Mandatory Training vs Statutory Training: A Guide

Employing the right people for the right roles is integral to any organisation’s continued success – but that’s just the beginning.

Once they’re embedded in the organisation, the next stage is to make sure that they understand their role, their responsibilities, and the organisation.

This is what mandatory and statutory training is for.

Successful organisations invest in their people.

This means investing in L&D and leveraging LMS software.

After all, workplaces evolve. Very, very few remain the same.

Maybe if you’re running, let’s say, a small, family-run high-street antique shop which has been in your family for generations, any evolution over decades isn’t exactly what you’d call expansive.

However, this is the exception. Not the rule.

Even the smallest businesses and sole traders leverage social media to promote who they are, what they do and how their products and services enrich people’s lives! This is a 21st-century phenomenon.

And, even in our example, the small antiques store, for fun let’s call it Timeless Treasures, if the business owner wishes to leverage Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, or any other social media, for example, it’s probably a good idea to undertake training so you know what you’re doing!

What we’re trying to say is that training is essential. Even a legal requirement.

You wouldn’t have someone working in a chemical manufacturing plant without completing health and safety training, right?

Let’s have a look at the range of employment training, clearly defining mandatory and statutory training, highlighting the key differences, outlining the consequences of failing to properly invest in workplace training, and what to do if your organisation doesn’t have sufficient training in place.

Keep reading below to uncover what you need to know about mandatory and statutory training but may not have thought of.👇

What Is Mandatory Training

Any training essential to an organisation’s performance undertaken, such as diversity, equality and inclusion, conflict resolution or training teams to better understand the brand-new IT system or LMS software is categorised as mandatory training.

Whereas there’s no legal statute for mandatory training, equipping staff with the knowledge and skillsets to tackle any eventuality that they may encounter has tremendous benefits to an organisation.

Mandatory training overlaps with statutory training, for example, health and safety and fire safety training, however, it’s important to remember that not all mandatory training is statutory.

So, let’s say that you have fifty people office-bound.

They spend eight hours a day behind a computer screen. Having comfortable chairs, an appropriately positioned monitor, proper lighting, and comfortably accessible keyboard and mouse is essential to maximising productively–even preventing injuries.

This is why mandatory training is so important. ⭐

Clear examples of mandatory training include:

Complaints handling
Conflict resolution
Moving and handling

When you incorporate statutory and mandatory training into an organisation’s ongoing learning and development programme, people thrive, honing everyone’s knowledge and awareness of every aspect of the business, their role, and the working environment.

If you’re not maximising your statutory and mandatory training, now’s the time to dig a little deeper and start rolling out a mandatory L&D training system to benefit everyone.

What Is Statutory Training?

Any legislative or regulatory training undertaken by anyone in the organisation to meet legislative requirements, such as health and safety, data protection, COSHH (the control of hazardous to health regulations) is categorised as statutory training.

Statutory training covers a range of legislative acts, including, the Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Act 1999 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

So, say that someone manages a care home. They have a duty of care to their residents. After all, we’re talking about people’s health and safety. Staff must therefore undertake staff training across a wealth of subjects, from health and safety to infection control, food hygiene to equality, diversity, and human rights.

Employers must adhere to statutory or required training to maintain a safe, protected, and healthy working environment for everyone. Not doing so could have serious ramifications.

This is why statutory training is so important.

Clear examples of statutory training include:

Fire safety awareness training
Basic risk assessment training
Awareness of Controlled Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH)

Mandatory Training vs. Statutory Training: What are the Key Differences

Okay, so admittedly, mandatory, and statutory training are not entirely dissimilar.

In fact, you’d be forgiven for thinking that they’re both the same thing. However, this isn’t the case.

To illustrate this further, and back up our previous definitions, let’s review the Oxford dictionary definitions of mandatory and statutory.

The Oxford Dictionary defines mandatory and statutory in the following ways:

Statutory: required, permitted, or enacted by a statue

Mandatory: required by law; compulsory

So, basically, statutory training ensures that the organisation meets its legislative responsibilities.

Mandatory training is an organisational requirement to limit workplace risk and maintain safe working practices.

Check out the table below to get a clear understanding of the key differences between each:

Feature

Statutory Training

Mandatory Training

Legally required

Yes

No (but required by employer)

Purpose

Compliance with laws and safety regulations

Business-specific requirements & best practices

Examples

Fire safety, first aid, health and safety

GDPR, cybersecurity, DEI, LMS software training

Consequences of non-compliance

Legal penalties, business fines, operational shutdowns

Business risk, reputational damage, internal policy violations

Who sets the requirements?

Government and regulatory bodies

Employer or industry standards

Why Mandatory and Statutory Training is Important?

As you can guess, and as we’ve already alluded to mandatory and statutory training is paramount.

Every organisation must ensure that everyone has the knowledge and skills to perform. This benefits individuals and organisations.

Keep reading below to uncover the most important reasons why mandatory and statutory training is paramount.👇

Legal Compliance

Let’s start with what is the most crucial reason an organisation must invest in mandatory and statutory training – legal compliance.

