What is the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce?
In the Budget 2021, presented to Parliament on 3 March, the Chancellor announced that HMRC will establish a taskforce to investigate those who have fraudulently made use of government schemes set up to protect individuals and businesses against the economic impact of COVID-19 – such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) (widely referred to as the Furlough scheme) and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). In addition, we were told that the government will raise awareness of enforcement action in order to deter fraud, and will significantly strengthen law enforcement for Bounce Back Loans.
Backed by £100m of government money, the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce will deploy a team of more than 1,250 HM Revenue and Customs officials to investigate individuals and companies who have fraudulently claimed funding under these schemes, potentially leading to prosecution in some cases.
Trademark and company name holders must make actual use of a sign to keep exclusive rights to it. In a recent judgment, the Patent and Market Court of Appeal examined the actual use undertaken by both a parent company, which used the sign in its company name, and a subsidiary company, which used a different company name. This judgment is a welcome addition to the scarce case law relating to the actual use of company names.
Introduction
In the past three years, significant changes have been made to the legislation that governs the medicinal use of products, substances and preparations based on the cannabis plant.
The main changes were introduced by Law 33/2018 of 18 July 2018 and Decree-Law 8/2019 of 15 January 2019. Provision was also made for the subsequent publication of a ministerial order to define the rules on:
the security measures to be adopted;
the application process and procedures to grant authorisations relating to the cultivation, manufacture, wholesale trade, transit, import and export of medicines, substances and preparations based on the cannabis plant for medical, medical-veterinary or scientific purposes; and
Introduction
At the start of 2020, we considered what changes the UK restructuring and insolvency market might expect to see during the year – however no one could sensibly have predicted the significant and far reaching impact of COVID-19.
In part 1 of our blog, we look back at 2020 and look forward to what the UK restructuring market can expect in 2021 considering the new Insolvency Laws, expected Rule changes, pre-pack sales and practice and procedural points.
Insolvency Laws – all change in 2020, what about 2021?
Last year we saw the proposed corporate insolvency reforms fast tracked into the legislative books making both temporary and permanent changes to the UK s insolvency laws. See our Quickguide on Changes to the UK Insolvency Regime – what the Act means for UK Businesses as a useful overview of the changes.
Introduction
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has announced in the Spring Budget 2021 an extension of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), better known as the furlough scheme , for all sectors until 30 September 2021, with employer contributions gradually increasing from 1 July 2021.(1) While an extension of the furlough scheme beyond its planned closure date of 30 April 2021 had been widely anticipated, many expected that it would close at the end of June 2021 – so the latest announcement is highly welcome news for many employers.
The extension means that the CJRS will remain in place for several months after the planned full reopening of the economy in England on 21 June 2021 and will have been in place for a total of 18 months by the time that it closes.