Browse regulations

These Rules amend the Magistrates' Courts Rules 1981 to insert Rule 3C, which grants courts explicit power to facilitate witness evidence through special measures including screens preventing witness-visibility of other parties, communication devices for disabled witnesses, and allowing companions to accompany witnesses. The rule applies on application or court's own initiative where it is in the interests of justice.

Without this regulation, vulnerable witnesses such as children, abuse victims, and disabled persons would face greater barriers to giving evidence in court proceedings. While procedural in nature, these measures directly enable access to justice by accommodating those who might otherwise be unable to testify effectively. The rule is permissive (uses 'may' not 'must'), includes appropriate judicial oversight via the 'interests of justice' standard, and merely clarifies existing court powers rather than creating new regulatory burden. Deleting it would harm the most vulnerable participants in the justice system without providing offsetting economic or competitive benefits.

Amends the Immigration (Passenger Transit Visa) Order 2014 to add El Salvador to the list of countries whose nationals require transit visas when passing through the United Kingdom. Includes a grandfather clause for travelers with existing bookings made before the Order came into force.

Transit visa requirements restrict freedom of movement, impose administrative costs on travelers and airlines, and disadvantage UK airports as transit hubs relative to competing European hubs like Amsterdam, Paris, and Frankfurt. This creates unnecessary friction for Salvadoran nationals and likely drives transit business away from British airports with no demonstrated security benefit proportionate to the cost imposed. The grandfather clause itself reveals awareness of disruption, suggesting the measure was adopted without adequate impact assessment.

These regulations amend the UK's customs tariff framework to implement the Ukraine Preferential Tariff (version 1.3, dated 6th May 2022) under the UK-Ukraine Association Agreement. They update Schedule 1 of the Customs Tariff (Preferential Trade Arrangements) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 to reflect the new tariff schedule, and modify the Customs (Tariff Quotas) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 to provide that security deposits for certain import licences (quota numbers 05.4270-05.4602) must be returned if surrendered within one month of 10th May 2022.

These regulations reduce tariffs on Ukrainian goods, facilitating trade rather than restricting it. While the tariff quota system involves administrative overhead, deleting this would harm British consumers and businesses who benefit from preferential access to Ukrainian imports, and would remove a mechanism for supporting Ukraine during an invasion — without providing any compensating benefit to the UK economy.

These Regulations amend the National Insurance Contributions (Application of Part 7 of the Finance Act 2004) Regulations 2012, introducing new disclosure and monitoring requirements for suspected notifiable contribution arrangements (tax avoidance schemes). Key changes include: new regulation 11D allowing HMRC to issue notices threatening reference number allocation if persons fail to prove arrangements are not notifiable; new regulations 12A-12C creating HMRC notification duties, appeal rights, and information-gathering powers in paragraph (3) cases; new regulation 13A imposing duties on service providers to notify clients of reference numbers; and expanded publication and information-sharing provisions. The regulations came into force on 1st June 2022.

These regulations expand HMRC's powers to investigate and impose requirements based on mere 'reasonable suspicion' rather than actual wrongdoing, shifting the burden of proof to taxpayers to disprove guilt. The compliance costs fall on promoters and service providers who must navigate complex notification and disclosure obligations. The broad definition of 'notifiable contribution arrangements' combined with criminal penalties for non-compliance creates a chilling effect on legitimate tax planning. The publication provisions (regulation 21C) allow HMRC to publish names based on suspicion alone, potentially causing reputational damage before any breach is established. These regulations exemplify the regulatory creep that makes Britain's tax system less competitive and dynamic.

Customs (Variation of Import Duty) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 - Amends the Customs (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2021 by omitting Part 3. Extends across all UK jurisdictions. Came into force 1 June 2022.

While ostensibly removing regulation (omitting Part 3), the regulation itself represents government control over import duties rather than their elimination. Rather than freeing trade, it merely adjusts a prior adjustment. True free trade would mean no government authority to vary import duties at administrative discretion — customs duties are a form of protectionism that raises prices for British consumers and distort economic signals. The regulation perpetuates government's ability to manipulate trade flows through duty variation rather than establishing a genuinely open trading regime.

