header-logo header-logo

NLJ this week: Championship League refs decision goes beyond the pitch

25 October 2024
Issue: 8091 / Categories: Legal News , Employment , Sports litigation , Tribunals , Tax
printer mail-detail
194052

The Supreme Court’s recent football referee decision on the common law test for employment status has ‘wide ramifications’ for employment law, Harry Sheehan, Devereux Chambers, writes in this week’s NLJ

The case, Revenue and Customs Commissioners v Professional Game Match Officials, revolved around the working terms of a company that supplies referees and match officials for high-level football competitions such as the Premier League and FA Cup. HMRC argued that referees who officiate in their spare time while being employed full-time elsewhere—primarily refs in Championship League and FA Cup games—are employed by the company and should be taxed as such. The company disagreed.

Sheehan, who was instructed as junior counsel for Professional Game Match Officials in the appeal to the Supreme Court, writes that the decision ‘provides essential and authoritative guidance to a legal test which is the key to accessing the rights and obligations that form the backbone of employment law’.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
back-to-top-scroll