T Level Digital: Legislation for Digital Workplaces

Every Pearson digital T Level core, for Digital Software Development, Digital Support and Security and Digital Data Analytics alike, includes a content area on legislation. The core is assessed through two written papers and an employer-set project, and the legislation questions rarely ask you to recite an Act. They describe an organisation and ask which law is engaged, which part of it, and what the organisation should have done.

The quiz has twelve scenarios in invented workplaces. Two cover health and safety: a new technician sent into a server room with nothing but a policy to read, and a developer who asks for an eye test under the Display Screen Equipment Regulations. Two apply data protection principles to real decisions: an agency that keeps every CV for ever and a bakery whose newsletter form asks for a home address. Two separate the sections of the Computer Misuse Act 1990: a contractor who deletes a database with a password nobody revoked, and a student who sells a password-cracking toolkit without breaking into anything himself. Four turn on the Equality Act 2010: a Saturday rota that disadvantages staff of one religion, a developer penalised for supporting a colleague's complaint, the nine protected characteristics, and whether a customer website is covered at all. The last two sort out intellectual property: a patent for how an invention works, a registered design for how a product looks. Every explanation says which rule decides the answer and why the tempting alternative does not apply.

The flashcards collect what has to be recalled exactly: employer duties, the data protection principles used here, each Computer Misuse Act section, the protected characteristics and types of discrimination, the forms of intellectual property with their durations, copyright in code and the WEEE Regulations on disposing of equipment.

The written work has eight tasks to answer on paper. Five are explanations: screen-work duties in a call centre, two data protection breaches with fixes, sections 1 to 3 of the Computer Misuse Act with examples, direct against indirect discrimination, and the right protection for a keyboard's shape, firmware and mechanism. One covers disposal under the WEEE Regulations together with data wiping. Two are longer, evaluative answers of the kind used for the higher-mark questions: what the Equality Act and the public sector accessibility regulations mean for a council rebuilding its website, and whether a five-person firm can ignore the law. Each has a model answer and the points a marker would look for.

There is also a short oral practice with an examiner, who describes a workplace, asks one question at a time and gives brief feedback at the end. The material explains the law for study purposes; it is not legal advice.

• State employer duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Display Screen Equipment Regulations
• Apply data protection principles such as data minimisation and storage limitation to a scenario
• Distinguish the offences in sections 1, 2, 3 and 3A of the Computer Misuse Act 1990
• Name the nine protected characteristics and tell direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation apart
• Recognise that the Equality Act 2010 covers services, including websites, as well as employment
• Choose between patents, registered designs, unregistered design right and copyright
• Explain safe, environmentally responsible disposal of equipment under the WEEE Regulations

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the core content of the Pearson T Level Technical Qualifications in Digital Software Development, Digital Support and Security and Digital Data Analytics (first teaching September 2025), content area 4.1: legislation; WEEE Regulations as listed in the Digital Support and Security core. Accessibility requirement (WCAG 2.2 AA and an accessibility statement) as described on gov.uk.