Browse regulations

The Guaranteed Minimum Pensions Increase Order 2024 sets the statutory increase percentage at 3% for guaranteed minimum pensions attributable to earnings factors under section 109(2)-(3) of the Pension Schemes Act 1993. It applies to England, Wales, and Scotland and comes into force on 6 April 2024.

This Order perpetuates a costly mandated benefit increase mechanism that adds to employer pension obligations, discourages defined benefit scheme provision, and imposes compliance burdens across the pension industry. While inflation protection for pensioners has merit, the statutory indexation of GMPs via primary legislation creates rigidity, increases labor costs, and contributes to the decline of occupational pensions—outcomes inconsistent with a dynamic, competitive pension market. The increase percentage (3%) compounds existing pension liabilities without corresponding productivity gains.

The Code of Practice (Picketing) Order 2024 brings into effect a revised Code of Practice on Picketing that extends to England, Wales, and Scotland, effective 11th March 2024. The Code governs conduct during picketing, including permissible locations, numbers of pickets, and union responsibilities during industrial disputes.

This regulation restricts the fundamental freedom of workers and employers to engage in voluntary arrangements by codifying privileges for particular forms of collective industrial action. It imposes bureaucratic requirements on how picketing may be conducted, adding compliance costs without addressing core issues. Such restrictions can be weaponized to coerce workers who wish to cross picket lines, distorting labor market flexibility. The underlying Code of Practice, not merely this Order, should be reviewed and substantially liberalized to allow genuine freedom of association and contract. Parliament should not be in the business of prescribing detailed rules for how workers may pressure employers — voluntary bilateral arrangements should govern industrial relations, not state-dictated codes.

Technical amendments to non-domestic rating regulations in England: adds London Grid for Learning Trust to the Central Rating List, modifies calculation formulas in the Chargeable Amounts Regulations 2022, amends the Schedule on splits and mergers, omits regulation 6 from the 2023 Regulations, and inserts a reference to heat networks rate relief. All changes are mechanical consequential modifications.

These are purely technical consequential amendments that maintain consistency across the rating regulations statute book. Deleting them would leave underlying regulations in internal contradiction without removing any substantive regulatory burden. The business rates system itself may warrant separate policy review, but these mechanical formula corrections and list additions impose no independent compliance costs — they merely correct and update existing mechanical calculations.

Annual up-rating regulations that increase Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, Child Benefit, and Guardian's Allowance rates for the 2024-25 tax year. Adjusts maximum benefit rates, income thresholds, and determination rates to account for inflation.

This regulation merely index-links existing benefit rates to inflation. While tax credits represent government intervention in the labour market, deleting this up-rating would cause real harm to vulnerable recipients by eroding the purchasing power of their benefits in real terms each year. The underlying tax credit structure remains intact—this is purely a mechanical inflation adjustment. Without such indexation, benefits would effectively become a declining real terms cut year after year, harming those the welfare system intends to support.

These regulations amend the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 and the Misuse of Drugs (Designation) Order 2015 to add numerous synthetic opioids (various nitazene derivatives, phenidates, and other psychoactive substances) to Schedule 1, remove clonitazene and etonitazene from Schedule 2, add remimazolam to Schedule 4, and make corresponding changes to the designation order. The 2024 Amendment Regulations are also revoked.

These regulations perpetuate the failed drug war framework that Friedman's work demonstrated causes enormous harm. Prohibition does not eliminate drug markets—it drives them underground, enriches criminal enterprises, creates violent black markets, and ruins lives through criminalization rather than addressing genuine health issues. The scheduling system restricts medical research and denies patients access to potentially beneficial substances while failing to reduce actual harm. Post-Brexit Britain has the opportunity to pivot toward evidence-based harm reduction and personal liberty; retaining these amendments keeps the system of bureaucratic prohibition intact with all its unintended consequences: incarcerated users, devastated communities, and a thriving illicit trade. The regulation's mechanism—adding substances to prohibition schedules—solves nothing and perpetuates a costly, ineffective regime.

Annual uprating regulations that adjust National Insurance contribution thresholds for tax year 2024-25, extend zero-rate contributions for armed forces veterans, and set the prescribed National Insurance Fund payment percentage at 5% for 2024-25.