Amends ITEPA 2003 to add tax exemption for Adult Disability Payment, Council Tax Rebate Discretionary Fund, and Household Support Fund Grant payments in Part 1 of Table B (wholly exempt UK social security benefits). Also inserts LGA 2003 abbreviation in Schedule 1. Effects generally apply from tax year 2021-22, with some provisions backdated to 2020-21.

These provisions exempt means-tested social security benefits for vulnerable populations (disabled adults, low-income households facing council tax hardship, those needing household support) from tax. Taxing these small, targeted payments would impose disproportionate compliance burdens on recipients, create administrative costs for HMRC exceeding any revenue raised, and risk creating poverty traps where recipients lose more in benefits/tax than they receive. The taxation of such payments could itself constitute harm to vulnerable persons the regulation seeks to protect. Without this exemption, the stated purpose of these social security schemes would be undermined.

Technical amendment Order that corrects cross-references in multiple UK benefit regulations (Income Support, Jobseeker's Allowance, Housing Benefit, Child Support, State Pension Credit, Employment and Support Allowance) and their Northern Ireland equivalents. The amendments replace 'Disability for Working Age People (Scotland) Regulations 2022' with 'Disability Assistance for Working Age People (Scotland) Regulations 2022' - a consequential correction following the renaming of the underlying Scottish regulations. Also includes minor textual corrections (renumbering provisions, correcting typographical errors like 'in entitled' to 'entitled').

This is purely a technical correction to maintain accurate cross-references in the statute book following the renaming of Scottish disability assistance regulations. Deleting it would leave multiple UK benefit regulations containing incorrect references to non-existent legislation, creating legal uncertainty, potential for benefit processing errors, and administrative confusion. The regulation imposes no costs on anyone - it merely corrects references to ensure the law is internally consistent. Britons would be worse off without these corrections as incorrect cross-references could delay or deny benefits incorrectly.

This regulation appoints 12th May 2022 as the day on which section 112 of the Finance Act 2020 (which imposes limits on local loans) comes into force. It is a procedural timing instrument with no independent regulatory effect.

This regulation is purely procedural — it merely sets a commencement date for an existing provision rather than creating any independent regulatory effect. The substantive regulatory burden, if any, stems from section 112 of the Finance Act 2020 itself, not this appointed day instrument. Deleting this regulation would not remove section 112 from the statute book but would merely prevent the appointed day mechanism from functioning, leaving the underlying policy question to be resolved through primary legislation. If section 112 is undesirable, primary legislation should be repealed, not buried in a commencement order.

Amendment regulations updating NHS flat rate payment (£187.60→£209.19) and high band payment (£258.08→£287.78) rates within the NHS Commissioning Board and CCG framework, effective June 2022.

This instrument simply adjusts predetermined payment figures within the NHS command-and-control pricing system. It perpetuates a centrally-planned tariff regime that distorts healthcare markets by artificially suppressing or dictating payment rates, discouraging private competition and innovation. The amendment mechanism itself—a bureaucratic formula for updating numbers—adds no value over letting parties negotiate freely. The underlying regulation establishes the apparatus of NHS market control, not merely a technical update to it.

These Regulations amend the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011, the Education (Fees and Awards) (England) Regulations 2007, and the Education (Student Support) (European University Institute) Regulations 2010. They extend student financial support eligibility to two new categories: (1) evacuated or assisted British nationals from Afghanistan who were evacuated during Operation Pitting (August 2021) or assisted to leave by the UK before January 2022, and (2) persons granted leave under Ukraine Schemes (Homes for Ukraine, Ukraine Extension, Ukraine Family Schemes). The regulations provide these groups access to student loans, fee limits, and awards for higher education, further education, Master's degrees, doctoral degrees, and short courses.

