Is fear of Covid-19 a protected belief under the Equality Act?
Employment tribunal considers Coronavirus discrimination claim The Equality Act 2010 protects from discrimination based on religion or belief. This includes major recognised religions, as well as deeply held philosophical beliefs like atheism. More recently ethical veganism was found to be a protected belief.
Money Laundering Scandals: The Biggest Money Laundering Stories of 2021
What happened in AML compliance in 2021? Fines running into the billions and jail terms totalling hundreds of years. AML enforcement has not taken a back seat during the pandemic, with fines, scandals, leaks and sweeping new regulations. The past year has been a blockbuster one for money laundering compliance. Here, we round up the […]
The 2022 Compliance Agenda
The top ten items for your regulatory inbox Despite the ongoing pandemic, compliance departments can still enter the new year with a sense, if not an outline, of what should be on their agenda in 2022. Preparing for rapid, sudden changes in 2022, from new Covid-19 variants to supply chain problems or catastrophic climate events, […]
EssentialSkillz awarded Silver Award for sustainability
Here at EssentialSkillz, we maintain a strong commitment towards sustainability and good ethical practises. We are very proud to announce that our efforts were recently recognised by the Ecovadis program, who gave us a silver award and placed us within the top 25% of companies that participated. We undertook the program to better understand our […]
Defensive Measures Against the EU’s List of Non-Cooperative Jurisdictions
What is the history of the EU’s list of non-cooperative jurisdictions? In January 2016, the EU Commission presented its Anti-Tax Avoidance Package, in which it committed to a “clear, coherent and objective” approach to tackle tax governance in relation to non-EU jurisdictions. In November 2016, the Council mandated the Code of Conduct group (business taxation), […]
What is AML and why is it Important?
Anti-money laundering (AML) is a blanket-term used to describe the constantly evolving laws and regulations put in place to prevent money laundering and other related financial crimes. However, in order to fully understand AML activities, it’s important first that we get to grips with what money laundering means and the true extent of this crime. […]
On-demand webinar: Mandatory Disclosure Rules in the UK – Understanding HMRC’s consultation
On 30 November 2021, HMRC published its draft UK Mandatory Disclosure Rules (MDR) and released its consultation which seeks views on the design of the draft regulations. The consultation will be open until 8 February 2022. The UK MDR is expected to come into force in summer 2022, replacing UK DAC6. MDR requires advisers (and […]
What does an ESG committee do?
What is an Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) Committee? An ESG committee has overall responsibility for the effective operation of a company’s ESG policy, and has delegated responsibility for overseeing its implementation. The committee reviews data from across the business and then filters and summarises it for the board. The ESG committee is responsible for writing […]
Understanding pronouns and how to use them appropriately
A pronoun is used to replace a proper noun, such as someone’s name, and is often used to refer to a person without mentioning their name. For example, She is running a little late. In English, the pronouns we have been taught to use follow a gender binary – she/her for girls and he/him for […]
‘Bin bags full of cash’ NatWest fined £264m for AML failures
Branch safes literally overflowed with ill-gotten gains In the first criminal prosecution of a financial institution by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), a litany of failings took place at NatWest which enabled black bin liners stuffed with cash to be deposited, literally bursting out of floor-to-ceiling branch safes. The trial centred on a textbook case […]