Without these annual uprating adjustments, 2023 thresholds would remain frozen, creating bracket creep as earnings increase. The extension of armed forces veterans' zero-rate contributions reduces tax burdens on those who served. The National Insurance Fund payment mechanism requires this prescribed percentage to function properly. These are mechanical, inflation-linked adjustments that prevent unintended fiscal drag on workers and maintain pension system functionality. Deletion would harm Britons through frozen thresholds and disrupted veterans' relief.

A commencement order bringing specified provisions of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 into force on staggered dates (1st March 2024, 1st August 2024, 1st January 2025). Provisions cover the Payment Systems Regulator accountability framework (Schedule 7) and Bank of England levy arrangements.

This is a purely administrative commencement order that merely activates provisions of an already-enacted Act on specified dates. It imposes no regulatory burden itself. Deleting it would create legal uncertainty about when provisions of FSMA 2023 take effect, without actually removing any substantive regulation from the statute book. The substantive policy questions lie in the underlying Act and its associated regulations, which would be the proper targets for reform.

The Carer's Leave Regulations 2024 implement a statutory right for employees to take up to one week of carer's leave per 12-month period to provide care for a dependant with a long-term care need. The regulations establish notice requirements, employer postponement rights, employment protections (including protection from detriment and unfair dismissal), and return-to-work rights. Leave duration is calculated based on the employee's normal working week, with a minimum of half a working day.

This regulation restricts contractual freedom by mandating leave terms that employers and employees could negotiate privately. It imposes compliance costs and administrative burdens, particularly on small businesses, and creates litigation risk through unfair dismissal provisions. The market, not the state, is better positioned to allocate leave benefits according to individual employment arrangements. The regulation's protectionist structure assumes employers cannot voluntarily offer carer's leave arrangements, ignoring that competitive labour markets already provide incentives for such benefits.

These Regulations establish the calculation formula for the Bank of England levy payable by eligible financial institutions. They set a £600 million threshold below which institutions pay nothing, and above which the levy is calculated using a formula (AL x EL/TEL) based on the institution's eligible liabilities relative to the total eligible liabilities of all liable institutions. The Regulations grant the Bank of England discretionary powers to make adjustments for new levy payers and contain provisions for calculating eligible liabilities, including extensive schedules detailing inclusions and deductions.

The levy is a cost imposed on financial institutions based on their liability bases, which is ultimately passed on to consumers through higher borrowing costs or lower savings rates. The £600 million threshold provides only minimal relief for smaller institutions while the majority of the sector faces a liability tax that distorts their balance sheet decisions. The Bank's extensive discretionary powers to make 'any other adjustments as it thinks fit' lack transparent standards, creating regulatory uncertainty that undermines the rule of law essential to market function. This layer of financial sector taxation erodes the City of London's competitiveness relative to New York, Singapore, and Dubai, where no such levy exists. The Bank of England's operational funding could be achieved through more transparent parliamentary appropriations rather than this complex, discretion-laden levy mechanism.

These Regulations, made under section 31(7) of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, specify which County Court proceedings constitute 'relevant proceedings' for the purposes of that Act. They define 14 categories of proceedings including trust applications, inheritance claims, harassment remedies, personal injury, nuisance, trespass, probate, employment disputes, money claims, possession claims, property disputes, and vexatious proceedings.

These Regulations expand the scope of government power by creating elaborate definitions that broaden which proceedings fall under domestic abuse protection order provisions. The 14 enumerated categories and detailed definitional provisions (including interpretations of 'vexatious proceedings', 'money claim', 'possession claim', and 'contentious probate claim') represent regulatory expansion that could be handled through court practice directions or case law development. The underlying Domestic Abuse Act 2021 provides the framework; this SI adds bureaucratic layer upon layer of categorization without commensurate benefit. Courts are capable of determining jurisdiction based on the statute's plain meaning without regulatory codification of every conceivable proceeding type.

