2005: the year in CSR

The year may have seen significant advances in promoting the fair treatment of employees but it marks a setback in terms of corporate social responsibility as the government abruptly changed its mind about its own role in effecting greater transparency and better reporting on the part of companies.

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A raft of employee legislation, mostly translations of EU directives, have come into force: the Disability Discrimination Act took effect in April, the Sex Discrimination Act and the remaining provisions of the Employee Relations Act of 2004 (covering collective bargaining and other Trade Union practices) in October.

Companies also started to contemplate the impact of the Age discrimination rules which will be implemented from October next year and absorb the findings of the Turner Pensions Review (published end of November) which could raise the age for receiving a (more generous) state pension to 68 after 2020.

Corporate responsibility reporting by companies continued to grow more than other kinds of non-financial reporting.