Daily Legislative Digest: Practical implications of recent UK statutory instruments for employer compliance

Daily Legislative Digest: Practical implications of recent UK statutory instruments for employer compliance

This update summarises a set of recently made statutory instruments and orders affecting public authorities, record keeping, pensions and local flying restrictions, and highlights practical steps employers and health and safety professionals should consider to remain compliant and resilient.

At a glance: what has changed

The instruments covered include:

• The Social Security (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2025 (Commencement No. 2) Regulations 2025 — an Order corresponding to an instrument made under the Social Security Administration Act 1992;
• The State Pension Debits and Credits (Revaluation) Order (Northern Ireland) 2025 — specifying a revaluing percentage of 39.0 per cent;
• The State Pension Revaluation for Transitional Pensions Order (Northern Ireland) 2025 — linked to revaluation arrangements for transitional pensions;
• The Air Navigation (Restriction of Flying) (Newport) Regulations 2025 — a local restriction on flying activity;
• The Power to Award Degrees etc. (ESCP Europe Business School) (Amendment) Order 2025 — extending ESCP Europe Business School’s authorisation to award degrees;
• The Revenue Scotland and Tax Powers Act (Record Keeping) Amendment Regulations 2025 — amending the 2015 Regulations to set out records that must be preserved by registrable persons under the Aggregates Tax and Devolved Taxes Administration (Scotland) Act 2024;
• The Equality Act 2010 (Specification of Public Authorities) (Scotland) Order 2025 — adding Zero Waste Scotland Limited to the list of Scottish public authorities subject to the public sector equality duty;
• The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2025 — amending the specific duties regulations.

Implications for occupational health and safety management

Although not all instruments are strictly health and safety regulations, several will affect employer duties and record keeping practices. Practical implications include:

• Record keeping and auditability: the amendments to the Revenue Scotland record keeping regulations set clear preservation requirements for registrable persons. Organisations that handle aggregates or operate under devolved tax regimes should review document retention policies and evidence trails to ensure compliance and to preserve records that may also serve H&S audit purposes.
• Equality duty and public bodies: adding a body to the list of public authorities under the Equality Act’s schedule means the public sector equality duty in section 149 applies. Employers and contracted organisations working with affected public authorities should review equality impact assessments and ensure policies and risk assessments address equality considerations alongside health and safety risks.
• Local airspace restrictions: the Air Navigation (Restriction of Flying) (Newport) Regulations affect low-flying operations and events. Employers organising site activities, temporary works or events in affected areas should assess risks from overflying aircraft and adjust control measures where necessary.
• Pensions and payroll: changes to state pension revaluation and social security commencement orders can influence payroll processes and workforce communications. Accurate payroll records and clear staff communications help maintain welfare and reduce operational disruption that can otherwise affect workplace safety and wellbeing.

Action checklist for organisations

To translate these legislative changes into practical compliance, consider the following checklist:

1. Review and update retention schedules to reflect the amended record keeping requirements and ensure secure storage and accessibility of tax and operational records.
2. Integrate equality duty considerations into risk assessments and safe systems of work where your organisation interacts with specified public authorities.
3. Check procurement and contract clauses for suppliers operating in areas affected by air navigation restrictions to ensure control measures and emergency arrangements align.
4. Ensure payroll and HR teams are briefed on pension revaluation changes so staff communications and welfare support remain accurate and timely.
5. Audit your health and safety management system to confirm that documentation, roles and responsibilities and evidence gathering support regulatory compliance.

Where Synergos Consultancy can help

Practical compliance often requires aligning policy, systems and records. Synergos Consultancy provides targeted support across several complementary areas that help organisations meet these evolving obligations. For example, Synergos can help by:

• Reviewing and strengthening record keeping and document control as part of broader management systems such as ISO 9001 — see Synergos guidance on ISO 9001 for structured quality and records management (https://synergosconsultancy.co.uk/iso9001/).
• Integrating health and safety into management systems with ISO 45001 implementation support where practical controls, incident reporting and continuous improvement are required (https://synergosconsultancy.co.uk/iso45001/).
• Supporting risk assessment and competent person arrangements to ensure assessments, monitoring and retained evidence meet regulatory expectations (https://synergosconsultancy.co.uk/health-and-safety-risk-assessment/, https://synergosconsultancy.co.uk/competent-person/).
• Delivering fit-for-purpose training and support packages to build internal capability for compliance with equality duties, record retention and operational safety (https://synergosconsultancy.co.uk/support-packages-and-services/, https://synergosconsultancy.co.uk/health-and-safety-training/).

Practical examples of compliance steps

Organisations may find the following practical steps useful when translating the statutory changes into operational controls:

• Record retention: map records that must be preserved, set minimum retention periods and ensure secure backups, access controls and retrieval processes for audits.
• Risk assessment updates: where public sector equality duties now apply, update risk assessments to capture potential discrimination or disproportionate impacts and record mitigation measures.
• Event and site planning: for areas affected by flying restrictions, include airspace checks in site surveys and update emergency response and contractor briefings accordingly.
• Management system alignment: use ISO-based approaches to document change control, nonconformance handling and continual improvement so legislative changes are embedded rather than treated as one-off tasks.

Staying ahead of change

Regulatory amendments can be technical and dispersed across different policy areas. Maintaining a single source of truth for policies, a schedule of legislative changes and periodic audits helps prevent gaps in compliance and supports a proactive safety culture. Synergos’ advisory services and training academy can assist organisations to systematise these practices and build resilience through competence and documented systems (https://synergosconsultancy.co.uk/training/).

Organisations should prioritise review of record keeping processes, equality impacts and operational controls where these instruments intersect with their activities to ensure continuing compliance and to protect workers, service users and stakeholders.

This update aims to translate the statutory changes into practical, actionable areas for employers and health and safety professionals so they can update policies, train staff and maintain compliant, resilient systems.