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.
A business contract does not have to be in writing, but it is strongly advisable to have a clear, written agreement wherever possible. At a minimum, you should agree the main contract conditions in writing in a letter or email, to make your respective rights and responsibilities clear. Do this before any contract is entered into.
Standard commercial contract terms (often called 'terms of business' and 'terms and conditions' or 'T&Cs') are usually appropriate where you sell goods or services that are the same (or very similar) every time. For bespoke products or services that vary according to the job to be undertaken - such as some building services or software developments - you may need to negotiate a separate written 'trading' contract for each transaction.
Terms of business and separately negotiated trading contracts should make it clear what each party to the business contract is agreeing to. Must-have clauses will include the price, payment terms (eg 30 days, lump sum or instalments), details of the goods or services being supplied, and how, when and where they are to be delivered.
Terms and conditions for the sale of goods commonly allow a seller to retain ownership of the goods until payment has been made. This helps protect the seller - for example, if the customer fails to pay or becomes insolvent.
There is a statutory right to claim interest on late payments, where both parties are businesses, but you can make specific provision for interest on late payment in your terms of business or other contract if you wish. You can't claim both, so if it's in the contract you can't claim the statutory interest as well.
If you want to try to limit your liability for damage or losses caused by your goods or services in your terms of business or trading contract, you need to be careful. In some circumstances the law prohibits this, while in others it only allows you to do so if your limitations of liability are 'reasonable'. For example, you cannot exclude or limit liability for death or personal injury at all if it is caused by your negligence.
Take care with any attempt to impose penalties if the other party breaches the business contract. You can provide for 'liquidated damages' (LDs), which is an agreed amount of money that will be paid in the event of a specific breach. LDs can't be designed to punish a party in breach of a contract, so it must be in proportion to securing performance of the contract. For example, it might be linked to the actual loss that you would expect from the breach.
You need to take extra care drafting terms of business or trading contracts for business-to-consumer sales (where the buyer is buying for their personal use, rather than for business purposes), because the law gives consumers extra protection. For contracts with consumers, every term in your contract (other than the price and description) must be fair: for example, it is not fair if your terms of business allow you to keep a payment made in advance if the contract is then lawfully cancelled.
Reviewed by Ed Ross, barrister, Clerksroom