CPA Bulletin

38 CPA Bulletin > May 2022 www.cpa.uk.net Legal NEWS LEGAL: 1 Following a Department for Transport (DfT) consultation on expanding the offence of using a hand-held mobile phone while driving, new regulations came into force from 25th March 2022. The DfT had increased the penalties in 2019 of driving whilst holding a mobile phone with a £200 fine and 6 penalty points on the driver’s licence, if convicted. The enhanced regulations widens the scope of the offence to include ‘any use’ of a mobile telephone or interactive communication device held in the hand whilst driving. These provisions remove the requirement that the driver is actually using the mobile telephone or interactive communication device to perform an interactive communication function, meaning it will be an offence to simply illuminate the screen to ‘check the time’. An exemption has been inserted to provide that a driver is not in contravention of that regulation where the hand-held mobile telephone or interactive communication device is being used to make a contactless payment at a contactless payment terminal. Driving and Mobile Phones Extra Day - Public Holiday Due to the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, there will be an extra day’s Public Holiday which will be on Friday 3rd June 2022 . The Late May Bank Holiday, which would normally be held on the final Monday in May, has been moved to Thursday 2nd June . Changes to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) The Government has made a change to the rules governing Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), which took effect from 24th March 2022. SSP will return to the pre-pandemic rules whereby it will only be payable from day 4 of an employee’s illness, rather than day 1, i.e. the 3 ‘waiting’ days will resume. People who are off sick with COVID-19 will still be able to get SSP if they qualify, as it will be treated like any other sickness. Employees are entitled to £99.35 per week SSP if they are too ill to work and is paid by their employer for up to 28 weeks. Home Office deferral to Worker Checks The Home Office has deferred the end date for ‘Covid-19 adjusted right to work’ checks to 30th September 2022. Adjusted work checks were first introduced in March 2020 due to the pandemic; and allowed employers to confirm a prospective employee’s right to work in the UK, through video calls rather than face-to-face meetings. The extended deadline coincides with the Government’s plans for employers to use Identification Document Validation Technology (IDVT) from 6th April 2022. The IDVT system will allow employers to verify British and Irish citizens’ eligibility to work digitally - via a third party service provider, moving away from reliance on copies of physical documents. The change will align right to work checks with the Disclosure and Barring Service’s (DBS) proposal to enable digital identity checking within their criminal record checking process, through the introduction of its Identity Trust Scheme (ITS). Operating light goods vehicles in Europe New EU rules which take effect from 21st May 2022, will mean that operators or users of vans and other light goods vehicles over 2.5 tonnes and up to 3.5 tonnes in weight that transport goods for hire and reward from the UK into, or through the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein, will need to obtain an International Operators’ Licence. Further information on this can be found on the Gov UK website at: www.gov.uk/guidance/transport-goods-in-and-out-of-the-uk-using-vans-or-car-and-trailers-from-21-may-2022 .