Browse regulations

Employment Appeal Tribunal (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Rules 2020 - Temporarily amended the Employment Appeal Tribunal Rules 1993 to permit oral hearings to be conducted by electronic communication (including telephone) during the coronavirus pandemic, subject to the Tribunal considering it just and equitable and ensuring public access to hearings. The rules were explicitly designed to expire when section 55(b) of the Coronavirus Act 2020 expires.

This temporary pandemic amendment was expressly designed to expire alongside the Coronavirus Act 2020 provisions, meaning it is likely already obsolete. Even if not yet expired, it was enacted as emergency crisis legislation with no intention of permanence. The underlying policy question of whether remote tribunal hearings should be permanently permitted deserves fresh parliamentary deliberation through proper democratic process, not perpetuation through an amendment that was never meant to survive its enabling legislation. Keeping dead or dying legislation on the books creates confusion and regulatory clutter.

Temporary rules enacted to modify tribunal procedure across multiple chambers during the coronavirus pandemic, allowing: (1) decisions without hearings when urgent and hearings not reasonably practicable; (2) private hearings when conducted via video/audio and not reasonably accessible to public; (3) recording requirements for remote private hearings. Rules explicitly state they cease to have effect when section 55(b) of the Coronavirus Act 2020 expires.

These are explicitly temporary pandemic-era rules with a built-in sunset clause - they automatically expire when the Coronavirus Act 2020 provisions expire. The rules were emergency measures addressing exceptional circumstances, not permanent regulatory reform. They introduce procedural flexibility (decisions without hearings, private remote hearings) that, while perhaps justified during pandemic restrictions, represent departures from normal tribunal transparency safeguards that should not persist beyond the emergency that justified them. The regulation was never subject to standard democratic scrutiny as it was fast-tracked under emergency procedures.

Temporary amendment to Criminal Procedure Rules 2015 to facilitate court participation via live video/audio links during coronavirus pandemic. Establishes definitions for 'live link' and 'live video link', expands court powers to conduct hearings remotely, modifies case management procedures to allow electronic participation, and sets out application requirements for live link directions. Most provisions are tied to expiration of Coronavirus Act 2020 sections.

These rules are largely redundant administrative provisions implementing powers already granted by underlying primary legislation (Crime and Disorder Act 1998, Criminal Justice Act 2003, Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999). The live link definitional framework duplicates existing statutory definitions. The procedural mechanisms for remote hearings exist because the primary statutes permit them—not because these rules create that authority. The coronavirus-specific provisions (rule 3.28 single-practitioner evidence provision, for example) contain their own sunset mechanisms tied to the Act's expiration, making them self-eliminating. Deletion would remove a layer of redundant procedural elaboration while leaving the substantive legal framework intact. Courts can still conduct remote hearings under the underlying Acts. The regulation adds bureaucratic complexity without creating any new substantive rights or restricting any activities that aren't already addressed in primary legislation.

This Order amends the Electronic Monitoring (Responsible Persons) Order 2018 to add Attenti EM UK Ltd (Company Number 10867315, 4th Floor 45 Monmouth Street, London, WC2H 9DG) to the list of authorized responsible persons permitted to provide electronic monitoring services.

This amendment adds a company to a government-approved register within a licensing regime that inherently restricts market entry in electronic monitoring services. The original 2018 Order created artificial barriers to competition by requiring official authorization to provide these services. Rather than expanding state control over who may operate in this market, the Order should be deleted in its entirety along with the underlying licensing restriction. The amendment addresses only one symptom of the original flaw - it does not cure the fundamental problem of government picking winners in a market that should be open to competition.

The Riverside Energy Park Order 2020 is a Development Consent Order (DCO) under the Planning Act 2008 authorising the construction and operation of a combined heat and power energy park (including energy from waste, gas engines, solar panels, and battery storage) at Belvedere, Kent. The Order grants the undertaker extensive powers including compulsory acquisition of land, rights over land, street works, temporary possession of land, and operation of the generating station. It also amends existing section 36 consent and RRRF planning permission, incorporates environmental assessments, biodiversity offsetting requirements, and contains numerous conditions and requirements to be monitored by the relevant planning authorities.

