Business Diary: UK Regulations - November 2017
Currently, two to three new Regulation entries are added to the Archive each day. Regulation Watch covers business related topics such as new legislation, changes in legislation, consultations and regulatory body announcements.
1st
Regulation Consultations
The Department for Communities and Local Government is inviting views from the private rented sector on how membership of mandatory client money protection schemes for letting and managing agents in England should be designed, implemented and enforced.
Response Deadline: 13th December 2017
Business Laws
The government has introduced new legislation which will ban letting agent fees for tenants to Parliament. The Tenant Fees Bill will also introduce a lead enforcement authority in the lettings sector and cap security deposits at six weeks’ rent.
Published Date: 1st November 2017
Business Laws
The government has launched a new compliance scheme for social care providers that have incorrectly paid workers below minimum wage rates for sleep-in shifts. The scheme will give employers up to a year to identify what they owe workers, supported by advice from HMRC. Those that do not opt into the scheme will be subject to HMRC’s normal enforcement approach.
Published Date: 1st November 2017
2nd
Regulation Consultations
The government is seeking views from the farming industry on updating the rules for the prevention, control and eradication of TSEs, a family of diseases which include Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy in cattle and scrapie in sheep and goats. The proposals would bring regulations in line with the EU and update compensation rates.
Response Deadline: 29th December 2017
Court Rulings
The Court of Appeal has ruled that the requirement to give notice of intention to pay less than the sum set out in a demand for payment, as set out in the Construction Act, applies to payments due when a contract is completed or terminated, in the same way as it applies to interim payments.
Published Date: 2nd November 2017
Court Rulings
A private healthcare provider has been fined £550,000 and ordered to pay legal costs of over £36,000 at Southwark Crown Court after pleading guilty to breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act and the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations. According to Pinsent Masons, the case emphasises how failure to manage occupational health issues can result in serious enforcement action, even where no actual injury has occurred.
Ruling Date: 2nd November 2017
3rd
Regulation Consultations
HM Treasury is inviting views from all interested parties on legislation to support the introduction of the Image Clearing System for cheques. The legislation would allow businesses and consumers who make payments by cheque to obtain a free copy of that cheque from their bank.
Response Deadline: 1st December 2017
Business Laws
Stricter rules on consent under the General Data Protection Regulation will make it more difficult for data brokers to sell personal data to businesses in a way that complies with the law, a legal expert from Pinsent Masons has warned. The warning comes after the Information Commissioner's Office fined a data broker £80,000 for breaching the Data Protection Act.
Published Date: 3rd November 2017
Regulator Services
The UK government has announced a new fast-track route for “breakthrough” medicines and technologies into the NHS. From April 2018, products with the greatest potential to change lives could be available up to four years earlier.
Published Date: 3rd November 2017
Regulation Consultations
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published new guidance on its approach to handling applications from businesses seeking leniency from prosecutions and fines for cartel activity. The guidance explains that the CMA is now the first point of call for all leniency applications relating to the sectors covered by the UK Competition Network, which incorporates a number of regulators including Ofcom, Ofgem and the FCA.
Published Date: 3rd November 2017
6th
Legal Statistics
A new survey from Close Brothers Asset Finance reveals that UK small businesses need to do much more work in order to be compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). According to the survey, 48% understood the new and extended rights that customers will have under the GDPR and just 31% were clear about what personal data means in a business context.
Published Date: 6th November 2017
7th
Regulation Consultations
The Department for Communities and Local Government is inviting views from all interested parties on the effectiveness of the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015. The regulations require private landlords to install a carbon monoxide alarm in any room used as living accommodation where solid fuel is used.
Response Deadline: 9th January 2018
Business Laws
The Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain are urging commercial vehicle operators to improve their approach to brake performance testing as it emerged that poor brake testing, or the complete absence of checks, is appearing ‘far too frequently’ during investigations by enforcement officers.
Published Date: 7th November 2017
Regulation Consultations
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is inviting views from all interested parties on issues that the government should take into account in considering how to reduce the cost of energy for businesses and consumers in the longer term.
Response Deadline: 5th January 2018
8th
Business Laws
The government has rejected calls from a House of Lords committee for a radical overhaul of licensing laws in England and Wales. The government will instead use the committee's recommendations to spur further work in respect of how the system can be made to function more effectively.
Published Date: 8th November 2017
9th
Compliance Guidance
The Insolvency Service has published new guidance on compensation orders, which apply if a director is subject to a disqualification order or undertaking and their conduct has caused a quantifiable loss to one or more creditors of an insolvent company. The guidance covers compensation undertakings, the time limit on seeking a compensation order and calculating quantifiable loss.
Published Date: 9th November 2017
10th
Court Rulings
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has confirmed that Uber drivers should be classified as workers and thus be entitled to basic employment rights such as the national minimum wage and annual paid leave. It is anticipated that tens of thousands drivers will now seek to make substantial back-dated claims.
Ruling Date: 10th November 2017
13th
Crackdowns & Amnesty
The Property Ombudsman has launched the third phase of its national campaign with the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, which aims to crack down on lettings agents who do not display their fees. The campaign will see the Property Ombudsman contact 117 letting agents in Plymouth and the surrounding region.
Published Date: 13th November 2017
Court Rulings
Barclays Bank is facing a landmark court case brought by a small business owner who claims the bank “took advantage” of him to mis-sell complex derivatives products. It is believed to be the first such case brought by a private individual to make it all the way to trial.