Whilst not typically legally mandated, mandatory training’s primary benefit to an organisation is the assurance that all employees have all the necessary knowledge and skills to perform their jobs efficiently.

Statutory training ensures organisations meet all legal regulations and requirements to operate. It prevents them from potential fines, penalties, and further legal action.

Workplace Safety

Both mandatory and statutory training are essential to equip employees with the knowledge and skills necessary to identify and mitigate workplace hazards and risks, therefore promoting a safer workplace environment.

Reducing workplace hazards can minimise costs employers are liable for, including medical expenses, productivity loss and any potential legal liabilities.

Boosting Employee Knowledge

Mandatory and statutory training helps employees to develop and maintain the knowledge and skills necessary to fulfil their roles, leading to improved performance and job satisfaction and knowledge.

By investing in employee development, organisations foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation. Development can include a dedicated, continuous IT training system, communication, best practices, evolving industry standards, and more.

Improved Organisational Performance

Equipping employees with the knowledge and skills necessary to excel in their roles improves operations efficiency and performance. This promotes individual and organisational prosperity.

The result?

Improvement in all areas of the organisation.

From superior products and services to increased productivity and workplace happiness, the organisational and individual benefits are vast and undeniable.

Remember, a well-trained workforce, one with the knowledge and skills to excel in their roles is more engaged and committed to an organisation’s goals.

What Are the Consequences of a Lack of Mandatory or Statutory Workplace Training?

As you can guess, failing to provide mandatory or statutory workplace training can be significantly detrimental to sustained prosperity.

Below is a brief look at what your organisation is risking by failing to provide requisite and sufficient training.

Unhealthy Work Environments

Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, employers have a legal responsibility to provide employees with all the information, training, and supervision they need to perform their roles.

Employers who do not provide this risk experience decreased employee morale and loyalty and simultaneously increased absenteeism, even workplace accidents.

Reduced Productivity

When employees don’t fully understand their role or aren’t comfortable in their working environment, this affects motivation and overall performance.

Equip people with the necessary skills to thrive and an environment that allows them to, like a workplace with a strong L&D focus, and you’ll optimise their skillsets and increase productivity. ☺️

Unhappy Customers

Let’s face it, unproductive, unmotivated employees can have a significant impact on organisational prosperity.

People don’t perform if they feel their employer hasn’t invested in them. Most of the time.

The consequences of this? Everyone they encounter feels like they’re not valued. And when customers don’t feel valued, they don’t buy into, let alone buy from, any organisation.

Increased Employee Turnover

Unhappy people leave their jobs. Happy people rarely do. Workplace stress. Feeling like they’re not rewarded for their efforts. Not having the infrastructure around you to reach your full potential can result in compromised employee loyalty.

The good news is that by implementing mandatory and statutory staff training, these problems can be alleviated.

Fostering a L&D Culture

An organisation with a strong L&D culture, with an integrated online learning platform, demonstrates a commitment to professional and personal development.

This can empower everyone to achieve their potential, adding value whilst driving the organisation into the future.

What to Do If Your Organisation Lacks Mandatory and Statutory Training

If your organisation lacks strong mandatory and statutory training, there’s only one solution: implement them. Incorporate each into your L&D.

This is the only way to improve knowledge, performance, efficiency, productivity, and future opportunities.

But how do you do this? Simple.

Engage Conversations About Development

Engaging in group or one-on-one conversations about development, encouraging employees to undertake training to progress within their career, and stressing why it’s important to commit to consistent L&D, whilst setting professional development goals, is a fantastic way to foster commitment to mandatory and statutory training. 🙌

Creating Personal Development Plans

Once you’ve got employees onboard, even excited about mandatory and statutory training, the next stage is to understand each employee’s training needs and design personal development plans.

Outline individual goals and set targets. Make them compulsory, part of everyone’s L&D and watch employees prosper.

Clearly Differentiate Between Optional Training and Non-Optional Training

Not everyone in the office needs to undertake fire safety training and be a designated fire warden.

However, everyone working in a chemical plant must be aware of the hazards of processes applicable to their day-to-day role.

Be sure to differentiate between what’s optional training and what’s non-optional. This allows identify and initiate training that benefits the business–and saves your organisation money!

Promote eLearning

We live in a digital age.

People don’t want to attend a three-day L&D seminar about health and safety one hundred miles from where they live if they don’t want to

Thanks to the virtual world, and platforms like Thirst, all you need is a laptop!

Final Thoughts

A productive, knowledgeable, highly skilled, happy, even safe, and compliant workforce is one that has completed comprehensive mandatory and statutory training.

This is consistent across a range of sectors.

Yet you’d be surprised just how many organisations don’t invest enough of their resources into training, mandatory training especially.

Now, of course, it can be argued that organisations have higher priorities than making sure that everyone is up to speed with DEI, GPPR and even the ins and outs of cyber security, for instance, but that’s not an excuse to neglect mandatory and statutory training.

Successful organisations are legally compliant, and promote a safe working environment, whilst optimising everyone’s knowledge and skillsets and keeping hold of the best people.

And this is what mandatory, and statutory training offers.