Karen Collins

Environmental sustainability green light: CMA publishes green guidance

The UK now has its long-awaited competition and consumer focussed legal guidance on Green Agreements. It’s a great step forward in encouraging environmental sustainability agreements without fear of breaching competition law. Courtesy of the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), as of last week we now have our very own UK Green Agreements Guidance. Consumer-focussed …
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Borrowing the family silver… a new power for charities with permanent endowment

In the Law Commission’s consultation on technical charity law issues there were differing views on what should be done with funds that are held as permanent endowment (i.e. where the capital cannot be spent). Some were in favour of relaxing the regime for accessing the capital, while others felt that this would allow the charity …
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Bates Wells’ strategic litigation roundtable – considerations and managing risk

Strategic litigation has the potential to bring about lasting change and develop the legislative landscape. On 27 September 2023 we brought together a group of third sector leaders to explore the role that strategic litigation has in furthering the mission of charities, NGOs and others, and to talk about what barriers there are to taking …
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Updated guidance for schools under the Equality Act regarding pupils with protected characteristics

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has updated its technical guidance for schools on their obligations under the Equality Act 2010 in England and Scotland. The updates have been made to ensure that guidance on the protected characteristic of sex and gender reassignment reflects developments in this area of policy and law. Background The guidance …
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Complaints and disciplinary procedures

Dealing with complaints is an inevitable part of any organisation’s work. But for organisations exercising a public function (such as professional membership organisations, regulators, and educational institutions) the handling of complaints is a crucial means by which they uphold professional and/or ethical standards and seek to protect the public. Complaints handling in these contexts is …
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Home Office’s position on graduates studying RIBA Part 3

Please note, this article was published in October 2023, but has been updated in August 2024. In August 2023, the Home Office confirmed their policy on the conditions of leave under the Graduate route, particularly for individuals interested in studying RIBA Part 3 to qualify as an architect. We have included some corrections to this …
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General Election 2024: Charity Campaigning – a guide

Click here to download the guide. The year before an election can be a fantastic opportunity for charities to engage with parties, candidates, the media and general public to raise awareness of their concerns and drive their mission forward. Elections offer an unrivalled shot for charities to secure support for policies that will advance their …
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Bates Wells advises Studio Silverback as it sets up Open Planet Community Interest Company

Studio Silverback, which launched in 2020, has a mission to use the power of film-making and story-telling to reveal the reality of our changing planet to a global audience. It has set up Open Planet as a social enterprise to further this aim. It will work with the world’s top documentary filmmakers and data scientists …
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Charities and social media | The new Charity Commission guidance | 26 September

Our charities and social media update took place on Tuesday 26th September. If you were able to attend, we hope you found it useful. Your participation and engagement were greatly appreciated. During the session we reviewed the latest Charity Commission guidance, plus the potential pitfalls of the use of personal social media accounts, how to identify …
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Environmental litigation: themes, risks and how to evolve in the era of global warming

Climate cases have direct and indirect impacts on decision making at board, policy, judicial and government level. The fallout from this litigation can result in shifts in approach and financial and reputational damage even when cases are unsuccessful. More cases are being filed against corporate actors, litigation about investment decisions are increasing and there has …
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Net zero and the government U-turn – what will you do?

The government announcement on 20 September 2023 has derailed several climate change commitments including in relation to reducing carbon emissions from residential properties. The argument is that this relieves some financial burden for property owners. However, commentators suggest the U-turn on EPCs not only stores problems for the climate crisis but also creates a longer term …
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Increase in Home Office fees from 4 October

The government announced in July 2023 that they intended to significantly increase visa and nationality application fees this autumn.With effect from 4 October 2023, the fee increases are as follows: Please also note that priority, super priority fees and User Pays Visa Application Centre appointment fees are also expected to increase. Out-of-country non-settlement priority service will increase …
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