Published Date: 13th November 2017
14th
Legal Statistics
According to a new survey from CenturyLink, 75% of law firms are still unprepared for the EU general data protection regulation. The survey also found that less than a third of law firm IT directors believed they were compliant with all cyber-security legislation.
Published Date: 14th November 2017
Legal Statistics - Risks
According to a new survey from LetBritain, 16% of landlords do not realise that a tenant must be given at least two months’ notice if they wish to evict them. In addition, 12% do not know they must provide 24 hours’ notice before entering the property and 14% do not realise they are liable to arrange and pay for any repairs to the exterior of a property.
Published Date: 14th November 2017
Business Laws
On 13 November 2017, the European Union imposed new sanctions against Venezuela, which will take effect from 14 November 2017. The sanctions include a prohibition on the supply of equipment which might be used for internal repression and new licensing requirements for the supply of equipment, technology or software intended primarily for use in communications monitoring or interception.
Start Date: 14th November 2017
15th
Court Rulings
The Central Arbitration Committee, the non-departmental Government body that resolves collective worker disputes, has ruled that because Deliveroo couriers have the right to allocate a substitute to do the work for them in their contracts, they are self-employed contractors and not workers.
Ruling Date: 15th November 2017
16th
Business Laws
The Gambling Commission has issued a document outlining "strategic priorities" for its work up until 2021, including protecting the interests of and preventing harm to consumers. The strategies reflect the tougher approach to enforcement that the Gambling Commission has adopted in recent times, according to Pinsent Masons.
Published Date: 16th November 2017
Compliance Guidance
The Advertising Standards Authority and the Committee of Advertising Practice have published a new e-Learning module for marketing, advertising and compliance professionals on how advertising regulation works.
Published Date: 16th November 2017
20th
Business Laws
The government has published a new bill which will give gig economy workers a “worker by default” status, meaning that employers will have to offer basic rights such as sick pay and holiday pay.
Published Date: 20th November 2017
Business Laws
New legislation which will amend some existing patent fees and introduce some new fees for lengthy patent applications has been laid before Parliament. The legislation, if passed, will take effect from 6 April 2018.
Published Date: 20th November 2017
21st
Compliance Guidance
Acas has published new guidance to help employers create supportive workplaces for women during pregnancy and maternity leave. The guidance provides advice on how to comply with the Equalities Act, which protects employees against pregnancy and maternity discrimination.
Published Date: 21st November 2017
22nd
Regulation Consultations
The Department for Transport is inviting views from all interested parties on how to reform the existing heavy goods vehicle road user levy in order to encourage better road use and improve environmental performance.
Response Deadline: 26th January 2018
Regulation Consultations
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is inviting views from all interested parties on additional measures to support individuals and businesses affected by local air quality plans for nitrogen dioxide. The proposals include measures to encourage uptake of low emission vehicles.
Response Deadline: 5th January 2018
Rates & Reliefs
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, has announced that the national living wage rate for those aged 25 and over will increase from £7.50 per hour to £7.83 per hour from April 2018.
Published Date: 22nd November 2017
24th
Legal Statistics
According to new data from the Department for Education, the number of people starting apprenticeships in England fell by 59.3% year-on-year in May-July 2017, prompted by the introduction of the apprenticeship levy on 6 April 2017. The Department for Education had anticipated an initial fall, suggesting that, because employers have two years to spend training funds, many are still formulating new schemes.
Published Date: 24th November 2017
27th
Regulator Services
The Export Control Organisation has delayed planned updates to nine open general export licences (OGELs), including the OGEL for technology for dual-use items, the OGEL for exporting certain dual-use items to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the OGEL for the export of dual-use items in support of contracts within the oil and gas industry.
Published Date: 27th November 2017
Rates & Reliefs
The Government has published the statutory rates for maternity pay, paternity pay, shared parental pay, adoption pay and sick pay, which will take effect from April 2018. Statutory maternity pay, paternity pay, shared parental pay and adoption pay will increase from £140.98 to £145.18. Statutory sick pay will increase from £89.35 to £92.05.
Published Date: 27th November 2017
28th
Regulation Consultations
The Department for International Trade is inviting views from producers and product users on which anti-dumping or anti-subsidy measures should be retained in the UK's trade remedy framework after Brexit.
Response Deadline: 30th March 2018
Crackdowns & Amnesty
Following an investigation into the sector, the Competition and Markets Authority has announced that it will take enforcement action against secondary ticketing websites suspected of breaching consumer protection law.
Published Date: 28th November 2017
29th
Business Laws
The government will look at bold options to improve consumer redress across the housing sector, the Communities Secretary, Sajid Javid, has announced. Potential measures include introducing a single housing ombudsman aimed at providing more comprehensive redress for home owners, home buyers, tenants and landlords.
Published Date: 29th November 2017
30th
Business Laws
The government will introduce new rules to protect water quality by standardising good farm practices from 2 April 2018. The rules will require farmers to keep soil on the land, match nutrients to crop and soil needs, and keep livestock fertilisers and manures out of the water.
Published Date: 30th November 2017
Regulation Consultations
The Environment Agency is inviting views from operators and trade associations, as well as businesses and their legal and professional advisers, on a draft Enforcement and Sanctions Policy which will replace the Enforcement and Sanctions Statement and Enforcement and Sanctions Guidance.
Response Deadline: 15th January 2018
