The Role of HR Compliance

At Croner, we use the term ‘HR compliance’ frequently because compliance is critical; not just to run your business successfully, but to avoid severe fines and criminal charges.

Understand that any commitment to compliance without expertise is a lost cause. In this guide, we will take you through everything you need to know about HR compliance.

What is HR compliance?

• A commitment to following the working standards set out by the latest UK employment laws, legislation, and regulations.
• These laws and regulations affect your policies, procedures, and documentation, and day-to-day responsibilities.
• HR compliance also means your employees must receive all entitlements due to them as set out in their employment contract.

One of the biggest challenges when undertaking legal compliance in HR is remaining compliant over the long-term. Why? Because UK employment law is constantly changing and updating. Some of these changes occur annually and are easy to prepare for, such as national minimum wage increases. Others might occur due to a tribunal ruling or other external factor, such as changes to gig economy laws.

What are the different types of compliance?

Here are the three different types of compliance:

Statutory compliance

Statutory compliance refers to the legal obligation for an organisation to be compliant with written laws. So, if new legislation passes mandating that you must tint all windows in an office to reduce employees’ exposure to natural light, then that would be a statutory obligation.

Failure to abide by this law could result in criminal charges.

Regulatory compliance

Regulatory compliance refers to a legal obligation a regulating body issues. The Health and Safety Executive, for example, is a regulating body, but can issue legal requirements relating to health & safety.

Like a statutory obligation, you could face criminal charges if you fail to comply with these regulations.

Contractual compliance

Finally, contractual compliance refers to an obligation made between yourself and another party, in this case an employee, via an employment contract (or any other contract made between you and the other party).

Since a contract is a legally binding document, any commitment made within a contract that you fail to adhere to could result in criminal charges.

HR compliance training

Keeping up to date with employment law updates and updating and amending appropriate documents, policies, and contracts within your business is a daunting task.

That is why considering HR compliance training may well be worth it. Croner offers several training courses that not only help you become compliant but stay that way.

For a full breakdown of the training service we can provide, take a look at Croner Face2Face.

HR compliance audit checklist

A good place to start when looking to become HR compliant is to draft a checklist of all the different areas you want to ensure you remain compliant. You can be as specific with this checklist and its items as you like, narrowing the list down to each document, policy, and procedure you want to audit.

To help you along, here is a list of review items that should always be present in a UK employment law HR compliance checklist:

• Current employee handbook.
• Stand-alone policies.
• Company guidelines.
• Training of supervisors.
• Practices relating to:
  • Annual leave.
  • Complaint procedure.
  • Internal investigations.
  • End of contract.

It is also worth confirming that all policies are consistent, comprehensible, and accessible. Ensure they reflect all relevant legal developments.

Finally, ensure your employees acknowledge the receipt and review of these policies with signed forms. You should keep them on file should you need to refer to them later.

Not sure if you’re HR compliant?

Croner offers HR compliance software and service solutions to ensure remaining compliant is not an everyday concern. Contact us today on 0808 501 6651.