DutyCheck covers health, safety and employment duties for business premises in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Every duty cites the legislation it comes from, resolved for the nation the premises is in.
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Nations, each on its own legislation
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Duties the Checker can return
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Instruments cited, each linked to legislation.gov.uk
Nation by nation
Your postcode decides which of these your answer is written against. The count in brackets is how many of your duties rest on legislation made for that nation rather than on England and Wales law.
England
26 duties26 on its own statute
Health and safety regulator
Health and Safety Executive
Fire safety enforced by
your local Fire and Rescue Authority
Specific to England
Fire doors in residential buildings.
The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 put a fixed quarterly check on communal fire doors, and an annual one on flat entrance doors. England is the only nation with that duty, so it appears here and nowhere else.
Electrical safety in rented residential premises.
The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector and Social Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 make the five-year inspection statutory rather than conventional.
Food hygiene rating display.
In England displaying your rating is voluntary. It is compulsory in Wales and in Northern Ireland.
Wales
25 duties2 on its own statute
Health and safety regulator
Health and Safety Executive
Fire safety enforced by
your local Fire and Rescue Authority
Where the law differs, and we follow it
Food hygiene.
The Food Hygiene (Wales) Regulations 2006 apply rather than the England regulations, and under the Food Hygiene Rating (Wales) Act 2013 displaying your rating is compulsory, not optional.
Electrical safety in rented residential premises.
The Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 governs the rented sector rather than the England regulations.
What we do not cover in
Wales
The quarterly fire door check does not appear for Wales. It comes from the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, and Wales has not made an equivalent.
Scotland
25 duties5 on its own statute
Health and safety regulator
Health and Safety Executive
Fire safety enforced by
the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
Where the law differs, and we follow it
Fire safety, the whole regime.
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 does not extend to Scotland at all. The duty comes from Part 3 of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006, and it is enforced by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.
Fire equipment maintenance.
Regulation 20 of the Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006 carries the duty to maintain, rather than article 17 of the Order.
Food hygiene.
The Food Hygiene (Scotland) Regulations 2006 apply, and Scotland runs the Food Hygiene Information Scheme, which returns a pass or an improvement required rather than the 0 to 5 rating used elsewhere.
Electrical safety in rented residential premises.
The repairing standard under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 applies.
What we do not cover in
Scotland
The quarterly fire door check does not appear for Scotland. It comes from the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, and Scotland has not made an equivalent.
Northern Ireland
25 duties24 on its own statute
Health and safety regulator
Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland
Fire safety enforced by
the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service
Where the law differs, and we follow it
Almost the entire statute book.
Northern Ireland has its own health and safety legislation, from the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 downwards. Of the duties we cover, all but one rest on a Northern Ireland instrument, and we cite that instrument rather than the Great Britain one.
The regulator.
HSENI enforces, not the HSE, and Northern Ireland does not use the Great Britain split between the HSE and councils. District councils take a narrower list of activities.
Fire safety.
The Fire and Rescue Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 and the Fire Safety Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010, enforced by the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service.
Food hygiene.
The Food Hygiene Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006, and displaying your rating is compulsory under the Food Hygiene Rating Act (Northern Ireland) 2016.
Northern Ireland has no official flag of its own, so the Union Flag is shown. We are not making a point with it.
What we do not cover in
Northern Ireland
The quarterly fire door check does not appear for Northern Ireland, for the same reason as Wales and Scotland.
Employment law in Northern Ireland diverges further than we model. We cite the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 rather than the 1996 Act, but the Employment Rights Bill going through Westminster does not extend to Northern Ireland, and the tribunal system is separate. Treat our employment duties as a starting point there, and take advice on the detail.
The same everywhere in the UK
Health and safety at work.
Reserved in Wales and Scotland, so the same instruments apply. Northern Ireland legislates separately and we follow its instruments.
Employment law.
Reserved in Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland has its own, and we say so.
Right to work checks.
Immigration is reserved across the whole United Kingdom, so the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 applies everywhere, including Northern Ireland. It is the one duty on our list that cites the same Act in all four nations.
What we do not cover anywhere
These are real duties on real businesses. They are not on our list, and a result from the Checker is not a statement that they do not apply to you.
Tax, VAT and anything HMRC
We publish nothing about tax. Specific tax advice is a regulated activity and we are deliberately outside it.
Licensing
Alcohol and entertainment licensing, HMO licensing, scrap metal, taxi and street trading. All separate regimes with their own applications and conditions.
Building regulations and building control
What you must do to alter a building, as opposed to how you must run one. The Building Safety Act regime for higher-risk buildings is also outside what we cover.
Environmental permits and waste
The waste duty of care, packaging, trade effluent, and permits from the Environment Agency, SEPA, Natural Resources Wales or NIEA.
Sector regulators
CQC, Care Inspectorate, RQIA, Ofsted, Estyn, the FCA and the rest. A care home has duties to its care regulator that are nothing to do with the ones we list.
Product safety and trading standards
What you sell, as opposed to the premises you sell it from.
Anywhere outside the United Kingdom
The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are not in the UK and are not covered.
How we keep it right
Every legal claim on this site names an instrument on legislation.gov.uk, and links to the provision so you can read it yourself. We re-read all
59
of them against the public legislation.gov.uk API, which tells us when an instrument is renamed, when its revised text changes, and when an amendment is already law but has not yet been written into the text on the page.
What that cannot do is supply an interval. The law usually says "regularly" and leaves the number to a British Standard or an HSE guidance note, so every interval on this site is a person reading a document, with the source and the date shown next to it. Where an interval is fixed in legislation, we say so. Where it is not, we say that too.
Read this bit.
We publish information. We never give advice, and we never do the work ourselves.
A result from the Checker is a starting point built from your answers. It is not a risk assessment, not an audit and not legal advice, and a duty can apply to you for a reason none of our questions asked about.
Spotted something we have wrong, or a nation we have flattened?
Tell us. We would rather be told than be wrong.
