New competency year starts today

Today marks the first day of the new competency year and one year since the changes to CPD became compulsory. All solicitors in England and Wales need to ensure that they have reflected on their practice and that they have addressed any identified learning needs. The SRA also requires solicitors and firms to make an annual declaration that they have done so.

What should you do if you have not yet dealt with a learning need?

To help users of the VinciWorks Continuing Competence Module organise their current learning needs, we’ve rolled-over all deferred needs from last year to this new year.
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New CCM feature: log a completed activity on-the-go

Users now have the ability to log any learning activity on-the-go with just a few clicks. This allows users to quickly record that they attended a lecture, even if they don’t have time to associate the activity with a learning need or perform a full reflective process.

How to log a completed activity

From any screen in the LMS, users can click the ‘Log a completed activity’ icon. This works on a computer and on mobile devices.

Log activity
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SRA Policy Executive Richard Williams — “large and small firms face the same challenges”

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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GDPR ready data protection policy template

Data protection

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is now in force. It presents the most significant change to EU data protection in 20 years, meaning organisations have had to update their policies to ensure they are compliant. Further, all staff who are involved in the processing and storing of data must be familiar with their organisation’s data protection policy. We have therefore provided a data protection policy template to help your staff understand and follow your organisation’s data protection procedures.

Download GDPR policy template

Learn more: The GDPR resource page

GDPR policies and procedures

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is an EU regulation on data protection and privacy in the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA). The GDPR is an important component of EU privacy law and of human rights law. Its reach also extends to the transfer of personal data outside the EU and EEA areas. The GDPR’s primary aim is to widen individuals’ control and rights over their personal data and to simplify the regulatory environment for international business.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was a major shakeup in data protection laws. GDPR’s reach is global. Any company that offers goods or services to anyone in the EU or UK may be required to comply.

The GDPR was adopted on 14 April 2016 and became enforceable beginning 25 May 2018. As the GDPR is a regulation, not a directive, it is directly binding and applicable, and leaves room for certain aspects of the regulation to be amended by individual member states.

Many other countries around the world used the EU’s GDPR as a model to make similar regulations. These countries include Turkey, Mauritius, Chile, Japan, Brazil, South Korea, South Africa, Argentina and Kenya. 

In the post-Brexit UK, GDPR is known as UK GDPR. UK-based organisations processing data of EU residents must comply with EU GDPR, just as EU organisations processing the data of British residents must comply with UK GDPR.

UK GDPR and EU GDPR are essentially the same; except UK GDPR refers to British institutions such as the Information Commissioners Office, as opposed to EU institutions.

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), adopted on 28 June 2018, has many similarities with the GDPR.

What should a data protection policy include?

Who is responsible for the data protection policy?

Staff should know who to approach if they have any questions regarding the data protection policy or anything related to the processing of personal data. Under GDPR, certain organisations are required to appoint a Data Protection Officer (DPO). It will be their role to advise the company on the rules needed to ensure compliance with data protection laws.
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VinciWorks hosts second continuing competence user group

Over 22 leading firms joined Director of Best Practice Gary Yantin and SRA Policy Executive Richard Williams for the second continuing competence user group. This candid conversation between the firms and the regulator focussed on how firms are implementing continuing competence since the changes to CPD in November, and to share best practice.

Many firms currently implementing changes to CPD

Richard spoke about how many firms are still in the process of implementing continued competence. He voiced the importance that the SRA places on the new approach and advised that there will be an annual declaration as part of a renewal exercise to make sure firms are meeting regulatory obligations. Richard also made clear that the SRA will not be carrying out spot checks on firms, but will use the annual declaration in conjunction with other regulatory data to explore concerns that they may have with the competence or standard of service provided by a solicitor or firm.
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New CCM feature: deep-link direct to Continuing Competence Module

Firms that license the Continuing Competence Module (CCM) now have the ability to create a separate login page for the CCM. This enables firms to create a fully immersive continuing competence experience that is separate from regular online training. On the ‘competence only’ login page, users focus on the reflection and planning stages of their learning before diving directly into their learning record.

This login page can be created through a straightforward modification to the regular LMS hyperlink.

How to create the direct hyperlink

To do so, simply append competencylogin.aspx to the end of the regular link. The new link should look something like this:

https://LINK-TO-THE-LMS/competencylogin.aspx

Note: Firms that use Single Sign On should append ssocompetencylogin.aspx.

When a user logs into the system with this URL, they should see the Continuing Competence Module:

CCM_module

Our new data protection course is now available

Data Protection: Privacy at Work

VinciWorks has just released the only data protection course your company needs. This course
combines the latest in policy and law with best practice guidelines for data protection. It provides real-world scenarios, interactive features and review questions to test participants’ understanding of key points. To begin, an interactive game will guide users through the complex web of decisions that every business must make when it comes to implementing data protection policies, providing a deeper understanding of the core issues.

Data Protection - Protecting Personal Data
Course modules such as Protecting Personal Data are chosen based on each users needs

Industry and Role-specific Customisable Course

This 20-minute course is our most customisable yet. At the start of the course, each user specifies their individual role, responsibilities, location, and more to create a user-specific learning plan. With over 1,000 different course options available, anyone in your organisation can take this data protection course.

After taking the course users will:

  • Understand how data protection affects real-world scenarios, with review questions to test participants’ understanding of key points
  • Know the latest in policy and law with best practice guidelines for data protection
  • Know how to comply with data protection laws for the user’s specific role in your organisation
  • Learn how changes to regulation like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) affect their work

VinciWorks by the numbers: 2016 a year in review

In the waning days of 2016, as we huddled around our board room fireplace with hot chocolate and crumpets, we took some time to reflect on a stellar 2016 and look forward to the incredible new innovations yet to come in the new year.

14 new courses

Traditionally VinciWorks has provided compliance training primarily to the legal sector. We proudly train over 20% of all UK solicitors and work with 60 of the top 100 global law firms.

In 2016 we expanded our corporate offering significantly and created courses that are tailored to many new industries.

This year we introduced the Corporate Compliance Suite, which includes courses on the Bribery Act, money laundering, information security, cyber security, diversity and the Modern Slavery Act. There are sector-specific courses for accountants, corporates, estate agents and financial services firms.

Other new courses

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Law Firms Meet for First Continuing Competence User Group

Director of Best Practice Gary Yantin hosted the first continuing competence user group this week. Over 19 firms convened on a conference call to discuss how firms are implementing continuing competence, and to share best practice.

Early Takeaway – Education is Key

The firms on the call agreed that it is still early days for continuing competence and many solicitors haven’t even begun their 2016-2017 learning plan. However the firms stressed that educating solicitors over the next month on the new requirements is a key first step. There have been some creative education initiatives at firms, including ‘chair drops’ of learning material on every chair, small workshops and video tutorials.

Some of the other best practice recommendations that were shared were:

  • Incentivise learning and development by tying it to remuneration
  • Modify performance appraisals to include continuing competence
  • When enrolling a solicitor in a course or suggesting training – also suggest some SRA competencies that are related to that training

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Mapping VinciWorks Courses to the SRA’s Continuing Competence

Under the SRA’s New Approach to Continuing Competence, solicitors are required to reflect on the SRA’s Competence Statement, identify knowledge gaps and undertake learning to bridge those gaps.

All of VinciWorks’ courses correspond to competencies in the Competence Statement and can be used to bridge learning gaps. The guide below is a complete mapping of our courses with the Competence Statement.

Download the guide