Britain leaving EU

Despite Brexit, GDPR will still apply to UK companies

A recent study found that 24% of UK businesses have put their preparation for GDPR on hold ahead of the country’s upcoming exit from the EU. However, the UK’s information commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, has insisted that UK companies should continue to prepare for GDPR, urging “I don’t think Brexit should mean Brexit when it comes to standards of data protection.” She points out how the UK was heavily involved in the drafting of GDPR and even in the case of a hard Brexit, meaning leaving the EU without any deal, the UK will need to maintain strict data protection regulations and comply with GDPR.

Brexit does not mean the end of  data protection laws

The mistake many businesses are making is assuming that Brexit will have an influence on data protection regulations in the UK. Halting preparations for GDPR would be a mistake. Here are four reasons why organisations should continue and indeed step up their efforts to comply with GDPR.
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The House of Lords rushed through the reporting state and third reading of the Criminal Finances Bill on 25 April and sent the bill back to the Commons to ratify a few minor amendments. The Commons quickly passed the amendments in 26 April. In introducing the bill, Baroness Williams of Trafford said:

Following the decision last week to call a general election, this is likely to be the last opportunity for the House to scrutinise this legislation. As noble Lords have said, it has had cross-party support throughout its parliamentary passage and I am very grateful to noble Lords, through the usual channels, for enabling us to take both Report and Third Reading today. Time is very short, but we all agree that this Bill will deliver valuable powers to fight money laundering, prevent the financing of terrorism and combat corruption. I hope we can maintain consensus on the way forward and return the Bill swiftly to the Commons.

The bill did in fact pass swiftly through the lords, amendments 6 to 12, 15 to 19 and 25 to 50 were agreed to, and the House of Commons will consider those amendments today (26 April). The cross-party amendment to require a register of the beneficial ownership of companies based in UK overseas territories like Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands did not pass. The lords felt that this issue should be debated again by the next parliament.

Timeline for implementation

The Bill provides for commencement of the provisions from a date to be appointed by the Treasury. It is expected that this will be from September 2017, to coincide with the start of the first exchange of information under the Common Reporting Standard.

Before implementation, organisations of any size and type need to ensure that they have reasonable procedures in place.

 VinciWorks’ updated anti-money laundering courses

The Fourth Money Laundering Directive will be implemented by the end of June 2017. To reflect the changes under The Fourth Directive, VinciWorks has updated all of its courses accordingly. Here are three Anti-Money Laundering courses that have been updated.

Anti-Money Laundering

This course has been designed to teach you anti-money laundering best practices and procedures, as defined by 14 of the world’s leading law firms and in line with the Practice Note that has been drawn up by The Law Society of England and Wales and applicable legislation in the UK and other jurisdictions. Upon completion of the course, participants will be able to understand how to comply with all critical statutory requirements and will be able to play their part in the fight against money laundering. The basic anti-money laundering course is available in three versions: advanced, fundamentals and global.
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On Wednesday 22nd March, around 100 firms joined Director of Best Practice Gary Yantin and SRA Policy Executive Richard Williams to discuss the first five months of the SRA’s new approach to Continuing Competence. The conversation focused on how firms have implemented the new approach and how the SRA will monitor compliance with it.

“Firms should be asking: what do I need to do to do the job well?”

Richard stressed the importance of focussing on the quality of learning, rather than the quantity. He reflected on the previous approach to CPD, whereby solicitors and law firms would often leave training to the last minute, without a focus on what they should be learning. The new approach should help change that culture and encourage individuals to identify their learning needs, rather than the amount of time they spend on training. Richard also said that “learning and development has a huge business benefit”, a factor that should encourage firms to implement the new approach.
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Globally, Bribery and Corruption is big business. But, does it really affect you and your organisation?

The World Bank has estimated that over $1 Trillion is paid annually in bribes and no country is exempt.  What about the UK?   Research performed by Transparency International UK in 2011, revealed that 1.9% of respondents in the UK had paid a bribe in the previous 12 month period.  Additionally, a survey carried out in 2006 in the construction sector, reported that 41% had been offered a bribe at least once in their career.

