The Equality Act 2010 creates a general public sector equality duty, and enables specific duties to be created to help public bodies meet the requirements of the general duty. The draft Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 prescribe the specific duties that Scottish public authorities are required to meet. The draft Regulations can be viewed on the UK legislation website.
The Regulations amend the definition of "public holiday" under the Police Service of Northern Ireland Regulations 2005 (SR 2005/547), to change police officers' terms and conditions for 2012. They replace the public holiday on the last Monday in May 2012 with the public holidays that mark the Diamond Jubilee on 4 and 5 June 2012.
The Regulations can be viewed on the UK legislation website.
The Regulations revoke and replace the Control of Asbestos Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007 (SR 2007/31) and the Control of Asbestos (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010 (SR 2010/187), consolidating the legislation on asbestos control with modifications. The main changes relate to the scope of the exemption set out in the Directive on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to asbestos at work (2009/148/EC). The changes require employers carrying out some types of low-risk short-duration work to: notify the work to the relevant enforcing authority; carry out worker medical examinations; and maintain a register for each worker of the type and duration of work done with asbestos. The Regulations make corresponding provision to Regulations made in Great Britain. The Regulations can be viewed on the UK legislation website.
The Regulations amend the Local Government Pension Scheme (Benefits, Membership and Contributions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009 (SR 2009/32) and the Local Government Pension Scheme (Administration) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009 (SR 2009/33). The Regulations can be viewed on the UK legislation website.
The Regulations ensure that pension schemes established under s.67 of the Pensions Act 2008 will not become liable to income tax solely by reason of their buying shares in sponsoring employers when such shares already make up at least 20% of the total market value of the scheme’s sums and assets. The National
Employment Savings Trust is the only scheme established under s.67 of the Pensions Act 2008. The Regulations can be viewed on the UK legislation website.
The Regulations amend various Regulations on automatic enrolment. Amendments include changing the implementation date of the Employers’ Duties (Implementation) Regulations 2010 (SI 2010/4) and the Employers’ Duties (Registration and Compliance) Regulations 2010 (SI 2010/5), and giving larger employers the flexibility to bring their staging date forward to 1 July 2012. The Regulations can be viewed on the UK legislation website.
The Regulations (as amended by the Automatic Enrolment (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2012 (SI 2012/215)) set out the details of how employers' duties under the Pensions Act 2008 and the Pensions Act 2011, which require employers to auto-enrol staff into a qualifying pension scheme and pay a minimum contribution, will be staged in
over time. The Regulations can be viewed on the UK legislation website.
The draft Order extends the provisions of part 1 of the Pensions Act 2008 and part 1 of the Pensions (No.2) Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 to seafarers and offshore workers who work, or ordinarily work, in the UK. The draft Order can be viewed on the UK legislation website.
The Regulations (as amended by the Automatic Enrolment (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2012 (SI 2012/215) and the Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Automatic Enrolment) (Amendment) Regulations 2012 (SI 2012/1257)) set out the practical arrangements that employers must make for an individual to become an active member of a qualifying scheme, including the time limits for achieving active membership. The Regulations set out the arrangements for postponing automatic enrolment for up to three months and the process for an individual to opt out of pension saving. The Regulations can be viewed on the UK legislation website.
The Regulations amend the Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Automatic Enrolment) Regulations 2010 (SI 2010/772). Amendments include changing the implementation date of the Regulations to 1 July 2012 and giving details of the certification test that an employer may use to ensure that its defined-contribution scheme meets the quality requirements for such schemes. The Regulations can be viewed on the UK legislation website.
The Regulations (as amended by the Automatic Enrolment (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2012 (SI 2012/215)) set out the detail that employers must provide to the Pensions Regulator, and the records that employers must keep, including what action they have taken to meet their duties. The Regulations provide enforcement details, including the rate of interest that may apply where the correct contributions have not been paid and the penalties that may apply where employers have failed to meet requirements. The Regulations can be viewed on the UK legislation website.
The Order prescribes that, for the purpose of s.58(5)(c) of the Pensions Act 2008, a legal executive is a relevant independent adviser able to give advice in relation to compromise agreements under the Act. The Order can be viewed on the UK legislation website.
The Order amends the Mission and Pastoral Measure 2011. The amendments are consequential to errors in the
Ecclesiastical Offices (Terms of Service) Measure 2009. The Order can be viewed on the UK legislation website.
Sunday trading laws are relaxed until 9 September 2012 for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Sunday Trading (London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games) Act 2012 can be viewed on the UK legislation website.
