UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018: Primary legislation governing the handling and sharing of personal data. Ensures data protection principles are followed when including personal information in recommendation letters.

Equality Act 2010: Legislation ensuring fair and non-discriminatory treatment. Requires recommendation letters to avoid bias and discriminatory language, particularly regarding protected characteristics.

Defamation Act 2013: Law governing reputational damage through written or spoken statements. Ensures all statements in recommendation letters are truthful and verifiable.

University Internal Policies: Institutional guidelines on confidentiality, academic references, and codes of conduct that must be followed when writing recommendation letters.

QAA Guidelines: Quality Assurance Agency standards for doctoral degrees and academic integrity requirements that inform the content and context of recommendation letters.

Professional Body Guidelines: Best practice guidelines from bodies such as UK Council for Graduate Education, Vitae Researcher Development Framework, and British Academy regarding academic references.