Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR: Primary legislation governing personal data handling, requiring explicit consent for data processing and giving individuals rights to access their personal information. Key for reference letter requests as they contain personal data.

Employment Rights Act 1996: Establishes basic employment rights including the right to receive a reference if contractually agreed, and provides protection against unfair reference practices.

Equality Act 2010: Ensures that reference requests and provisions are not discriminatory based on protected characteristics such as age, gender, race, disability, etc.

Defamation Act 2013: Provides legal framework protecting against false or malicious statements in references, relevant for both the request and provision of employment references.

Common Law Duty of Care: Legal principle requiring employers to take reasonable care in preparing references, ensuring they are true, accurate and fair.

Employment Contract Terms: Consideration of any specific provisions regarding references in the original employment contract and any agreements about providing references.