Dealing with licences and regulations
The licences you will need and the regulations you must follow depend on what your business does and where it operates.
Understand regulations for business
Regulations are the rules you must follow to operate your business legally and safely. They can be set by laws or by codes of practice set by regulators.
Regulations set standards and requirements for different aspects of your business:
- business structure and setup
- tax and financial management
- activities that require licensing or approval
- health and safety
- fair trading, advertising and quality
- waste, packaging and other environmental concerns
- data protection, privacy and information handling
- hiring and managing your workforce
There may also be specific rules for your sector. For example, registered childminders will have an inspection to make sure they meet sector regulations.
Trade associations, who represent businesses in a certain sector or industry, can be a good source of information on sector-specific regulations.
Get approval to start trading
You may need approval before you can start trading. You need a licence or permission to do certain activities that could pose a risk to the public.
Approval could be a licence from your local council; registration or accreditation with a professional body; or authorisation from a national regulator.
Advice on licences and permissions
To identify what licences and permission you may need, talk to:
- your local council’s licensing team
- colleagues or trade associations with experience in your sector
Activities requiring local authorisation
- Prepare, sell or serve food
- Sell alcohol
- Provide tattooing, piercing, massage or cosmetic treatments
- Provide boarding, breeding or other animal services
- Trade at a market or on the street
- Operate a taxi or private hire service
- Provide live or recorded entertainment
- Provide overnight accommodation
- Operate betting or gaming machines
- Prepare, sell or serve food
- Sell alcohol
- Provide tattooing, piercing, massage or cosmetic treatments
- Provide boarding, breeding or other animal services
- Trade at a market or on the street
- Operate a taxi or private hire service
- Provide live or recorded entertainment
- Provide overnight accommodation
- Operate betting or gaming machines
Activities requiring professional or national authorisation
- Provide childcare
- Work with children or vulnerable adults
- Provide healthcare, care or therapy
- Provide financial, legal or professional advice
- Carry out gas work, electrical work or asbestos removal
- Operate gambling facilities or lotteries
- Broadcast radio or TV content
- Play or stream radio or music in public
- Sell, provide, store firearms or shotguns
- Provide childcare
- Work with children or vulnerable adults
- Provide healthcare, care or therapy
- Provide financial, legal or professional advice
- Carry out gas work, electrical work or asbestos removal
- Operate gambling facilities or lotteries
- Broadcast radio or TV content
- Play or stream radio or music in public
- Sell, provide, store firearms or shotguns
Comply with consumer law
You must comply with rules that protect consumers from unfair poor-quality products and unfair business practices.
Consumer law covers things like:
- the quality and safety of physical and digital products
- how to carry out online, distance and in-person selling
- how you advertise, price and provide your goods, services and aftercare
- how you deal with complaints, returns and refunds