OHS: Health and safety training requirements

The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 requires all businesses in the UK to provide whatever information, instruction, training and supervision as is necessary to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety at work of employees.

Key training responsibilities 

  • New recruits need basic induction training into how to work safely, including arrangements for first aid, fire and evacuation
  • People changing jobs or taking on extra responsibilities need to know about any new health and safety implications
  • Young employees are particularly vulnerable to accidents and you need to pay particular attention to their needs, so their training should be a priority
  • Employee representatives or safety representatives will require training that reflects their responsibilities
  • Some people’s skills may need updating by refresher training
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Upcoming webinar: Health and safety at work — beyond ticking the box

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Despite the legal requirement, health and safety training, risk assessments and compliance have a bad reputation. Most people working in an office don’t want to do them and won’t think about these processes once they are completed.

In order to help organisations understand the importance of health and safety at work and improving the culture, in this webinar, VinciWorks’ Director of Course Development Nick Henderson will be joined by Professor Andrew Sharman, Managing Partner of RMS, and President of IOSH (the Institution of Occupational Safety & Health). Professor Sharman will call on his over two decades of experience in consulting with FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 companies such as Amazon, Coca-Cola, Carlsberg, IKEA and Mercedes-Benz to discuss some of the key trends in workplace health and safety and give guidance on improving health and safety culture at work.

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Second DAC6 core group roundtable meeting summary

Ruth Cohen, VinciWorks' Legal and Research Executive
Ruth Cohen,
VinciWorks’ Legal and Research Executive

VinciWorks hosted a round table meeting at the office of Paul Hastings Solicitors with representatives from over 25 firms to discuss DAC6 and its implementation following HMRC’s Consultation Document and Draft Legislation. Ahead of the meeting, I was in touch with HMRC to ask them some questions relating to the proposed DAC6 legislation.

Here is an overview of the discussion:

Main Benefit Test

Are UK law firms expected to have in depth knowledge of how other member states will interpret the Main Benefit Test?

The consultation is clear that HMRC views the “main benefit test” as an objective test: what matters is whether a tax advantage is the main or one of the main benefits that the person entering into the arrangement might reasonably be expected to obtain from the arrangement. That person’s actual motivation in entering into the arrangement is not relevant.

HMRC consider that it is necessary to look at the tax effect of the arrangement as a whole, but they recognise there are challenges to this and are considering how this will work in different examples.

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Upcoming webinar: SRA Standards and Regulations – Your questions answered

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On 25 November 2019, the changes to the SRA Handbook, now known as the SRA Standards and Regulations, will come into force. To help solicitors understand their requirements under the reforms, our Director of Best Practice Gary Yantin and Legal and Research Executive Ruth Cohen will be joined by the SRA’s Policy Associate Jatinderpal Loyal to answer your questions.

Please submit your question below and we will try our best to answer it during the webinar.

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SRA Standards and Regulations training – Five new courses

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The SRA Handbook is being replaced by the SRA Standards and Regulations, which will be in force from November 2019.

To help firms prepare for the new regulations, VinciWorks has released a suite of SRA Standards and Regulations courses. The courses dynamically create a personalised learning experience based on an individual’s role in a law firm. This ensures everyone taking the course will learn what they need to know, and not waste time reviewing areas irrelevant to their practice.

The new focus of the SRA Standards and Regulations is on each legal professional being able to justify their actions in all work that they carry out. For many legal professionals, including partners, managers, solicitors and support staff, this will require a significant change in approach. Legal professionals often only consider their professional obligations when a conflict of interest arises. However, the new SRA Standards and Regulations emphasise that legal professionals must be able to demonstrate compliance at all times.

The courses will help legal professionals, including support staff, to develop an understanding of the relevant SRA regulations which apply to their specific role in the law firm. The training ensures that all employees of an SRA regulated law firm who have a legal obligation to follow the SRA Standards and Regulations have sufficient knowledge to stay compliant.

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VinciWorks to release new whistleblowing training

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VinciWorks will soon be releasing a new whistleblowing training. Whistleblowing: Understanding Your Rights provides a comprehensive overview of whistleblower rights within the UK. The aim of the course is to improve the culture in every organisation so that employees feel comfortable whistleblowing where necessary.

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On-demand webinar: Understanding the SRA Regulatory Reforms

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On 25 November 2019, the new SRA Standards and Regulations come into effect. These will replace the current SRA Handbook. Over the last two years, VinciWorks has consulted with the SRA and many law firms in England and Wales to provide guidance and training on the new Standards and Regulations.

In this webinar, we were joined by the SRA’s Policy Associate Jatinderpal Loyal to examine the key changes under the new Standards and Regulations. Jatinderpal also gave guidance on how firms can comply with the new Standards and regulations.

The webinar covered:

  • The key changes to the SRA Handbook
  • The challenges in creating the new Standards and Regulations
  • Guidance on ensuring SRA compliance for the entire firm
  • Training requirements and VinciWorks’ solution
  • Answering any questions from registrants

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Online anti-harassment video training for managers & supervisors

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Everyone has the right to work free of unlawful discrimination or harassment. But this does not always happen. Sexual harassment is one of the most pervasive forms of unlawful discrimination and it can impact every business and every person. Many laws have been passed to try and stamp out sexual harassment, and over the last few decades, courts have been taking ever harsher measures against companies that fail to prevent harassment in their workplaces.

VinciWorks has released four online video courses that are relevant for all staff, with an additional hour of training for all managers and supervisors.

Harassment video training 1: Definitions

This course takes users through the common phrases and legal definitions of sexual harassment. It describes the two major forms of sexual harassment, the legal background, important cases, hypothetical scenarios, quizzes and learning assessments. By the end of this course, users will understand the important definitions of sexual harassment.

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SRA releases guidance to help you better understand the key changes in the SRA Standards and Regulations

Ahead of the 25 November release of their new Standards and Regulations, the SRA has published a suite of guidance and support materials, designed to help you better understand any areas of significant change compared to our existing rules or areas of new opportunities.

Register for upcoming SRA Standards and Regulations webinar

The guidance has been divided into four different sectors:

  • Accounts Rule 
  • Authorisation 
  • Unregulated Organisations 
  • Other
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Annual compliance questionnaires – reporting and tracking challenges

Many businesses, such as law firms and accountancy firms, need to collect and analyse data from employees for regulatory and compliance purposes. While many firms carry this out annually, some may do it more often. VinciWorks spoke to several firms to learn how they collect, analyse and track responses from the annual declarations questionnaire, often referred to as annual compliance questionnaire, to uncover the key challenges in the process. What we learnt helped us develop our annual declaration reporting portal.

What do the annual declarations questionnaires include?

There are no regulations guiding the specifics of what information an annual declaration questionnaire should collect. The declaration might include information on the following:

Conflicts of interest

Staff should declare whether they have had any business dealings for the firm whereby their own interests are served. If there is a conflict of interest, this must be declared in the questionnaire.

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