Supreme Court blocks Scottish Power’s £28m tax write-off Tax The Supreme Court has ruled that the energy giant, Scottish Power, cannot deduct £28m in regulatory settlement payments from its taxable corporate profits after a lengthy legal battle with HMRC. The legal case stems from a probe by the energy regulator Ofgem into Scottish Power between 2013 and 2016 regarding mis-selling, poor complaints handling, and [...]
Tiktok to pay £12.7m UK child privacy fine despite disputing watchdog findings Tech Tiktok will pay a £12.7m UK fine over its handling of children’s data after abandoning a three-year legal challenge, despite maintaining that it disagrees with the privacy watchdog’s findings. The social media giant has withdrawn its appeal against a penalty imposed by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in 2023, making the fine final. A Tiktok [...]
Clean up or lawyer up: The FCA’s culture war gets real Legal With the City watchdog empowered to penalise non-financial misconduct and fresh off a win at the Upper Tribunal, lawyers now expect to be flooded with work from businesses that are grappling with the focus on culture, as bullying, harassment, and serious misconduct are no longer just HR matters, writes Maria Ward-Brennan. The Financial Conduct Authority [...]
Crispin Odey loses appeal to overturn lifetime financial services ban September 14, 2026 Former hedge fund tycoon Crispin Odey has failed to overturn a £1.8m fine and lifetime ban from working in the financial services industry. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) earlier this year hit Odey with the fine and banned him from working in the industry after a series of historic sexual assault allegations from former female [...]
TikTok loses court battle over £12.7m child privacy fine August 5, 2026 TikTok has lost an appeal against a £12.7m fine from the UK’s data protection regulator for illegally processing the data of over 1.4m children under the age of 13. The watchdog hit TikTok with the penalty in April 2023 for breaching the UK’s data protection law, the GDPR, for unlawfully processing the data of children [...]
FCA boss takes aim at motor finance lenders and claims firms July 15, 2026 The boss of the City watchdog has taken a fresh swipe at the parties opposing the regulator’s motor finance redress scheme. Nikhil Rathi, chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), told the Treasury Committee that he was “concerned about the integrity of the claims management market” and took a shot at lenders for trying [...]
Motor finance war of words heats up as City watchdog blasts law firm’s motives July 8, 2026 A blistering war of words has broken out between the City watchdog and the firms leading the consumer legal challenge to its £9bn motor finance scheme. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has urged the Upper Tribunal to throw out the case entirely as it slammed Courmacs Legal and its client Consumer Voice, for a serious [...]
HMRC fights to close Bolt’s VAT loophole May 19, 2026 Ride-hailing platform Bolt faces the tax authorities in court today over how it calculates and pays its VAT bill. At the centre of this dispute was the question of whether Bolt could use the tour operators’ margin scheme (TOMS). Under this scheme, businesses only pay VAT on the profit margin they make between buying a [...]
Energy giant clashes with HMRC at UK’s highest court over £28m penalty May 18, 2026 Scottish Power is to face the tax authority at the UK’s highest court over a tax deduction on a £28m penalty to settle a probe with the regulator. The legal case stems from a probe by the energy regulator Ofgem into Scottish Power between 2013 and 2016 regarding mis-selling, poor complaints handling, and a lack [...]
Motor finance trade body gears up for legal challenge to £9bn redress April 24, 2026 The motor finance industry’s trade body is mulling lodging a legal battle against the UK financial watchdog‘s £9bn redress scheme. The Finance and Leasing Association (FLA), which counts Santander and the financial arms of BMW and Volkswagen among its members, is reported to be leaning towards challenging the City regulator’s scheme. Members of the body [...]