Compliance issues HR professionals should know

Posted 6 years ago

Reporting of Gender Pay Gap

The regulations that the gender pay gap falls under (The Equality Act 2010) state that all organisations with more than 250 employees must complete and publish a Gender Pay Gap report by the 5th April each year. For most government departments, local authorities and NHS employers the relevant date is 31st March each year.

The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)

These regulations come into force on the 25th May this year and they’re the largest modification to The Data Protection regulations since they were first introduced in 1998. The regulations provide greater protection for individuals who have shared their personal data with organisations. All organisations must review why and how they intend to gather and process the personal data of employees and clients and will need to amend the information supplied when doing so. A major new element of the regulations is that organisations will now have to prove how they comply with the regulations, not just simply stating they do so. HR departments are heavily involved in the changes due to the amount of personal data gathered from employees, and candidates applying to join an organisation.

Termination payments

From April 2018, all non-contractual Payment in Lieu of Notice (PILON) payments will become subject to deduction of tax and National Insurance Contributions to bring them into line with contractual PILON payments. Also, any termination payments above the £30,000 tax exemption level will now be subject to employers’ National Insurance Contributions. These changes will increase costs for employers from April 2018.

Parental bereavement leave

Currently going through Parliament, a private member’s bill to introduce statutory bereavement leave of up to 2 weeks have received government support. Once passed, this legislation will provide parents who lose a child under 18-year-olds with two weeks’ paid leave at the statutory level. The timing of the legislation is unknown exactly, however, it is likely to become law at some point throughout 2018.

Anti-discrimination

In the UK this falls under the Equality & Diversity act. This states that no organisation can discriminate against a person based on their gender, race, ethnicity, disability or age. Unconscious bias can have a big impact on discrimination in workplaces, our Unconscious Bias course looks at the different types of bias and strategies for reducing bias in workplaces.

Health & Safety

Whilst it may not be Human Resources responsibility to enforce Health & Safety policies and procedures in the workplace, HR professionals may want to keep tabs on how recordkeeping and reporting of accidents are being carried out.

Safeguarding

This is particularly applicable for HR professionals working in educational or care environments. Regarding safeguarding, things you might want to consider are:

DBS / Visa checks
Proof of qualifications when hiring

Brexit

Now Brexit shouldn’t have too much of an adverse effect on HR professionals, however, it is causing unrest amongst staff who are EU nationals or married to EU nationals, who might feel threatened about the breakaway from the EU. An HR team will need to support them and have plans in place should they decide to leave the UK.

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