The new Trade Secrets Act comes into force on 9th June 2018. However, it is unsure with Brexit to what extent the UK will adopt this directive, if at all. 

It does raise the question though, of how businesses protect their trade secrets and if they want to take action against an ex employee for disclosure of confidential information how do they go about doing so?

It is important that businesses have a properly drafted restrictive covenant in place as part of their contracts of employment and use confidentiality agreements where necessary. 

Businesses should also identify their secrets and implement steps to protect that information. Which may include; extra password protections, implementing techniques to prevent USB keys being used on company computers and put in place policies and procedures.