What is the purpose of the UK anti-bribery legislation?

The UK Bribery Act 2010 was designed to help eradicate bribery and corruption and promote business protection.  The legislation includes both active and passive bribery.  Active bribery refers to the illegal act of offering, promising or giving bribes. Passive bribery on the other hand, includes requesting and agreeing to receive or accept a bribe.  Hospitality should be reasonable and proportionate and clear records should be kept.

Failure to uphold legislation could result in an unlimited fine and/or a custodial sentence.

What should you be doing to protect your business from bribery?

As Employers, you have a duty to protect your organisation.  A clear and well defined anti-bribery and corruption policy should be central to your business culture and all employees must understand and adhere to that policy.  According to government advice, your anti-bribery policy template should include methods of bribery reduction and control, rules regarding hospitality and donations and acceptable procedures for contract negotiation.  

Your HR department has a pivotal role to play, ensuring that regular communication, training and development is available.  The Bribery Act 2010 provides guidance on how employers can safeguard their organisation. Business activities should be proportionate to the risk and size of the business, with senior management providing top-level commitment to demonstrate business affairs are undertaken professionally and ethically. Risk assessments should be performed to ascertain the level of risk of bribery and relations with both suppliers and clients should be viewed with due diligence.  Ongoing communication and monitoring are key to ensure policy compliance and that dynamic risks are understood.  

Employers’ duties include the provision of regular training and to make sure policies are upheld. The VinciWorks Anti-Bribery and Corruption eLearning course helps organisations to comply with the UK Bribery Act 2010. The Act consolidates existing law on bribery and corruption, enabling prosecutors and courts to deal with acts of bribery more effectively. This online course explains the standards expected when carrying out business affairs in relation to bribery and corruption.

Ensuring your Bribery and Corruption policy has been read and understood by your staff can be a difficult task to manage.  However, WorkWize from VinciWorks is a smart system that helps to automate policy/document rollout and provide a full audit trail.

The system provides intuitive tools to help companies push policies/documents out to their workforce and receive positive confirmation back that they have read and understood the policy. Pushing a new policy out takes just a few minutes and there is no limit to the number of policies that can be distributed.

Looking for in-depth and engaging business protection training? Explore our comprehensive eLearning library and try any of our courses for free.

VinciWorks’ suite of training on modern slavery now includes three courses:

Like all VinciWorks courses, the modern slavery courses can be fully customised to:

  • Fit internal procedures
  • Adhere to internal style
  • Include extra relevant information

In fact, every word of the courses can easily be customised.

Below are examples of the four most common customisation requests that we have collected in order to help organisations better understand best-practice for customisation.

1. Opening quote

The course Modern Slavery: Prevention Exploitation features a quote by Theresa May underscoring the severity of modern slavery. Many firms have replaced this quote with a quote or letter from an executive that reiterates the organisation’s commitment to combating slavery.

This quote sets the tone for the course and conveys the deep responsibility that all staff should feel towards the issue.
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Individual being handcuffed for facilitating tax evasion

UK criminal finances bill

The Criminal Finances Bill, the government’s attempt to call time on the sunny shores of tax evasion, is due to pass through its final stages in the Lords at the end of April. There is some debate as to whether the bill will actually pass before parliament is dissolved. Jason Collins, a tax expert at Pinsent Masons believes that it will, while Osborne Clarke believes that it will not.

Update: the Bill received royal assent on 27th April to become the Criminal Finances Act.

If it does pass, it will come into force by the end of September 2017.

The most significant part is the new offence of corporate failure to prevent tax evasion, both in the UK and overseas.

