Do you know the latest laws and legislation affecting your business and workforce?

Running a business and managing a workforce can be very daunting, especially when it comes to understanding the different legislation you must conform to. The type of business you run, the size of your business and the people you sell to will all effect which legislation applies to you.

Legislation to consider

There are laws relating to many different areas that you need to consider. These include:

• Employment Law – Includes all the legislation which ensures that staff are being treated fairly within your employment. It covers areas such as minimum wage, pension schemes, how leave is managed and how contracts could be terminated.
• Consumer Rights – Includes the legislation relating to the goods and services that you sell to your consumers.
• Competition Law – Includes legislation which ensures that businesses aren’t operating in a way that is unfair to competitors and reduces the choices for the consumers.
• Data Protection Law – Including the new changes in GDPR.
• Environmental Law – Including restrictions which may be imposed relating to waste, pollution, and conservation.
• Health and Safety Law – Including legislation on how to keep your employees and your customers safe.

Due to the uncertainty around Brexit and how UK legislation will be effected after leaving the EU, there will likely be changes to current laws relating to your business. You must keep up to date with changes and take steps to incorporate changing legislation as soon as possible.

Change is on the horizon

Common commencement dates for new legislation usually occur on 6th April (the start of the tax year) and in October. These would be good dates for you to visit sources such as www.hse.gov.uk › legislation which deals with the Health and Safety legislation in the UK.

However, with the uncertain times ahead, it may be that there are changes to legislation at different times and you must be prepared to make changes in your business to accommodate.

One of the biggest recent changes has been relating to data protection and the ways that you use and store customer data. As the rules for the new legislation came into effect in May 2018, there are no excuses for businesses not being compliant by this point. The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) has recently increased the fines for non-compliance. If you are concerned about your compliance, visit our GDPR blog for more information.

Getting support

If you are worried about the upcoming changes and ensuring that you can incorporate them within your policies, it would be advisable to contact a HR company specialising in legislation, such as Altum HR to help you remain compliant.  As a HR firm with a  specialist legal team, we will be able to advise you on all areas of business law which will help you to be confident that you and your staff are safe and acting well within the UK business laws.