law going through at present and the landscape can look confusing, so here is a brief guide and update.’

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The Transparency Project, 8th April 2026

Source: transparencyproject.org.uk

‘In Lynch v Princess Alexandra Hospital [2026] EWHC 657 (KB) Mrs Justice Ellenbogen provided a very useful distillation of the law relating to claims for provisional damages, as well as an example of the careful application of that law in a clinical negligence context. The judgment is also a useful discussion of a range of other interesting issues pertinent to the assessment of damages, but those fall outside the scope of this article.’

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Quarterly Medical Law Review, 8th April 2026

Source: 1corqmlr.com

‘On 26 February 2026, Baroness Amos published her Interim Report as Chair of the independent National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation. The Investigation was set up in June 2025 to drive urgent improvements in patient care and safety.’

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Quarterly Medical Law Review, 8th April 2026

Source: 1corqmlr.com

‘Gary Soloman and Connor Maunder set out significant changes to the written representations procedure process for planning appeals that came into effect this month.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 9th April 2026

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

‘Rulings by Bar disciplinary tribunals which clear barristers of misconduct are to be published in all cases, not only where requested, the Bar Standards Board (BSB) has decided.’

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Legal Futures, 9th April 2026

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

‘1COR’s Lizanne Gumbel KC and Matthew Leitch join Jim Duffy to talk through some of the latest judgments in the field of medical law. Among the highlights are the use of surveillance footage, “lost years”, percentage offers under Part 36 and secondary victimhood.’

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Law Pod UK, 7th April 2026

Source: audioboom.com

‘Demand on the family courts in England and Wales increased during 2025, with new figures showing a 3% rise in overall cases compared with the previous year, prompting renewed calls for greater investment in the justice system.’

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Family Law, 7th April 2026

Source: www.familylaw.co.uk

‘The President of the Family Division has issued new guidance on the allocation and gatekeeping of children cases in the Family Court, aimed at improving efficiency and ensuring cases are heard at the appropriate judicial level.’

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Family Law, 7th April 2026

Source: www.familylaw.co.uk

‘Buckingham Palace has finally announced that the King and Queen’s planned visit to the US will indeed go ahead at the end of April 2026. After US President Donald Trump launched a string of verbal attacks on the UK Prime Minister, there had been growing calls for Keir Starmer to cancel the King’s visit, which he is due to make to celebrate the 250^th anniversary of US independence. The Liberal Democrats, for instance, had urged the PM not to grant “yet another huge diplomatic coup” to a President “who repeatedly insults and damages our country.” However, little academic attention has been paid to the issue of whether, as a matter of constitutional law, it would have even been possible for the PM to cancel the visit in the first place. Further, what say, if any, might the King himself have had in the matter?’

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UK Constitutional Law Association, 8th April 2026

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

‘For the present post, we asked both Copilot and to ChatGTP to provide an answer to the question: To what extent do search engines identify Law and Religion UK as a source of information (on law and religion)?. The responses were followed up by additional considerations on the future role of AI in “specialist blogs”.’

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Law & Religion UK, 8th April 2026

Source: lawandreligionuk.com