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Home| Knowledge| What's happening in Pensions - Issue 101

In this week's issue of Alternative Insights, we are looking at the impact of the EU's new foreign subsidies regulation on private equity deals.

In line with its public commitment to promote environmental sustainability and help accelerate the transition to a net zero economy, the Competition and Markets Authority ("CMA") has recently published its draft guidance on the application of the Chapter 1 prohibition to environmental sustainability agreements ("Guidance"). If implemented, the Guidance will provide business with greater comfort in assessing the legality and risk profile of their environmentally focussed agreements – at least in the UK.

UK data protection reform, take 2.

The Government has promised to introduce a new Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill in this session of Parliament, which is expected to have a significant impact on how competition law is enforced in the digital space. In this briefing, we therefore take a look at what recent CMA activity tells us about the rationale for the new legislation once it is in force, and how it has highlighted a desire for key reforms to the UK competition law regime.

This briefing was originally published on 18 November 2021 and was last updated on 29 March 2023.

The last few years have seen the development of several new initiatives designed to increase transparency in the real estate sector. 

As the Chancellor announces that the Autumn budget will include plans to make London a more attractive place to list, we take stock of the Government's proposals to overhaul the listing, prospectus and secondary fundraising regimes, looking at the changes that have already been actioned, those currently in progress and others that are yet to come.

Find the latest news, views and our analysis of all the key announcements.

The Chancellor announced major changes to pensions allowances with the aim of encouraging the over 50s to remain in, or return to, work. This is particularly pertinent to high earning senior clinicians in the NHS.

Further announcements were made in the Budget today in relation to changes to R&D relief. These announcements follow on from the recent consultations in relation to R&D relief and the changes made in recent fiscal statements.

In today's Budget, the government has confirmed that it will make welcome amendments to the UK's rules for qualifying asset holding companies (QAHCs).  Several of the key reforms were announced on "L Day" last July, including proposals to improve access to the regime for corporate funds and where parallel and aggregator funds are used.

This briefing was first published on 3 March 2021 and updated on 14 March 2023. 

The recent announcement of the UK Government's Payment and Cash Flow Review has once again put the spotlight on late payment clauses and other payment practices. Larger businesses in particular may be criticised for failure to comply with legal requirements or "best practices" in relation to their purchasing activity.

Key employment and business immigration developments for employers.

This FAQ document sets out the key considerations for your business if you have any sponsored workers in the UK who are at risk of redundancy. It is very important that you are aware of your obligations as a sponsor and what you must do to ensure that the business remains compliant throughout this process.

In this week's Alternative Insights, we are looking forward to the key themes for 2023, following an event we held in London on Wednesday and the launch of our new annual Insights publication.

Value chains are under the spotlight with the increase in so-called value chain liability claims in the UK: businesses operating in high-risk sectors need to carefully take stock of their potential exposure to this type of litigation risk. The retail sector (most notably larger retailers and supermarkets) needs to pay particular attention to these developments, given the size of their value chains and public profiles (and therefore the breadth of their potential legal and reputational exposure).  

The UK and the EU have reached agreement on changes to the post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland, known as the Windsor Framework. For businesses which don't have activities in Northern Ireland, the reaction might be: so what?