This month's legal briefing is a shorter update, covering a small number of recent legal and regulatory developments relevant to Quality, Environmental, Information Security and Health & Safety. It is produced by Assent Risk Management to help organizations identify changes that may affect their legal and regulatory obligations.
Each briefing provides details of the relevant legislation or regulatory change, including its title, date, country, category, potentially applicable standards and industries/sectors, together with a summary and a link to the relevant official source.
The standards and sector information is intended as a useful guide when considering relevance. Organizations should assess each update against their own activities, locations and existing legal obligations to establish whether any changes apply to them.
Where an update is applicable, organizations should consider whether their legal register, policies, procedures, risk assessments, controls, training or other compliance arrangements need to be reviewed or updated.
The Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 6 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2026
- Date: 6 October 2026
- Country: UK
- Category: Employment
- Standards: ISO 45001, ISO 45003, ISO 30415
- Industries and sectors: Employers, HR and people-management teams, organizations reviewing employment practices, worker wellbeing and inclusion.
- Status: Active
These Regulations bring into force certain provisions of the Employment Rights Act 2025 (c. 36) (“the 2025 Act”) on 30 October 2026. They are the sixth commencement regulations made under the 2025 Act. Certain provisions came into force on Royal Assent by virtue of section 159(1) of the 2025 Act and two months after Royal Assent by virtue of section 159(2) of the 2025 Act.
Legislation: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/1065/contents/made
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (Amendment) (No. 2) Rules 2026
- Date: 13 October 2026
- Country: UK
- Category: Employment
- Standards: ISO 45001, ISO 45003, ISO 30415
- Industries and sectors: Employers, trade unions, HR and employee-relations teams, organizations involved in employment relations and workplace access arrangements.
- Status: Active
This instrument amends the Employment Appeal Tribunal Rules 1993, which govern procedure in the Employment Appeal Tribunal. It makes consequential procedural amendments, so that appeals from determinations, declarations and orders made by the Central Arbitration Committee under the new right of trade unions to access workplaces framework, can be brought and dealt with under the existing Employment Appeal Tribunal Rules. The amendments include inserting references to the new appeal route under section 70ZM(1) and (2) of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (“the 1992 Act”), adding references to Central Arbitration Committee “determinations” alongside existing references to decisions, declarations and orders, and updating the relevant appeal form.
Legislation: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/1077/contents/made
The Global Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Sanctions Regulations 2026
- Date: 13 October 2026
- Country: UK
- Category: Sanctions
- Standards: ISO 37301, ISO 37001, ISO 31000, ISO 26000
- Industries and sectors: Financial services providers, international traders, legal and professional services firms, charities and NGOs, organizations with overseas operations or international supply chains.
- Status: Active
This instrument revokes and re-enacts, with expanded purposes and designation criteria, the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020 (“the 2020 Regulations”). It consolidates amendments previously made to the 2020 Regulations and provides the Government with new designation powers.
Legislation: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/1071/contents/made
The Income Tax (Pay As You Earn) (Amendment No. 3) Regulations 2026
- Date: 14 October 2026
- Country: UK
- Category: Finance
- Standards: ISO 9001, ISO 27001, ISO 27701
- Industries and sectors: Employers, payroll and HR service providers, accountancy practices, payroll, HR and business software suppliers.
- Status: Active
This instrument amends the Income Tax (Pay As You Earn) Regulations 2003 (the PAYE Regulations) so that employers may voluntarily register to report non-mandated benefits in kind using payroll software. It allows employers to report the taxable benefit of employment-related loans and employer-provided living accommodation voluntarily using payroll software from the 2027-28 tax year. It also sets out how employers must calculate the cash equivalent or relevant amount of those benefits for payrolling purposes, including where information needed for the calculation is not known when the calculation is made.
Legislation: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/1082/contents/made
Staying Compliant
Keeping your legal and regulatory information up to date is an important part of maintaining an effective management system. We recommend reviewing the updates in this month's briefing and assessing whether any changes apply to your organization.
Where relevant, ensure that changes are reflected in your legal register and compliance documentation, and that any necessary updates to policies, procedures, risk assessments, controls or training are implemented and communicated to those affected.
Management system standards including ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001 and ISO 27001 require organizations to determine applicable legal and other requirements and evaluate compliance with those requirements.
For support with identifying applicable legislation, maintaining your legal register or assessing compliance, Assent can provide specialist legal and regulatory compliance support.
About This Update
This legal update is provided by Assent Risk Management. You can view their full library of legal briefings at assentriskmanagement.co.uk/category/legal-briefing.