Not quite as exciting as Brexit, but perhaps a welcome distraction! This quarter, the key highlights are:
Register of Persons with Significant Control (PSC Register)
UK Companies and LLPs have been required to prepare and maintain a PSC Register since 6 April 2016. If you haven’t prepared yours yet, then our April briefing may help. Your PSC Register will need to be filed with the ‘confirmation statement’ which replaced the annual return from 30 June 2016.
When filing the new confirmation statement, companies will be required to include information from their PSC Register in addition to:
Gender Pay Reporting
Gender pay reporting was implemented in 2010, on a voluntary basis, as part of the ‘Think, Act, Report’ scheme. However, mandatory reporting is expected to be required from 1 October 2016 and will require employers with at least 250 employees to publish details of overall gender pay gap figures, as well as the number of men and women in each of four pay bands and information relating to gender bonus gaps.
The requirements will not apply to public sector employers initially, so they won’t catch local authorities or schools maintained by the local authority, for example. However, they are likely to catch housing associations, care providers, charities and multi-academy trusts with a number of schools (a full list of excluded employers is here). These requirements are also likely to be extended to the public sector in due course. It is expected that the first reports will need to be published in April 2018.
Modern Slavery
Many of our clients are working on their Modern Slavery Statement at the moment – see our detailed briefing for help with yours. We also have a toolkit prepared to help with the process – it includes:
Please get in touch with us if you’d like to find out more.
Charity Data Sharing
In September last year the Information Commissioner announced that his office was launching an investigation into data sharing in the charity sector, following the press reports that a charity sold the personal details of a dementia sufferer.
In January, the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee published a critical report on their investigation into charity fundraising, reserving particular criticism for trustees. The fundamental concern, underlying the 2015 fundraising controversy, was whether the charities concerned were using personal data in a way that was legal, ethical and consistent with their stated values. The report states that charities need to have a robust and effective governance structure to ensure that the trustees can have confidence in the ethics and methods of the fundraising that is carried out on their behalf.
Trustees need to make sure that they are aware of the law surrounding data sharing and understand what their duties are. New Data Protection law is on the horizon within the EU (General Data Protection Regulation - “GDPR”) - our Jane Burns summarises the main points here. It is likely that this will come into force in May 2018, albeit potentially for a very short time whilst the UK negotiates its exit from the EU. The UK will then need to decide whether to update the provisions of the Data Protection Act, or to adopt the GDPR into UK law.
Spotlight
Registered charities: to convert or not to convert?
Until the Housing and Planning Act 2016 (the “Act”), the impact of direct regulation by the Charity Commission was seen by many RPs as largely an additional body to which to report; the HCA took on the majority of the regulatory burden and liaison with the Commission was limited to trigger events, such as proposals to start remunerating Board members.
However, as a result of the provisions in the Act removing the disposals consent regime, we are speaking to many of our registered charity RP clients about the impact of Charity Commission regulation on their ability to realise the full benefits of these new ‘asset freedoms’. In particular, the Charities Act 2011 requires registered charities to take additional steps when disposing of assets otherwise than in pursuance of their charitable objects. This may particularly impact on groups that are looking at disposing of assets to commercial entities in the group – or perhaps more widely as part of a strategy to streamline their asset base.
One potential solution is to convert from a company registered with the Charity Commission to a community benefit society exempt charity, using the statutory conversion process in section 115 of the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2016. Changing status in this way is not straightforward and it would be a significant step for an RP. The advantages and disadvantages must therefore be weighed carefully – relevant issues include:
We have assessed the pros and cons of conversion for a variety of governance structures and scenarios, so if this is something you’re considering we’d be delighted to discuss this in further detail with you.
Please get in touch with Sarah Greenhalgh if you would like any assistance.
Under most construction contracts, the contractor takes on the ground conditions risk. However, a recent case has demonstrated that the risk can fall on the employer.
The UK Government has been consulting on how it should promote social value in its procurements. Here is our response that we submitted to the consultation...
The Tenant Fees Act 2019 came into force on 1 June 2019.
A recent case in the Court of Appeal will no doubt bring a sigh of relief for employers, but a corresponding sigh of disappointment may be uttered for equality and gender balance in the workplace.
This briefing assists response to the consultation paper by outlining the consultation questions, providing some background information and prompting some thoughts and potential answers.
A report published on 29 May by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has found that since 2009-10, local government spending on services has fallen on average by 21% in real terms.
A long-awaited decision of the Court of Appeal has clarified that a lower standard of proof should apply than previously thought before an Inquest can return a conclusion of suicide.
New regulations come into force on 1 June 2019, amending the Section 21 (s21) prescribed form template for use with assured shorthold tenancies.
In a challenging economic climate with continuing budget cuts and increasing expectations of staff, sickness absence remains an ongoing problem that is important to address.
Social housing providers will routinely have a number of construction projects underway at any one time. It is essential for client teams to understand and avoid key contract management pitfalls.
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