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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.

Every business needs to be aware of its obligations under minimum wage and equal pay laws, as well as recent pensions auto-enrolment changes.

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.

You must comply with legal restrictions on employees' working hours and time off, or risk claims, enforcement action and even prosecution.

The right employment policies are an essential part of effective staff management. Make sure any policy is clear and well communicated to employees.

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.

While sick employees need to be treated fairly, you need to ensure that 'sickness' is not being used as cover for unauthorised absence.

Marketing matters. Marketing drives sales for businesses of all sizes by ensuring that customers think of their brand when they want to buy.

Most pregnant employees are entitled to maternity leave and maternity pay, while new fathers are entitled to paternity leave and paternity pay.

Commercial disputes can prove time-consuming, stressful and expensive, but having robust legal agreements can help to prevent them from occurring.

As well as undermining morale, illegal discrimination can lead to workplace grievances. Employee discrimination is covered by the Equality Act 2010.

Whether your business owns or rents premises, your legal liabilities can be substantial. Commercial property law is complex, but you can avoid common pitfalls.

Home, remote and lone workers are becoming increasingly commonplace. Key issues include communication and how to manage and motivate people remotely.

With information and sound advice, living up to your legal responsibilities to safeguard your employees, customers and visitors need not be difficult or costly.

The right approach to consulting with and providing information to your employees can improve employee motivation and performance.

As information technology continues to evolve, legislation must also change. It affects everything from data protection and online selling to internet policies for employees.

Disciplinary and grievance issues can be a major burden to employers. Putting in place and following the right procedures is essential.

Following the right dismissal and redundancy procedures helps protect your business and minimise the risk of a legal dispute at tribunal.

Intellectual property (IP) isn't solely relevant to larger businesses or those involved in developing innovative new products: all products have IP.

Employment tribunal claims are a worrying prospect for any employer. A tribunal case is a no-win situation – even if the claim is unjustified.

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.

Pandemic sees rise in the number of side hustles

27 April 2021

New research has found that more people have turned to freelance work alongside their day jobs during the pandemic.

New data from freelancer platform PeoplePerHour has highlighted a significant rise in the number of working Brits that are operating their own business on the side. It means that almost one in five freelancers are now self-employed while also working as an employee. Nearly two-fifths of these began freelancing in the past 12 months.

The findings show that 98% plan to continue working independently in some form - some going full-time (13%) and some on a part-time basis (22%). One-third (33%), however, intend to keep working full-time for their existing employer and freelance on the side. More than half say they are looking for more flexibility and more than two-fifths say they want to increase their income.

PeoplePerHour has seen its largest increase in registrations in more than a decade during the pandemic. Nearly a quarter of a million people applied to use the platform in 2020, up from 136,000 in 2019.

Of those who signed up for the platform in 2020, more than a third said they did so because they lost their job due to COVID-19, 40% wanted to increase their income and 20% wanted to switch to freelance work full-time.

Xenios Thrasyvoulou, founder of PeoplePerHour, said: "Like the banking crisis before it, the pandemic has proven to be a powerful catalyst for people to re-evaluate their work lives. Whether working full-time on their own account or supplementing their employment with a secondary activity, British workers are exploring the best way to take control of what they earn."

Despite these findings, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows an overall 700,000 drop in the number of freelancers in January compared to the same time the previous year - equivalent to a fall of 14%. It suggests that while side hustles are on the rise, more established self-employed workers have struggled during the pandemic.

Responding to the figures, the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed (IPSE) said the continuing exclusion of up to a million freelancers from the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), as well as "deeply damaging" changes to IR35 self-employed tax rules have "left the sector undermined and disadvantaged compared to the rest of the workforce and economy".

Andy Chamberlain, IPSE director of policy, said: "The continuing decline in self-employed numbers at the start of this year shows the drastically poor position the freelance sector is in as the economy begins to open up. In fact, looking at the year-on-year change, the sector has shrunk by a shocking 14%: if this was overall employment, this would be a public disaster. Government must take this seriously."

Written by Rachel Miller.

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