Business guidance

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Accommodation regulations for hotels, B&Bs, and short-term lets

Anyone providing paid accommodation in the UK, from hotels to short-term lets, faces rules that depend on the nation. Scotland requires a short-term let licence, Wales requires registration by 31 March 2027, and England's registration scheme is not yet in force; everyone needs a fire risk assessment.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Alcohol licensing in Northern Ireland

How alcohol licensing works in Northern Ireland — court-granted licences, 5-year renewal, 13 licence categories, permitted hours, and the role of PSNI.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Alcohol licensing in Scotland

How alcohol licensing works in Scotland under the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 — five licensing objectives, Licensing Boards, premises and personal licences, occasional licences, overprovision, and minimum unit pricing.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Alcohol licensing requirements

How to obtain a premises licence to sell alcohol in England and Wales, including application process, fees, designated premises supervisor requirements, and licensing objectives.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Allergen control systems and Natasha's Law

Implement comprehensive allergen management systems and comply with Natasha's Law PPDS labelling requirements.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Allergen information requirements

Provide clear allergen information for all food you sell.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Appeal your food hygiene rating or request a re-rating in Wales

If you think your food hygiene rating in Wales is wrong, appeal in writing to your local authority within 21 days. Keep displaying your current rating meanwhile, because removing it is an offence; once you have made improvements, you can pay for a re-rating visit.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Apply for a club premises certificate

How qualifying clubs (social clubs, sports clubs, working men's clubs) can apply for a certificate to supply alcohol to members without needing a DPS or personal licence holder.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Apply for a licence in a cumulative impact area

If you apply for a new premises licence or club premises certificate, or to vary one, in an area covered by a cumulative impact assessment, expect the council to resist. You can still succeed if your operating schedule shows your premises will not add to the problems the assessment describes.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Apply for an alcohol premises licence in Scotland

Selling alcohol from premises in Scotland needs a premises licence from your local Licensing Board under the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005, which differs from the rules in England and Wales. You need an operating plan, a layout plan and a premises manager with a Scottish personal licence, and off-sales are limited to 10am to 10pm.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Card surcharges, minimum spends and refusing cash

You cannot charge extra for payment by a consumer credit, debit or charge card, but you can refuse cash or set a minimum card spend. Tell customers about any limit before they buy.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Charge the right VAT in a hospitality business

Eat-in meals, hot takeaway food and event catering carry VAT at the standard rate, while most cold takeaway food is zero-rated. Hotel and holiday accommodation is standard-rated, with reduced value for hotel guests after 28 days. Voluntary tips are outside the scope of VAT, but compulsory service charges are not.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Check which extra licences your hospitality business needs

A premises licence does not cover gaming machines, civil weddings, one-off events, accommodation for several unrelated people, members' clubs or shisha. Each needs its own permission, mostly from your council, and a wedding approval or HMO licence must be in place before you start.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Comply with mandatory food hygiene rating display in Wales

In Wales, you must display your food hygiene rating where customers can see it, and failing to do so is a criminal offence. You must also tell customers your rating when they ask, including when they order online or by phone.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Comply with tipping law in hospitality

Since October 2024, employers in Great Britain must pass all tips, gratuities and service charges to workers fairly, by the end of the month after they are received. Where customers tip more than occasionally, you need a written tipping policy available to all staff and records of how tips were shared, kept for 3 years.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Control food temperatures safely

Keep food at safe temperatures throughout storage, cooking, holding, cooling, and reheating to prevent harmful bacterial growth and comply with food hygiene law.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Control gas, ventilation and legionella risks in a commercial kitchen

Employers must keep gas appliances, flues and pipework safe using competent Gas Safe engineers, provide effective ventilation, and assess and control legionella risk in water systems. HSE guidance expects the ventilation to be interlocked with the gas supply and annual gas inspections as a reasonable minimum.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Convert farm buildings to holiday accommodation

Converting a farm building to holiday accommodation needs planning permission or a permitted development route, then building regulations approval and a fire risk assessment. It also changes how the building is rated and ends Agricultural Relief on it, so settle the planning route before you commit to the work.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Data protection and CCTV for hospitality businesses

How to comply with UK GDPR and PECR in hospitality, covering CCTV use, guest booking data, wifi login data, loyalty programmes, marketing consent, and handling subject access requests.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Deposit return points for drinks retailers

From 1 October 2027, supermarkets, grocers, convenience stores and newsagents in England and Northern Ireland must charge a 20p deposit on in-scope drinks and, unless exempt, run a return point. Apply to register with Exchange for Change before then; pubs and cafes charge the deposit on takeaway drinks only.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Employment law for hospitality businesses

Tips and service charge distribution, DBS checks for staff working with children, workplace pensions, and employment law considerations specific to hospitality sector employers.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Environmental permits for food businesses in Wales

A food business in Wales may need environmental permits from Natural Resources Wales to discharge water, abstract water, treat food waste or run industrial processes, and operating without one is a criminal offence. Trade effluent consent comes from your sewerage undertaker, and local authorities handle Part B air permits and nuisance.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

FHL tax regime abolition - what's changed

Summary of the furnished holiday lettings tax regime abolition from April 2025, including the tax advantages removed, transitional arrangements, and what to do now.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Fit alarms and protect deposits as a landlord in Scotland

If you let a home in Scotland, it must have interlinked smoke and heat alarms and a carbon monoxide alarm beside any carbon-fuelled appliance. Any deposit you take must go into an approved scheme within 30 working days, or a tribunal can order you to pay the tenant up to three times the deposit.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Food business registration

