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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.

Did Freedom Day backfire for the high street?

24 August 2021

The government is accused of scoring an own goal over Freedom Day as it emerges that July's retail figures fell.

The latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) retail sales figures have revealed a 2.5% decrease in the amount of goods sold during the month, significantly below the 0.4% sale growth that had been forecast by retail analysts. The ONS data shows that non-food stores reported a fall of 4.4% in sales volumes in July 2021 when compared with June 2021.

The end of COVID restrictions on so-called Freedom Day on 19 July was supposed to boost July's retail sales, but it appears that anxious shoppers stayed at home to avoid the spreading Delta variant.

Research by ParcelHero showed that more than two-thirds of consumers (68%) wanted mask-wearing and distancing measures retained after 19 July. It says it warned the government as early as 9 July that its plans to relax COVID measures would backfire because "it did not listen to shoppers' fears".

ParcelHero's head of consumer research David Jinks said: "July's retail sales figures are a train wreck that we saw coming. Over the previous few months, customers had regained confidence about shopping safely in the high street. All that progress has now been derailed. Ending COVID restrictions as Delta variant cases began to climb was always going to lead to this."

ParcelHero had warned that "the end to mask-wearing and queues outside stores will restore the optics of normality, but these are the very measures that will enable the virus to spread faster than ever… It's a move that could well backfire as consumer confidence tumbles."

Meanwhile, online sales grew again in July by 0.3%. Jinks said: "The ONS conjectured that people skipped shopping because of England's run in the Euro 2020 football tournament. However, we believe that Freedom Day was an own goal that ended the high street's return to form. If there's ever a return to the cycle of COVID precautions, we hope that the government and retailers have learned a valuable lesson.

"Customers who were successfully lured back to the high street earlier in the summer now need renewed assurance. We do think it can happen. Our research indicates online's current 27.9% share of all retail is a little high and will settle down at 25% over the next few months. But that's only if retailers successfully integrate safe in-store shopping with online options."

Written by Rachel Miller.

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