Skip to main content
Practical employment law information to support your business, from Clover HR

Search

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.

Almost half a million businesses got off the ground in 2020

9 March 2021

In spite of the coronavirus pandemic, 468,371 businesses were registered in the UK in 2020 according to data from Companies House.

A new study by instantprint has found that the pandemic certainly didn't kill off the entrepreneurial spirit in the UK.

The most popular start-up sector in 2020 was retail sales, with 22,011 new registrations in this field. Other popular choices included management consultancy (16,869), real estate (16,747), freight transport (10,848), building development (9,217) and IT consultancy (9,064).

June was the peak month for new business registrations in 2020, with 52,281 registrations. Comparatively, January was the least busy with just 25,403 registrations. The 27th week of the year (29th June - 5th July) was the busiest week for new registrations - 18,189 were made that week alone.

London (123,462 registrations), Birmingham (11,165), and Manchester (9,684) were found to be the cities with the highest number of new company registrations in 2020, followed by Glasgow, Leicester, Leeds, Bristol and Liverpool.

Looking ahead, the survey data found that almost a fifth of UK adults (18%) have firm plans to start a business in 2021, with a further third (29%) considering a new business. Young people are most likely to be looking to start a new enterprise - including 39% of 18-24-year-olds and 32% of millennials (25-34-year-olds).

London (28%), Birmingham (26%), Bristol (21%), Manchester (21%) and Newcastle (17%), came out as the top cities for residents looking to start a business in 2021.

While COVID-19 restrictions remain in place, most of those launching a new business in early 2021 are expected to do some from home. "There really has been no easier time to run a business out of your home, and it's great to see the number of business ventures being embarked upon by UK adults, despite the events the year has presented us with," said Laura Mucklow, head of instantprint.

Meanwhile, the extension of the furlough scheme to September 2021 has prevented a large number of business failures, according to a survey of 1,000 SME decision-makers by Hitachi Capital Invoice Finance.

Its findings show that 12% of small firms said that they would have been at risk of closure had the furlough scheme ended in April; a further 14% of business leaders said they would have had to make redundancies. Nearly a third of SMEs (30%) said their business would not have survived the pandemic at all without the furlough scheme.

Written by Rachel Miller.

Stay up-to-date with business advice and news

Sign up to this lively and colourful newsletter for new and more established small businesses.