Our guide to choosing a Managed Service Provider, we provide some clarity on the Digital ID U-Turn, and a stark health and safety warning
In today’s blog post, we share guidance on how to choose an MSP to provide your IT support, give you some clarity regarding Labour’s recent u-turn on Digital ID, and highlight the dangerous risks of not following health and safety rules.
Choosing an MSP: What Every Business Needs to Know
Most smaller businesses use a Managed Service Provider (MSP) to provide IT and website support. If you are not an IT expert yourself, it can be challenging to know how to select an MSP and to ensure that they will deliver the services you need for your business.
With UK businesses increasingly under attack from cyber criminals and your MSP having access to your systems and data, it’s also important to know that your MSP is serious about cybersecurity.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has published a handy guide that can help you to ask the right questions and be able to take a proactive approach with your MSP.
What’s in the guide?
The following subjects are covered in the guide:
- Choosing an appropriate MSP – The guide includes information on the certifications you should expect to see and what should be contained in a clear contract.
- Security issues to discuss with your MSP – These include ideas for conversations to have with your MSP on patching and updates, backups, access, logs and incident response.
- Details to check in your MSP contract – For instance, you will want to know about your Service Level Agreement (SLA) response and resolution times, and what plans you have for systems that are coming to the end of their life.
The guide concludes with an MSP due diligence checklist that could be a useful resource when discussing your IT systems and website with your current MSP or when you need to find a new one.
To review the guide, see: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/choosing-a-managed-service-provider-msp
Backtrack on Digital ID Requirements
It appears that the government has backtracked on plans to require workers to register with its new digital ID programme to prove their right to work in the UK.
While right-to-work checks will still be carried out digitally by 2029, such as by using biometric passports, registering for a digital ID will be optional.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander confirmed that mandatory digital right-to-work checks will be brought in to help crack down on illegal working, but that the digital ID will be one way that a worker could use to prove their eligibility to work.
The idea of compulsory digital IDs has proved unpopular with nearly three million people signing a parliamentary petition to oppose their introduction.
Details on how the digital ID will work are not yet available. Many expect it to be based on the Gov.uk One Login and the yet to be launched, Gov.uk Wallet.
In the meantime, it is already possible to use government-certified digital verification services to do passport checks on British and Irish citizens. The Home Office also provide an online service for verifying the status of non-British or Irish citizens where the individual’s immigration status is held electronically.
See: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3385zrrx73o
Construction Firm Fined £60,000 After Worker Falls Through Unprotected Stairwell
A Northwest construction company has been fined £60,000 after an employee was seriously injured falling through an unprotected floor opening.
The incident occurred in April 2024 at a site in Cumbria when a general labourer was sweeping dust and debris on the first floor. Boards had been laid across part of an opening for a staircase, but they did not cover the full gap, and no edge protection or warning signs were in place. While working along the boards, a newly built wall collapsed, knocking him over the unprotected edge.
The employee fell from around 2.5 to 3 metres and spent a month in hospital recovering from multiple fractures and a dislocated shoulder.
An HSE investigation found that the risk had not been addressed, there was no supervision at the time, and the worker had not been given safety instructions.
The company was found guilty of breaching Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined and ordered to pay costs and a victim surcharge.
HSE Inspector Derek McLauchlan commented: “Any work at height is potentially high-risk and requires proper planning and implementation. This incident could have been avoided had appropriate control measures and training been in place.”
This case highlights the importance of ensuring the safety of employees working at height. A guide on what employers need to do to protect their employees from falls from height is available on the HSE website.
In today’s blog post, we share guidance on how to choose an MSP to provide your IT support, give you some clarity regarding Labour’s recent u-turn on Digital ID, and highlight the dangerous risks of not following health and safety rules.
Choosing an MSP: What Every Business Needs to Know
Most smaller businesses use a Managed Service Provider (MSP) to provide IT and website support. If you are not an IT expert yourself, it can be challenging to know how to select an MSP and to ensure that they will deliver the services you need for your business.
With UK businesses increasingly under attack from cyber criminals and your MSP having access to your systems and data, it’s also important to know that your MSP is serious about cybersecurity.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has published a handy guide that can help you to ask the right questions and be able to take a proactive approach with your MSP.
What’s in the guide?
The following subjects are covered in the guide:
- Choosing an appropriate MSP – The guide includes information on the certifications you should expect to see and what should be contained in a clear contract.
- Security issues to discuss with your MSP – These include ideas for conversations to have with your MSP on patching and updates, backups, access, logs and incident response.
- Details to check in your MSP contract – For instance, you will want to know about your Service Level Agreement (SLA) response and resolution times, and what plans you have for systems that are coming to the end of their life.
The guide concludes with an MSP due diligence checklist that could be a useful resource when discussing your IT systems and website with your current MSP or when you need to find a new one.
To review the guide, see: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/choosing-a-managed-service-provider-msp
Backtrack on Digital ID Requirements
It appears that the government has backtracked on plans to require workers to register with its new digital ID programme to prove their right to work in the UK.
While right-to-work checks will still be carried out digitally by 2029, such as by using biometric passports, registering for a digital ID will be optional.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander confirmed that mandatory digital right-to-work checks will be brought in to help crack down on illegal working, but that the digital ID will be one way that a worker could use to prove their eligibility to work.
The idea of compulsory digital IDs has proved unpopular with nearly three million people signing a parliamentary petition to oppose their introduction.
Details on how the digital ID will work are not yet available. Many expect it to be based on the Gov.uk One Login and the yet to be launched, Gov.uk Wallet.
In the meantime, it is already possible to use government-certified digital verification services to do passport checks on British and Irish citizens. The Home Office also provide an online service for verifying the status of non-British or Irish citizens where the individual’s immigration status is held electronically.
See: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3385zrrx73o
Construction Firm Fined £60,000 After Worker Falls Through Unprotected Stairwell
A Northwest construction company has been fined £60,000 after an employee was seriously injured falling through an unprotected floor opening.
The incident occurred in April 2024 at a site in Cumbria when a general labourer was sweeping dust and debris on the first floor. Boards had been laid across part of an opening for a staircase, but they did not cover the full gap, and no edge protection or warning signs were in place. While working along the boards, a newly built wall collapsed, knocking him over the unprotected edge.
The employee fell from around 2.5 to 3 metres and spent a month in hospital recovering from multiple fractures and a dislocated shoulder.
An HSE investigation found that the risk had not been addressed, there was no supervision at the time, and the worker had not been given safety instructions.
The company was found guilty of breaching Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined and ordered to pay costs and a victim surcharge.
HSE Inspector Derek McLauchlan commented: “Any work at height is potentially high-risk and requires proper planning and implementation. This incident could have been avoided had appropriate control measures and training been in place.”
This case highlights the importance of ensuring the safety of employees working at height. A guide on what employers need to do to protect their employees from falls from height is available on the HSE website.