On 25 October 2018, Practical Law published the results of a poll of FTSE 100 companies, summarising how the sampled companies proposed to comply with amendments introduced by the U.K. Corporate Governance Code 2018 ("2018 Code") and new reporting obligations under the Companies (Miscellaneous Reporting) Regulations 2018.
The poll questions related primarily to:
- The proposed requirement for workforce engagement in board discussions and decision-making.
- Engagement mechanisms with U.K. employees and suppliers, customers and other stakeholders.
- How companies will prepare the statements relating to:
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- section 172 of the Companies Act 2006;
- how the company has engaged with U.K. employees, and how the directors have had regard to their interests; and
- how directors have had regard to the need to foster the company's business relationships with suppliers, customers and others.
Of the 39 respondent companies, none indicated an intention to appoint a director from the workforce; indeed, 64% had yet to decide on a method of stakeholder engagement necessary to comply with the 2018 Code. Similarly, many companies had failed to indicate how they would prepare the section 172 and other statements. However, most indicated that the directors' consideration of the relevant matters would be documented in board minutes, which, for most of these companies, would mark a shift in their current policy on board minutes.
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