Amends Magistrates' Courts Rules 1981 to: insert definitions for domestic abuse protection notices/orders from the Domestic Abuse Act 2021; add new rule 3 codifying justices' legal advisers' duties including providing legal advice, assisting parties without representation, and procedural guidance; create rules 17-23 establishing procedural framework for domestic abuse protection order applications, service, variation/discharge, and supervision requirements; amend special measures, forms/electronic arrangements, appeal provisions, register corrections, proof of service, case stated, bail/surety, summons and order service rules. Effective 8th April 2024.

These rules create extensive procedural machinery for domestic abuse protection orders that enable ex parte restrictions on liberty without adequate safeguards. The new rule 3 effectively codifies a dual-function role for justices' clerks that blurs the distinction between advice and adjudication, risking due process. Rules 17-23 impose detailed notice, service and representation requirements that go beyond the parent Act, creating compliance burdens. The rules also expand hearsay evidence exceptions for domestic abuse proceedings without corresponding procedural protections for defendants. Together these measures expand state power over citizens through civil proceedings while adding bureaucratic complexity that will increase costs and delays. The underlying policy of domestic abuse protection orders may be legitimate but these procedural rules gold-plate the enabling Act and should be reconsidered.

Amendment to Family Court procedural rules adding Part 3 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 (protection orders made without notice) to the allocation of emergency applications list, and modifying Schedule 1 allocation rules for parentage declarations under the Family Law Act 1986 section 55A where birth parents apply regarding adopted children under 18.

These are court administration rules governing case allocation and judicial distribution of business. Deleting them would create procedural chaos in the Family Court system without producing any economic benefit. The rules impose no costs on market participants, businesses, or trade — they merely determine which judges hear certain categories of family law applications. Courts are not markets; procedural allocation rules do not distort economic incentives, suppress supply, or create monopolies. Maintaining orderly court administration is essential for the rule of law that underpins a functioning economy.

The Crown Court (Amendment) Rules 2024 amend the Crown Court Rules 1982 to add: definitions for 'domestic abuse protection order' and 'live link'; Rule 5B permitting court participation via live link; Rule 5C establishing witness evidence facilitation measures; Part IIIA containing procedural rules for Domestic Abuse Act 2021 appeals including service requirements, responsible person notifications, and hearsay evidence exclusions; and updated provisions on case information requests, open justice principles, and service of documents. The amendments also make various other procedural changes to abandonment of appeals, costs, and business in chambers.

These rules implement Domestic Abuse Act 2021 provisions, expanding state intervention in domestic matters rather than reducing it. The live link provisions, witness facilitation measures, and reporting restrictions create additional bureaucratic procedures without clear evidence they achieve better outcomes. The open justice modifications add complexity around information requests while maintaining broad exemptions. Overall, these amendments represent the continuation of EU-derived procedural expansion rather than the deregulation Britain needs post-Brexit.

This Order designates St Cecilia's Catholic Primary School in Liverpool as a school having a religious character under Schedule 19 to the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. The designation enables the school to provide religious education according to Roman Catholic tenets and grants it certain exemptions/modifications available to designated religious schools.

Deleting this designation would deny parents who voluntarily choose Catholic education for their children access to that option. This is a specific, targeted designation that enables educational plurality rather than restricting it — it imposes no costs on third parties, creates no economic barriers, and does not distort market incentives. The regulation merely records a factual designation that unlocks freedoms already contemplated by the 1998 Act for schools meeting religious character criteria.

These Regulations require relevant clinicians (specialist nurses, transplant surgeons, physicians involved in donor/recipient care) to report to the Human Tissue Authority when they reasonably suspect offenses related to illegal organ trafficking or human trafficking for organ extraction. Clinicians must also report any organ transplant occurring outside the UK involving recipients habitually resident in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland, or UK nationals not habitually resident there. The purpose is to enable detection and investigation of organ trafficking, commercial dealings in human material, and exploitation of donors.

Human trafficking and illegal organ trade represent genuine coercion that undermines voluntary exchange and individual liberty. Clinicians are uniquely positioned to detect exploitation during medical contact. The regulation does not restrict legitimate medical practice but enables law enforcement to investigate serious crimes against vulnerable persons. Deleting this would leave victims of trafficking and exploitation without this detection mechanism, while the regulatory burden on clinicians is minimal and the information-sharing serves a legitimate protective function.