These provisions address genuine humanitarian emergencies — British nationals evacuated from Afghanistan following Operation Pitting and refugees fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Deleting these regulations would leave a small, clearly-defined group of vulnerable people without access to higher education, harming individuals who have already suffered displacement through no fault of their own. While the underlying student finance system involves government subsidies and price controls that Better Britain would generally reform, these specific provisions do not create new distortions — they merely extend existing mechanisms to people in acute need. The Afghan evacuees are British citizens whom the UK government itself evacuated; the Ukrainian refugees are fleeing war. Removing their access to student support would cause genuine harm without meaningfully reducing the regulatory estate.

This Order designates restricted areas around designated wreck sites in English waters, extending to England and Wales but applying only in England. It lists four wreck sites with positions and specifies restricted radii around each. The order also amends a 2017 order's coordinate data for 'The Hazardous, Bracklesham Bay' wreck and revokes the 1997 Protection of Wrecks (Designation No. 3) Order.

Designating restricted maritime zones around wreck sites unnecessarily restrains commercial navigation, fishing, and offshore development. Heritage protection of wrecks can be achieved through voluntary designation, private stewardship, or less restrictive planning controls rather than blanket exclusion zones that impede offshore wind projects, shipping, and economic activity. The fact that the 1997 Order is simply being revoked alongside this amendment suggests these restrictions are of questionable ongoing necessity.

A commencement order bringing section 28 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 (video recorded cross-examination or re-examination) into force on 12 May 2022, limited to 14 specified Crown Court locations in England and Wales, applicable when the witness is a complainant in sexual offence or modern slavery proceedings eligible for assistance under section 17(4).

This order does not restrict economic activity, create monopolies, or impose regulatory burdens on business. It is a narrow procedural mechanism enabling vulnerable witnesses (sexual offence and modern slavery complainants) to give evidence via video recording, reducing re-traumatisation and potentially improving evidence quality. Without this commencement order, this protective procedural tool would simply not be available at these courts. Britons, particularly vulnerable crime victims, would be worse off without access to this witness protection measure.

Amends the Civil Proceedings Fees Order 2008 and Family Proceedings Fees Order 2008 to exempt court fees for applications relating to in-person cross-examination of parties or witnesses under specific provisions of the Courts Act 2003 (ss. 85F-K) and Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984 (ss. 31R-W). This exemption applies to fees 2.4(a), 2.5(a) in civil proceedings and fees 5.1, 5.3 in family proceedings. Comes into force alongside sections 65 and 66 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021.

While generally opposing unnecessary regulation, this amendment removes a fee barrier for vulnerable domestic abuse victims seeking to cross-examine their abusers in person — a protective measure directly tied to the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. The fees exempted (£308-£528) would otherwise fall on parties the Act specifically intends to protect. Removing this fee does not distort markets, create monopolies, or restrict supply — it merely ensures access to court protections for those the Domestic Abuse Act was designed to aid. The regulatory cost is negligible (a narrow revenue loss on a specific protective application), while the benefit is access to justice for domestic abuse survivors.

These Regulations revoke three EU Commission Implementing Regulations that imposed special conditions governing the import of feed and food from Japan following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident, along with a related Official Feed and Food Controls declaration. The regulations apply to England only and came into force on 29th June 2022.

This regulation removes trade barriers that were increasingly difficult to justify over a decade after the Fukushima incident. Retained EU food safety restrictions of this kind, originally imposed as emergency measures, become progressively more difficult to defend as baseline conditions improve and impose ongoing costs through restricted supply, higher prices, and foregone trade opportunities with Japan. Removing these import restrictions aligns with Britain's historic role as a free-trading nation and benefits British consumers through increased choice and lower costs without any demonstrated compensating safety benefit from continued restrictions.

A commencement regulation appointing 16th May 2022 as the date on which section 1 of the Fire Safety Act 2021 comes into force in England. It is a purely procedural instrument with no substantive regulatory requirements.

This regulation imposes no regulatory burden whatsoever—it merely exercises the constitutional function of appointing an in-force date for primary legislation. Deleting it would create legal uncertainty by leaving section 1 of the Fire Safety Act 2021 without a commencement date, achieving nothing in terms of deregulation. If the Fire Safety Act 2021 itself imposes excessive regulatory costs, the proper target for review is that primary legislation, not an administrative commencement mechanism.