New year, new laws: Legislation coming into force in 2018 you need to know about

The turn of the new year marks not only new beginnings, but the prospect of new laws too.

A raft of legislation will come into force in 2018 affecting everyone from grandparents, to classic car owners and drone pilots.

Some will not make the slightest bit of difference to you, while some may be beneficial, and others could leave you out of pocket... or worse.

Here is a rundown of some of the new laws - courtesy of Manchester Evening News - that you need to look out for at the turn of the New Year, and some that could come into effect during 2018.

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Classic car MOTs scrapped

From May onwards, nearly 300,000 classic cars in the UK will no longer need a Ministry of Transport test.

Under new plans from the government, cars older than 40 years old will not need to take the yearly test, meaning that 1.5% of cars in the country will not have an MOT certificate but will be allowed to be driven on the road.

The Department for Transport defended the decision from suggestions it was an unsafe move, by saying owners of older cars usually keep them in the good condition and do not use them regularly enough for an MOT test to be necessary.

Gender pay gap data will be revealed

England, Wales and Scotland employers with at least 250 employees will be required to publish information about the differences in pay between men and women in their workforce, based on a pay bill "snapshot" date of April 5 2017, under the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017.

The first reports must be published by April 4 2018.

New drone laws

Drones - unmanned aircraft - are becoming increasingly regulated amid health and safety fears.

In 2018, the UK government is introducing new laws which mean users will need to take a basic online safety test and register their drone in order to lawfully use it.

Police will also be able to search and seize drones if they have grounds for suspicion. The test has been described as "similar to a driving theory test".

Banks will freeze illegal immigrants’ accounts

Part of Theresa May’s pledge to create a "hostile environment" for illegal immigrants in Britain, banks will carry out immigration checks on 70 million accounts from January 2018.

The checks will happen four times a year and banks will freeze the assets of illegal immigrants.

The Home Office expects the checks will identify 6,000 failed asylum seekers and visa overstayers.

However, the plans have attracted criticism as it is feared people who have legitimately settled in the UK will be affected.

Minimum energy performance ratings

From April 1, there will be a requirement for any privately rented properties to have a minimum energy performance rating of E.

The government has announced it will be unlawful to rent out a property which breaches this minimum rating.

A civil penalty of up to £4,000 will be imposed for landlords who do - meaning properties which fall in the F or G category will no longer be acceptable.

Termination payments

The government plans to make changes to the taxation of termination payments from April 2018.

The proposals include:

Removing the distinction between contractual and non-contractual PILONs (payments in lieu of notice) so that all PILONs are taxable and subject to Class 1 NICs
Ensuring that the first £30,000 of a termination payment remains exempt from income tax and that any payment paid to any employee that relates solely to the termination of the employment continues to have an unlimited employee NICs exemption
Aligning the rules for income tax and employer NICs so that employer NICs will be payable on payments above £30,000 (which are currently only subject to income tax)

Laws that could be introduced...

There are several proposals that have been suggested for 2018, but not yet confirmed. Here is a list of some of the big ones:

Your council tax could increase

The government has relaxed rules on council tax increases - meaning families could see their bills rise by up to £100 a year.

Previously, local authorities could only put council tax up by 2% thanks to a government cap and if they wanted to increase it any more, they had to have a referendum.

But as of March 2018, councils could well raise bills by up to 6% without holding a vote - making it the biggest hike for 14 years.

However, this is a provisional announcement which will be subject to consultation and a final settlement announcement will be made early next year.

Grandparent leave could be introduced

In 2015, the government announced plans to introduce a shared parental leave scheme which includes grandparents.

Part of the changing dynamic of childcare in the UK, the government estimates there are two million grandparents who have stopped work or taken time off to provide care for their grandchildren.

Grandparents will be able to share up to 50 weeks leave with their child in order to care for their grandchildren in the first year after birth.

While the policy is expected in 2018, it has not be officially confirmed by Theresa May’s government.

Data protection

There will be tougher punishments for companies that fail to stick to new rules around the storage and handling of personal data (Image: PA)

Despite Britain voting to leave the EU, it’s still expected that we will adopt the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation into British law in March 2018.

This will impose much tougher punishments for companies that fail to stick to new rules around the storage and handling of personal data.

Thousands of businesses in the UK not only collect personal data, but store and access it online - and it is then used for sales and marketing.

The new law will make this harder - and aims to protect people’s data being hacked by cyber criminals.