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Setting up a business involves complying with a range of legal requirements. Find out which ones apply to you and your new enterprise.
What particular regulations do specific types of business (such as a hotel, or a printer, or a taxi firm) need to follow? We explain some of the key legal issues to consider for 200 types of business.
While poor governance can bring serious legal consequences, the law can also protect business owners and managers and help to prevent conflict.
Whether you want to raise finance, join forces with someone else, buy or sell a business, it pays to be aware of the legal implications.
From pay, hours and time off to discipline, grievance and hiring and firing employees, find out about your legal responsibilities as an employer.
Marketing matters. Marketing drives sales for businesses of all sizes by ensuring that customers think of their brand when they want to buy.
Commercial disputes can prove time-consuming, stressful and expensive, but having robust legal agreements can help to prevent them from occurring.
Whether your business owns or rents premises, your legal liabilities can be substantial. Commercial property law is complex, but you can avoid common pitfalls.
With information and sound advice, living up to your legal responsibilities to safeguard your employees, customers and visitors need not be difficult or costly.
As information technology continues to evolve, legislation must also change. It affects everything from data protection and online selling to internet policies for employees.
Intellectual property (IP) isn't solely relevant to larger businesses or those involved in developing innovative new products: all products have IP.
Knowing how and when you plan to sell or relinquish control of your business can help you to make better decisions and achieve the best possible outcome.
From bereavement, wills, inheritance, separation and divorce to selling a house, personal injury and traffic offences, learn more about your personal legal rights.
While you are broadly free to offer the pay you think necessary to attract and motivate employees, by law you must pay at least the minimum wage and equal pay for work of equal value. You must also honour employees' entitlements to statutory sick pay and maternity, paternity or adoption pay.
The minimum wage applies to almost all workers, but not to those who are self-employed. The rate of minimum wage payable will depend primarily on the age of the employee. There are different rates of National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW) - including a rate specifically for apprentices.
Employees are also entitled to 5.6 weeks' holiday pay (pro rata for part-time employees). The method for calculating holiday is quite complicated, especially if your employees do not work regular hours or their pay is partly made up of bonuses or commission. It is advisable to take legal advice.
You can only make deductions from employees' pay that have been agreed in advance (eg as part of their employment contract) or that you are legally required to deduct (eg PAYE tax and National Insurance contributions). You are legally required to give all employees a detailed pay slip.
Employee share option and share schemes can help to align the interests of employees and shareholders, by giving employees a direct interest in the financial performance of the company. Smaller businesses and start-ups can use share schemes to attract and reward high-calibre staff without having to pay salaries the business cannot afford.
Approved share schemes that meet HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) requirements offer tax and National Insurance advantages to both employer and employee, but they can involve a significant administrative burden. You can also tailor your own, unapproved share scheme to meet your particular objectives, but without the tax advantages.
Employee-shareholders are given shares in the company for which they work worth at least £2,000. In exchange for these shares, the employee is required to give up some of their employment rights. Find out if employee-shareholder contracts are right for your business. The tax advantages associated with employee-shareholder status are no longer available to entrants joining after December 2016.
Pension reforms require all businesses to automatically enrol (known as auto-enrolment) eligible employees into a suitable qualifying pension scheme (unless those employees chose actively to 'opt out'). Employers are required to pay a minimum employer contribution (based on the employee's 'qualifying earnings') and collect and pay employee contributions.
Employers can opt to provide access to a 'personal account' (aimed at low to middle-income workers) or an equivalent occupational pension scheme. The administrative burden involved in setting up and running an occupational pension scheme is such that they tend to be offered by large employers. Smaller businesses often opt instead to provide access to personal pensions run by a pension provider.
Stakeholder pensions are personal pensions that meet specified requirements, such as accepting low monthly contributions, being portable when an employee changes job and strictly limiting the fees that the pension provider can deduct from the scheme.
Different pension schemes may be appropriate for highly paid employees, company directors and owner-managers. For example, some employers offer executive pension plans (EPP) tailored to individual executives. High-earners can also be offered a self-investment pension plan (SIPP), which provides greater investment flexibility. For owner-managers, a small self-administered scheme (SSAS) may be an option. Schemes such as this can use the pension fund to support the business, for example, through owning your commercial premises.