Government Regulation and Public Sector Law

The internationalization of wealth combined with people living longer and the prevalence of dementia means that it is increasingly important to think about who looks after your affairs if you are not able to.

Principal Associate Natalie Barton-Howes and Associate Brett Mason examine the Building Safety Regulator's enforcement powers, current priorities, and major reforms reshaping the regulatory landscape. The discussion explores the regulator's enforcement toolkit and how it's being used to drive higher standards and improve accountability across the construction industry.

Recent UK court decisions are clarifying critical procedural questions under the Subsidy Control Act 2022, including when subsidies can be challenged, what constitutes a reviewable decision, and the scope of the Competition Appeals Tribunal's authority. These rulings establish important precedents for both public authorities granting subsidies and parties seeking to challenge them.

Care proceedings can be overwhelming for parents facing Local Authority concerns about their children. Understanding parenting assessments and courses—what they involve, why they matter, and how they influence court decisions—can help parents engage positively with the process and demonstrate their capacity to meet their child's needs within required timescales.

This July wrap-up podcast examines critical developments in public law, including the Court of Appeal's latest guidance on ECHR property rights and proportionality, practical lessons from recent regulatory challenges, and the Divisional Court's landmark decision on facial recognition technology that offers important insights for AI use by public authorities.

For decades, British nationality law treated people unequally—preventing some from inheriting citizenship through their mothers or unmarried parents, while others born in identical circumstances qualified. The UK Government has now introduced a legal route allowing those affected by these historical injustices to claim the British citizenship they should have received all along.

Andy Burnham's vision for 'Number 10 North' aims to devolve power and drive regional economic growth across the UK, but where will the investment come from? Guernsey's funds sector has quietly been channeling billions in international capital directly into UK regions for years, backing infrastructure, innovation, and defense projects from Manchester to Durham. With £58 billion already invested and growing at 7% annually, this established conduit may hold part of the answer to Britain's regional investm

The UK government's 2025/26 annual report reveals significant shifts in the National Security and Investment Act's operation, with notification volumes climbing 15.8% while intervention rates drop to historic lows. Despite longer review timelines and increased scrutiny of certain investor origins, 98.9% of transactions proceeded without government intervention, raising questions about the regime's scope and effectiveness.

The UK government's latest annual report on the National Security and Investment Act 2021 reveals significant shifts in enforcement patterns, with total notifications rising 15% while remedy decisions...

FIDIC's Gold Book offers a distinctive approach to infrastructure procurement by combining design, construction and long-term operation into a single contract framework. While the model promises better alignment between construction quality and operational performance, its limited market adoption raises questions about whether employers are willing to pay for extended risk transfer and whether contractors can confidently price obligations extending 20 years or more. This analysis examines why the Gold Book

Retention payments, where a percentage of the contract sum is withheld until completion and rectification of defects, have long been a source of cashflow pressure and, ultimately disputes across the construction supply chain.

Recent UK court decisions are clarifying critical procedural questions under the Subsidy Control Act 2022, including when subsidies can be challenged, what constitutes a reviewable decision, and the scope of the Competition Appeals Tribunal's authority. These rulings establish important precedents for both public authorities granting subsidies and parties seeking to challenge them.