News

The purpose of this newsletter is to keep you informed of changes in legislation that may affect you and of any developments in the insurance market. If you require any further information concerning the following please do not hesitate to contact us on 01702 555560 or use the e-mail button on the left

Health and Safety and Employment Law

You may be aware that there has recently been a great deal of new and increasingly complex legislation on Health and Safety/Employment matters e.g. Working Time Regulations, National Minimum Wage, Part Time Workers Regulations, and the Employment Relations Bill reducing the qualifying period for unfair dismissals from two years to one year and increased the potential maximum award from £12,000 to £56,900. These new regulations impose far more onerous responsibilities on every employer. Quite apart from the potential for compensation awards at Employment Tribunals, Health and Safety breaches can result in criminal prosecutions with personal and/or corporate fines.

Health and Safety regulations now require all employers, employing five or more persons including directors and part time persons, to carry out workplace risk assessments and to appoint competent safety advisors, even in small businesses. Many companies lack the expertise or time to deal with these issues. It is possible to outsource this aspect of your business to a company that specialises in Employment Law and Health and Safety issues. They can assist you in drafting a Health and Safety statement and offer training to ensure that you and the appointed representative are fully conversant with the operational procedures and how to put into practice the required systems within your organisation. They also give access to a 24 hour advice service to discuss any issues and you are kept informed of any changes in legislation. They will also represent you at any Health and Safety hearing or Employment Tribunal and meet the Legal Costs of the hearing. Part-time workers

The Part-Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2005

came into force on 1st July 2005. The regulations make it unlawful for employers to treat part-timers (including freelance or agency workers) less favourably than comparable full-timers unless the treatment can be justified on objective grounds.

Motor Insurers Information Centre

In an effort to reduce the number of uninsured drivers insurers have set up a national database of insured drivers. The database goes live on 1st July 2005 and the Police will have access to the information on the database and be able to identify uninsured drivers by entering the registration number of the vehicle.

Employers Liability Certificates

Employers are now under a duty to retain employers liability certificates for 40 years. The intention is to make it possible to deal with injuries to employees that may have been gradually operating over a number of years.

Stakeholder Pensions

With the Government having published its plan for Stakeholder Pensions employers must now consider both the requirements of the proposals and the options available in dealing with them. If no satisfactory alternative to stakeholder exists for employees it will be compulsory for the employer to offer a stakeholder facility. Therefore, for the first time in the UK, there will be a compulsory requirement for employers to provide private pension facilities for employees. As from 6th April 2005 legislation will force all employers (with 5 or more staff - full or part-time) to offer private pension arrangement for every employee - known as 'Stakeholder Pensions'. You will therefore have to take out a Stakeholder pension if you employ 5 or more part time or full time staff and do not already have a pension arrangement for employees

Tax & VAT Investigations

The Customs & Excise and Inland Revenue have the right to initiate an investigation at any time. While the investigation may not result in any extra tax or VAT it will involve you in substantial accounting costs in defending the investigation. Provided the turnover of your business does not exceed £5m it is possible to insure up to £50,000 of fees for only £70 per annum.