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.
Selling your business can be a difficult and stressful process. Finding the right purchasers and negotiating the sale takes effort and careful attention. At the same time, you still have to continue managing the business, keeping employees motivated and avoiding upsetting customer relationships.
The right advisers can help manage the sale, providing specialist skills and keeping negotiations on track.
The first step to a successful sale is to establish a clear set of objectives. Typically, a retiring owner might want a clean break, selling the business outright in exchange for an immediate cash payment. But alternatives can be attractive to potential purchasers and may offer tax advantages. For example, you might be prepared to retain a stake in the business, accept a deferred payment based on future performance and continue to work for the company.
A quick sale may be important to you, or you may be prepared to hold out for a better price if necessary. The future of the business and its employees may also be important to you.
Understanding your objectives will help you decide what sort of business disposal best suits you. A trade sale to another business, typically in the same sector, is the most common exit route. Alternatives can include a management buy-out, passing the business to your family or floating your business.
Whichever route you decide on, you will have a range of responsibilities to complete before you can sell the business walk away.
Your corporate finance adviser can help you prepare a brief sales memorandum, highlighting the key features of the business. This includes basic information on what the business does and key indicators such as turnover and profitability.
You should already have groomed the business for sale, so that you can present it in as attractive a light as possible:
Your adviser can also help you identify potential purchasers, circulating the sales memorandum to them to stimulate interest in your business. As these are often competitors, you may prefer not to reveal the identity of the business or any confidential information until a potential purchaser has indicated serious interest and signed a confidentiality agreement.
However, you should be prepared for information to leak out to employees, customers and suppliers. Plan how you will communicate with them yourself.
The marketing process aims to build a shortlist of interested parties, with competition amongst potential purchasers increasing the likely sale price. The ideal purchaser will be a good strategic fit and have the necessary financial strength to take over your business.
As a front runner emerges, you are likely to reach the main points of a deal in a signed heads of terms agreement. Key terms include what the purchaser is offering to buy, how the price will be calculated and the payment terms. At this stage, other interested buyers are kept in reserve while you try to finalise the deal.
Before committing to the deal, the purchaser will want to carry out detailed due diligence checks into every aspect of your business. These will include looking at your accounts, contracts and so on.
While you don't have to volunteer information that will deter a purchaser, concealing important information or lying can open you up to a future claim. You'll be required to give warranties that the information you have provided is true, and asked for indemnities protecting the purchaser against specific risks such as unresolved lawsuits. You may also be asked to enter into related contracts such as an agreement not to compete with the business you are selling.
Depending on the form of your business, you may also have legal responsibilities towards your staff, HMRC and others on selling your business.
Careful negotiation can help limit your liabilities - without providing grounds to reduce the price - and steer the negotiation through to completion.