A new report on the status of the Coronavirus Act 2020 confirms that powers to enable remote participation in court and tribunal hearings are now permanent. The report on the ‘status on the non-devolved provisions of the Coronavirus Act 2020’ sets out in a helpful table, the status of every provision of the Act – many of which were intended to apply for a maximum period of two years and expire automatically on 24 March 2022.
Of particular interest is confirmation that the temporary powers to allow public participation in proceedings conducted by video or audio have been removed from the Coronavirus Act (s 55 and Sch 25 were repealed from 28 June 2022) and put onto a permanent statutory footing.
The new rules are provided by the Courts Act 2003 s 85A (inserted by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 s 198 with effect from 28 April 2022) and the Remote Observation and Recording (Courts and Tribunals) Regulations, SI 2022/705.
The report also notes that s 76 of the Act, which empowers the Treasury to give HMRC whatever functions it deems necessary in relation to coronavirus, is a permanent provision and so does not expire. This underpinned HMRC’s work on the job retention scheme and self-employment income support scheme, for example, and allows HMRC to continue its compliance work for those schemes, including recovering amounts where claimants were overpaid or not eligible.
A new report on the status of the Coronavirus Act 2020 confirms that powers to enable remote participation in court and tribunal hearings are now permanent. The report on the ‘status on the non-devolved provisions of the Coronavirus Act 2020’ sets out in a helpful table, the status of every provision of the Act – many of which were intended to apply for a maximum period of two years and expire automatically on 24 March 2022.
Of particular interest is confirmation that the temporary powers to allow public participation in proceedings conducted by video or audio have been removed from the Coronavirus Act (s 55 and Sch 25 were repealed from 28 June 2022) and put onto a permanent statutory footing.
The new rules are provided by the Courts Act 2003 s 85A (inserted by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 s 198 with effect from 28 April 2022) and the Remote Observation and Recording (Courts and Tribunals) Regulations, SI 2022/705.
The report also notes that s 76 of the Act, which empowers the Treasury to give HMRC whatever functions it deems necessary in relation to coronavirus, is a permanent provision and so does not expire. This underpinned HMRC’s work on the job retention scheme and self-employment income support scheme, for example, and allows HMRC to continue its compliance work for those schemes, including recovering amounts where claimants were overpaid or not eligible.