More from XpertHR on this item
The Directive on self-employed workers and assisting spouses gives self-employed women, and those who assist their self-employed spouse or partner, the right to maternity leave and allowance for 14 weeks. Member states have until 5 August 2012 to implement the provisions. The Directive is unlikely to have much effect in the UK because self-employed women are entitled to claim 39 weeks' maternity allowance. The Directive (PDF format, 738K) can be viewed on the Europa website.
The Regulations determine how the employer duties
under the Pensions (No.2) Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 will be introduced in stages. They prescribe how employers will be defined and detail which employers will be brought under the duties at each staging date. The Regulations set
out the conditions employers must meet should they wish to bring forward their given date. The Regulations can be viewed on the OPSI website.
The main rate of the national minimum wage rises from £6.08 to £6.19 per hour. The youth rate and the rate for workers aged 16 to 17 stay the same. The apprentice rate increases from £2.60 to £2.65 per hour, and the accommodation offset increases from £4.73 to £4.82 per day.
The Pensions Act 2008 provides that employers must auto-enrol all eligible employees not already participating in a workplace pension scheme into a qualifying pension scheme. The threshold for automatic enrolment is aligned with the personal allowance for income tax. To encourage participation, employees’ pension contributions will be supplemented by employers' contributions and tax relief. The Act also introduces the concept of "prohibited recruitment conduct", which prohibits employers from making recruitment decisions on the basis of whether or not an individual intends to opt out of automatic enrolment. Read the legislation on the UK legislation website:
- Pensions Act 2008 The Act introduces the requirement to auto-enrol and the National Employment Savings Trust pension scheme. The requirement to auto-enrol is implemented in stages, beginning with larger employers. The staging timetable is available on the DWP website.
- Pensions Act 2011 Further detail about automatic enrolment is provided in the Pensions Act 2011.
More from XpertHR on this
item
The Pensions (No.2) Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 provides that employers must auto-enrol all eligible employees not already participating in a workplace pension scheme into a qualifying pension scheme. The threshold for automatic enrolment is aligned with the personal allowance for income tax. To encourage participation, employees’ pension contributions will be supplemented by employers' contributions and tax relief. The legislation can be viewed on the UK legislation website:
- Pensions (No.2) Act (Northern Ireland) 2008
- Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Automatic Enrolment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010 (SR 2010/122) The Regulations set out the practical arrangements that an employer must make for a person to become an active member of an automatic enrolment scheme under the Pensions (No.2) Act (Northern Ireland) 2008, including the time limits for employers to achieve active membership. The Regulations also set out the arrangements for postponing automatic enrolment for three months and the arrangements for a person who chooses
to opt out of pension saving. The Regulations make corresponding provision to Regulations made in Great Britain.
- Employers’ Duties (Registration and Compliance) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010 (SI 2010/186) The Regulations set out the detail of the information that employers are required to give to the Pensions Regulator, and the records that they must keep about the actions that they have taken to meet their duties to enrol eligible jobholders into a qualifying pension scheme and to make minimum contributions into it. The Regulations also prescribe the penalties that the Regulator may impose where employers have not met their duties, and the time within which recipients of compliance and penalty notices can seek to review those notices. The Regulations make corresponding provision to Regulations made in Great Britain.
The Order adds a disclosure relating to the Pensions Regulator’s objective of maximising compliance with the duties under part 1, chapter 1 of the Pensions Act 2008, to the list of qualifying disclosures a worker has the right to make, without suffering a detriment. The disclosure should be made to the Pensions Regulator. The Order can be viewed on the UK legislation website.
The Regulations amend and consolidate the Police (Complaints and Misconduct) Regulations 2004 (SI 2004/643) and its amending Regulations. The amendments reflect changes made to the Police Reform Act 2002 by the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011, and aim to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the police complaints system.
The Regulations can be viewed on the UK legislation website.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) introduces a costs-recovery scheme, Fee for Intervention, which will enable it to recover the costs incurred in taking action to rectify a breach of health and safety law. The HSE has said that the scheme is likely to be introduced in October 2012.
The Government proposes to reduce the period of time after completing their sentence that some offenders are required to declare their conviction to prospective employers. However, the new rehabilitation periods will start from the point an offender completes his or her sentence, rather than at the date of conviction. The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act can be viewed on the UK legislation website.
The draft Order enables questions to be asked about spent convictions to establish whether or not a person is disqualified from being elected as, or being, a police and crime commissioner. The draft Order can be viewed on the UK legislation website.
Potential claimants are required to lodge details of their proposed employment tribunal claim with Acas in the first instance. Acas will offer the parties the opportunity to engage in conciliation. Where the parties refuse to engage in conciliation, or where conciliation is attempted but is unsuccessful, the claim will proceed. The introduction of this scheme was announced in the Government's response (PDF format, 364K) to the consultation on workplace disputes (on the BIS website).
More from XpertHR on this item