This DCO exemplifies the worst of centrally-imposed infrastructure planning that overrides local democratic consent. It grants coercive compulsory acquisition powers to a private company (Cory Environmental Holdings Limited) based on a decision made by the Secretary of State after an examination process in which affected communities had inadequate say. The extensive environmental conditions, biodiversity offsetting mandates (using Defra's metric), and compliance requirements add significant costs to the project without clear evidence of proportionate benefit. Post-Brexit, Britain should not retain a system where major land use decisions affecting local residents are determined centrally rather than through accountable local planning processes. The Order's 15-year guarantee requirement for transferred benefits, the extensive street works powers, and the override of existing planning permissions and conditions demonstrate how DCOs create a parallel planning universe with different rules — undermining the normal democratic planning system that should apply equally to all development.

These rules amend the Land Registration Rules 2003 to introduce a mechanism for the Land Registry registrar to certify days as 'interrupted business days' or 'interrupted working days' when there is a general delay or failure of communication services or other events causing substantial interruption to normal operations. Certification allows deadlines for official searches with priority, notices, and compliance with requisitions to be extended by the number of interrupted working days.

While this regulation introduces government discretion into an administrative process, its deletion would leave property transaction parties without protection against systemic failures beyond their control. Without this mechanism, communication service failures or technical outages could cause property rights to be forfeited through no fault of the parties involved. The rule serves a legitimate function in preventing injustice in land registration by providing reasonable administrative flexibility, and the alternative of parties missing deadlines due to external disruptions would be far more harmful to market certainty in property transactions.

These Regulations make consequential amendments to the Buckinghamshire (Structural Changes) Order 2019 and the Northamptonshire (Structural Changes) Order 2020, primarily postponing local government restructuring elections from 2020 to 2021 due to coronavirus. They adjust shadow period timelines, modify executive governance arrangements, quorum requirements, and committee appointment procedures for the new unitary authorities in Buckinghamshire, North Northamptonshire, and West Northamptonshire.

While the underlying policy of consolidating local authorities into larger unitary structures is open to critique on free-market grounds (reduced accountability, less responsive government), this instrument merely provides transitional administrative machinery for changes already decided. Deleting it would create legal uncertainty in ongoing governance without reversing the structural reorganizations themselves, which required separate primary legislation. The provisions are now largely spent (elections occurred in 2021) but maintaining the instrument causes no ongoing economic harm or market distortion.

This instrument amends the Statutory Sick Pay (General) Regulations 1982 to add a new category (5A) of persons entitled to SSP during the COVID-19 pandemic. It defines 'extremely vulnerable' individuals at very high risk of severe coronavirus illness who were advised to follow shielding measures, and clarifies the definition of 'public health guidance' across UK jurisdictions (PHE, Scottish Ministers, Public Health Wales). Came into force 16 April 2020.

This is obsolete COVID-19 emergency legislation from April 2020, passed during the acute pandemic phase. The shielding framework and temporary SSP expansions were always intended as time-limited crisis measures. By 2026, COVID-19 is no longer a public health emergency requiring such provisions. Furthermore, SSP itself represents a government-mandated wage distortion that interferes with voluntary employment contracts. The extension of SSP to government-defined 'extremely vulnerable' categories based on shifting public health guidance creates ongoing regulatory uncertainty and moral hazard. These emergency expansions should not persist indefinitely after the crisis justification has ended.

Amends the Civil Aviation (Aerial Advertising) Regulations 1995 to add prescribed circumstances permitting aerial advertising via airplane-released smoke to form visible text or symbols from the ground. Adds section (i) to regulation 4.

This regulation expands permission for aerial advertising through smoke emissions, creating noise and visual nuisance externalities imposed on persons and property below flight paths without their consent or compensation. While aerial advertising may entertain some, it imposes uncompensated costs on others who must endure commercial messages in their view and airspace. The prescribed circumstances framework merely legitimizes a nuisance activity rather than protecting underlying property rights. A free-trading nation should not regulatorily endorse the imposition of commercial speech onto unwilling recipients.

A statutory instrument that came into force on 12 May 2020, revoking the Football Spectators (2020 UEFA European Championship Control Period) Order 2020. Essentially reverses the earlier Order that established a control period for Euro 2020, which was postponed to 2021 due to coronavirus.

This instrument merely removes an earlier temporary Order whose purpose has lapsed — the Euro 2020 championship was postponed to 2021 and ultimately occurred without spectator attendance due to COVID-19. The original control period framework is now obsolete. More fundamentally, the original Order itself represented a disproportionate response — imposing regulatory controls on football spectators for an event that was ultimately cancelled. Keeping this revocation Order serves no ongoing purpose as it merely tidies the statute book of a spent instrument.

