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Bribery Act
The Bribery Act passed in April 2010 comes into effect in April 2011
and affects all UK Companies, partnerships and individuals. Those prosecuted
could receive 10 years in jail and unlimited fines.
All organisations - including
companies, charities and professional firms will need to put anti-corruption
policies and procedures in place. Organisations that do not do so could be
liable for any bribery carried out by employees, even if those organisations did
not order the activity or the offending party is an outsourced employee.
Businesses should consider setting out clear anti bribery policies, training for
employees, rigorously investigate any allegations and take action against any
individuals involved.
The policy for HPBS Ltd is shown below:
"The Company prohibits: the offering, the giving, the solicitation
or the acceptance of any bribe, whether cash or other inducement to or from
any person or company, wherever they are situated and whether they are a
public official or body or private person or company by any individual
employee, agent or other person or body acting on the companies behalf in
order to gain any commercial, contractual or regulatory advantage for the
company in a way which is unethical or in order to gain any personal
advantage, pecuniary or otherwise, for the individual or anyone connected with
the individual.
Changes to Companies Act 2006
Areas to consider on business sales include:
- Fraud on minority and directors duties
- Entrepreneurs relief first £1m of gains is taxed at 10% not 18% (since
6th April 2008)
- Data Protection guidance
- Updated TUPE (2006) regulations
Changes to Employment Law in 2009
Some of the changes/impacts in employment law are listed below:
-
Maximum compensation for unfair dismissal set at £63000 effective Feb 2009
-
Statutory Employment Leave will increase from 4.8 to 5.6 weeks effective
April 2009
-
Increased maternity/paternity and adoption pay.
for other changes see
http://www.acas.org.uk
Company Law changes effective by October 2008
- Private companies no longer need to have a company
secretary, if they do however the secretary will have the
same authority as currently.
- Auditors can by agreement with the company limit their
liability in respect of the audit
Pension Changes
From 6th April 2010 the minimum age at which you can take benefits from your
pension plan is being raised to 55. You may still be able to take benefits
before the minimum age if you stop doing your job because of illness or injury
or if you have an occupation which is known as a special occupation, such as a
professional sports person that is not affected by the change.
www.icaew.com
Disclaimer: The
information does not represent all the changes/ actions/ requirements of the
topics described above and is based on information available in February 2007.
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