This course is available to junior lawyers at a discounted rate of £80 + VAT. Click here for more information.
This focused half-day masterclass is designed to equip and update local government personnel with a practical understanding of the UK Subsidy Control regime and how it applies to everyday local authority activities. It combines clear explanations of the law with real-world local government scenarios such as town centre regeneration, business support grants, infrastructure works, and property transactions—to help officers make informed, compliant decisions.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
Session Plan
|
Time |
Session |
Content & Approach |
|
9:45 – 10:00 |
Welcome and Introductions |
Overview of the day, participant roles and priorities, setting objectives. |
|
10:00 – 10:45 |
|
Overview of the legal framework for subsidy control in the UK with local authority examples (e.g., grant funding, land disposals). |
|
10:45 – 11:30 |
|
Practical walk-through of the subsidy test and exemptions most relevant to councils. |
|
11:30 – 11:45 |
Break |
|
|
11:45 – 12:30 |
|
Overview of the Principles: Interactive case studies (e.g., regeneration and business support examples). |
|
12:30 – 12:55 |
|
Local authority obligations, common pitfalls, and managing audit and challenge risk. |
|
12:55 – 1:00 |
Wrap-up and Q&A |
Recap of key points and resources for further guidance. |
Professor Suzanne Rab is a barrister at Matrix Chambers. She has over twenty five years of wide experience of EU law, competition law, and regulatory law including subsidy control and state aid law. Suzanne’s practice has a particular focus on the interface between innovation, trade and economic regulation. She acts in disputes involving governments, regulators and businesses across the regulated sectors including in the financial services, energy/environmental, healthcare/ pharmaceuticals, infrastructure, TMT and natural resources sectors.
Suzanne’s practice increasingly focuses on ensuring public authorities and challengers navigate the Subsidy Control Act 2022 effectively, from initial subsidy design through to potential actions before the Competition Appeal Tribunal. She regularly advises councils and government departments on applying the subsidy control principles, conducting assessments for minimum financial assistance and streamlined subsidy schemes, and structuring economic development initiatives to minimise legal risk. Her work often engages the relationship between domestic subsidy control, EU state aid principles, and the UK's international obligations under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. She appears before the Competition Appeal Tribunal in competition and in subsidy control challenges and judicial review proceedings, and provide strategic advice on transparency requirements, enforcement mechanisms, and interactions with public procurement law.
As a professor, she teaches competition law, bridging academic rigour with practical application. She has developed comprehensive training programmes public and private parties and their legal and policy teams, demystifying this complex regulatory landscape.
Prior to joining the bar, she has had roles as partner and head of regulatory practice with a leading US law firm and as director at PricewaterhouseCoopers working within its strategy, economics, and regulatory teams.
Related events
09:45 - 13:00
Online