The Bill will effectively make a business vicariously liable for the criminal acts of its employees and other persons ‘associated’ with it leading to the facilitation of tax evasion, even if the senior management of the business was not involved or aware of what was going on. This is true wherever in the world the tax is owed, and the Bill targets businesses based in the UK or abroad.
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Symbol for modern slavery courseThe UK’s Modern Slavery Act is changing the landscape of how companies deal with the risk of modern slavery in their supply chains. While the requirement to issue a modern slavery and human trafficking report only applies to companies with a global turnover greater than £36m, businesses of all sizes are getting ahead of the curve and introducing comprehensive anti-slavery and anti-trafficking policies across their supply chain.

VinciWorks has created a suite of training and compliance materials to assist businesses of all types and sizes to comply with their legal obligations and help them to identify and end instances of slavery in their supply chain.
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Will the new tax evasion offences make it through before Parliament is dissolved?

Theresa May called an election yesterday. Parliament will most likely vote to hold one today, and in less than two weeks, by 2nd May, according to the Leader of the House of Commons, Parliament will be dissolved and the country will head towards polling day on 8th June.

It’s taken everyone by surprise, not least those of us in the compliance space who were carefully preparing for the Criminal Finances Bill and the introduction of two new offences to tackle tax evasion.

The Criminal FInances Bill had already worked its way through most parliamentary stages. It was due to be considered by the Lords at report stage on 25th April, prior to its third reading in the Lords, scheduled for the 3rd and 8th of May, and then Royal Assent sometime after that. The least we know is that timetable has gone out the window.
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Most organisations, over time, will engage contractors and subcontractors to help perform essential parts of a contract, certain business activities or daily tasks.  Using contractors can provide a practical and profitable way of managing work across many areas including, construction, demolition, installation, repairs, maintenance, cleaning and catering. But who is ultimately responsible for contractor safety? And what do you need to do?   

Does your organisation use contractors? 

If so, who is responsible for Contractor Health & Safety Training whilst on your company premises and why does it matter?

Bringing contractors onto your site may expose them to workplace hazards including chemical and asbestos exposure, noise pollution and extreme temperature conditions. Similarly, activities performed by the contractors may put your employees and the general public at risk.

Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, organisations that use contractors/subcontractors have a legal duty to ensure the health, safety and welfare of anyone visiting its premises, including customers and contractors.

Employer responsibilities for contractor/subcontractor health and safety.

To ensure  the health and safety of contractor’s and subcontractors and they work on site, you must:

  • Vet all potential contractors and subcontractors meet and assess their health and safety policies, procedures and competency
  • Make sure that all parties are aware of your existing health and safety requirements and are committed to adhering to them
  • Conduct a thorough Risk Assessment to help identify risks and potential hazards
  • Provide all parties with information, instruction and training on anything else that might impact health and safety
  • Review the way that work is carried out, and regularly assess and update risk assessments to reflect any changes
  • Manage and supervise work tasks to ensure the safety of all workers.

What does this include?

As employers, the selection of an appropriate contractor is paramount.  Making sure your contractor is suitably qualified and trained will help reduce potential danger.  All jobs regardless of size and nature, should be risk assessed and the findings clearly communicated to your contractors and employees.  Contractors should be made aware of site rules and emergency procedures. Instructions and training must be provided to reduce the risk of harm.  Cooperation between parties is key to keeping people safe and the work should be regularly managed and supervised.

What about contractors and sub-contractor responsibilities?

Just as organisations have a responsibility to ensure the health and safety of contractors and subcontractors that they employ, contractors and subcontractors are also required, so far as is reasonably practicable, to adhere to their responsibilities under The Health and Safety and Work Act. As a result, UK legislation requires contractors and subcontractors to have a joint responsibility with their client to ensure health and safety requirements are met. In order to maintain a level of dedicated commitment to this process, full cooperation is needed to maintain codes of behaviour whilst on site.

How can we help?

The VinciWorks Contractor Safety Procedures eLearning Course, provides information designed to enable contractors to understand their legal obligations and their duty to reduce accidents caused by their workplace activities. The course will give you, and your contractors, the information you need to work safely together, reducing workplace accidents and ensuring best practice.

Looking for in-depth and engaging health and safety training? Explore our comprehensive eLearning library and try any of our courses for free.