Defamation Act 2013: Governs truthfulness of statements to prevent libel claims. References may have qualified privilege but must maintain accuracy to avoid defamation liability.

Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR: Requires consent for sharing personal data, fair and lawful processing, relevance of information, secure transmission, and respect for subject access rights.

Employment Rights Act 1996: Establishes duty of care to both reference subject and recipient, requiring references to be true, accurate and fair.

Equality Act 2010: Prohibits discriminatory statements based on protected characteristics and requires unbiased reference writing.

Misrepresentation Act 1967: Ensures statements are not misleading and establishes liability for negligent misstatements in references.

Common Law Principles: Includes duty of care in negligence (Spring v Guardian Assurance case), obligation for true and fair references, and potential liability for economic loss from negligent references.