Temporary Order made under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 to exclude coronavirus testing (removal of saliva/mucus) from the definition of 'regulated activity' when performed by specific entities (HM Forces, Boots plc, Sodexo Limited/Holdings). Came into force 17 April 2020 and was scheduled to expire after 18 months.

This temporary pandemic measure has long since expired (18-month sunset clause would have ended ~October 2021). It was a time-limited carve-out specifically for COVID-19 testing, making it obsolete. The order names specific commercial companies (Boots, Sodexo) creating selective exemptions that distort competitive markets. The underlying coronavirus definition references the Coronavirus Act 2020, a specific pandemic response now historical. Retained EU law principles suggest removing regulations that have fulfilled their purpose rather than letting them linger on the statute book indefinitely.

This Order amends the Safety of Sports Grounds (Designation) Order 2015 to add the Brentford Community Stadium to Schedule 2 as a designated sports ground. It covers both Brentford Football Club and London Irish Rugby Football Club as occupiers. The designation subjects the stadium to safety certification requirements under the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975, including structural safety, crowd management, and emergency egress standards.

Stadium safety presents classic negative externality and market failure problems — catastrophic events are low-probability but high-consequence, and venues built once cannot easily be retrofitted. The Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975 was enacted after multiple disasters (Burnden Park 1974, Bradford City 1985) demonstrated that market incentives alone were insufficient to ensure adequate crowd safety. Deleting this designation would remove mandatory safety certifications that protect spectators from foreseeable hazards of mass attendance venues, with consequences no private actor would fully internalize.

Coronavirus emergency amendment to Key Stages 1 and 2 assessment arrangements in England's National Curriculum. Exempts the 2019-20 school year from standard assessment requirements under Articles 4-6 of the Key Stage 2 Order and Articles 4-6A of the Key Stage 1 Order, and specifies that 2019-20 be disregarded when calculating four-year assessment periods.

Time-limited emergency pandemic measure now obsolete. The 2019-20 school year has passed and these provisions serve no ongoing function—they merely created a temporary exemption for a year that has already ended. Keeping this amendment creates unnecessary legislative complexity for what was explicitly a one-time crisis response. The underlying assessment frameworks remain intact; this amendment merely carved out a single past year from operational calculations. Regulations should not persist beyond the conditions they were designed to address.

Amends the International Tax Compliance Regulations 2015 to update deadlines, add definitions for 'new account' and 'pre-existing account' for certain National Savings products and pension arrangements, insert transition provisions for calendar year 2020, and omit paragraphs 2, 6, 8 and 9 from Schedule 2. Implements OECD Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and EU DAC requirements.

This amendment merely adjusts dates and definitions within an already excessive regulatory framework. The underlying International Tax Compliance Regulations 2015 impose substantial compliance burdens on financial institutions, particularly smaller ones, creating barriers to entry in financial services. Such information-sharing regimes can drive financial activity to less regulated jurisdictions, harming the City's competitiveness relative to New York, Singapore, and Dubai. The regulation also contains internal inconsistencies — exempting National Savings products while capturing other similar savings vehicles suggests the underlying framework lacks coherent design. Additionally, these regulations were largely inherited from EU administrative cooperation directives and show evidence of gold-plating, adding UK-specific requirements beyond what international agreements actually demand. The compliance costs of such reporting regimes are passed on to consumers, reducing returns on savings and limiting financial inclusion.

The Civil Legal Aid (Procedure) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 amend the 2012 Procedure Regulations by: omitting the 'face-to-face provider' definition; revoking Part 2 (Gateway Work); adding provisions for inquest legal help with disapplied financial eligibility; modifying family mediation attendance rules to permit non-in-person attendance for EU residents; and expanding domestic violence evidence requirements in Schedule 1.

Post-Brexit this regulation contains anachronistic EU-specific provision (regulation 61(1)(b)(i) conditioning non-in-person mediation attendance on EU residence or presence), which creates unjustified differential treatment based on geography. The revocation of Gateway Work is beneficial deregulation, but the regulation overall perpetuates the complex, bureaucratic legal aid framework that restricts supply of legal services providers, inflates costs through state-managed contracts, and suppresses private alternatives to taxpayer-funded legal aid. The domestic violence schedule expansions (adding 'have provided', changing terminology to 'victim of domestic violence') further broaden state intervention rather than contracting it.