Register your food business with your local authority before starting operations.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Food business support and grants in Wales

Welsh Government food business support and grants — Business Wales, Food Innovation Wales, Cywain, Farming Connect, Development Bank of Wales, and protected food names.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Food Hygiene Rating Scheme

Your council's food safety officers rate your food business from 0 to 5 at each inspection, based on how you handle food, the condition of your premises and how you manage food safety. Display your rating where customers can see it, and ask for a re-rating once you have made improvements.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Food Information Regulations 2014 compliance

Comply with mandatory food labelling and information requirements under UK and assimilated EU law.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Food labelling requirements

Label prepacked food correctly with all mandatory information.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Food safety requirements in Scotland

Food businesses in Scotland are regulated by Food Standards Scotland, not the Food Standards Agency, so check Scottish guidance. Most small businesses use CookSafe rather than Safer Food Better Business, and inspections lead to a Pass or Improvement Required result instead of a 0 to 5 rating.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Food traceability, withdrawal, and recall

Maintain food traceability records using the one step back, one step forward principle, and follow the correct procedures if you need to withdraw or recall unsafe food.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Food waste management

Comply with food waste segregation and disposal duties.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Get a personal licence to sell alcohol in Scotland

How to obtain a Scottish personal licence under the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005, including the SCPLH qualification, Disclosure Scotland check, application process, fees, renewal, and refresher training requirements.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Get approved and pay duty as an alcohol producer

You must be approved by HMRC under the Alcohol Production Approval Scheme before you produce any alcohol, and then file monthly duty returns. Selling to other businesses needs AWRS approval, and selling on site needs a premises licence.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Get approved food establishment status in Wales

If your business in Wales makes products of animal origin, such as meat, dairy, fish or egg products, and supplies them to other businesses, it needs approval before it starts. The FSA approves slaughterhouses, cutting plants, game handling establishments and wholesale meat markets; your local authority approves the rest.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Get a short-term lets licence in Scotland

Every short-term let in Scotland, from a spare room to a holiday let, has needed a council licence since 1 October 2023. You cannot take guests until the licence is granted, and letting without one is a criminal offence with a fine of up to £2,500.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Get a site licence for a residential mobile home park in Scotland

What the operator of a park where people live permanently in mobile homes must do in Scotland: apply to the local council for a Part 1A site licence, pass the fit and proper person test, keep to licence conditions, and protect residents' rights under the Mobile Homes Act 1983.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Get a street trading licence

In England and Wales you need your council's licence or consent to sell from a stall, van or pitch on a street, but only where the council has adopted the Schedule 4 street trading rules and designated that street. Trading without authority is an offence with a fine of up to £1,000.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Get authorisation for a water activity in Scotland (EASR)

In Scotland, any activity affecting surface water or groundwater, such as abstraction, engineering or discharges, needs SEPA authorisation, and doing it without one is a criminal offence. SEPA decides which of four risk-based tiers your activity falls into, from general binding rules to a permit.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Get consent for work on an SSSI

If you own or occupy land in a Site of Special Scientific Interest, you must get written consent from Natural England before carrying out any operation on the site's list. Without a decision in 4 months you can treat it as refused and appeal. Working without consent risks an unlimited fine.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Get the licence or registration your holiday let needs

Scotland requires a short-term let licence from your council, Wales requires registration with the Welsh Revenue Authority, with penalties from 1 April 2027, and Northern Ireland requires a Tourism NI certificate. England has no licence, but a national register is expected to begin in March 2027.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Get your animal-origin food establishment approved

Businesses that handle meat, fish, shellfish or dairy products must be approved, not just registered, before they trade. Approval comes from the Food Standards Agency or your local authority, and gives you the unique approval number for your identification mark.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Gift voucher expiry dates, refunds and VAT

Yes, if the term is fair, plain and shown before the customer buys. You need not give change from a part-used voucher unless your terms promise it.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Handle animal by-products from your food business

Unsold meat, fish, dairy and egg products become animal by-products once you decide they are not for eating, and catering waste is controlled too. You must keep higher-risk items out of landfill and animal feed, never feed catering waste to farm animals, and move by-products with the right paperwork.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Health, safety and fire requirements for hospitality venues

Health and Safety at Work Act compliance, fire safety risk assessments, and fire and rescue authority audits for hospitality premises including hotels, restaurants, pubs and venues with sleeping accommodation.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Holiday let food hygiene, employment and insurance

If you serve guests any food, even a welcome hamper, you run a food business: register with your council at least 28 days before you start and tell guests about allergens. If you employ cleaners or other staff, check their right to work before they start.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Holiday let tax obligations and business rates

Since the furnished holiday lettings regime was abolished in April 2025, holiday lets are taxed like other residential lettings, with restricted mortgage interest relief and no Business Asset Disposal Relief on sale. In England, a let pays business rates only if available for 140 days and actually let for 70 days a year.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Hospitality sector market overview

Market size, growth trends, investment opportunities, and key statistics for the UK hospitality sector including employment, business counts, and economic contribution.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Host weddings and events on your farm

Hosting weddings or events in farm buildings needs planning permission for the change of use, because agricultural permitted development rights do not cover event use. You also need alcohol and entertainment licensing, a fire risk assessment, event insurance and food safety arrangements if you provide catering.

Retail & Consumer Goods

How doing business in Northern Ireland differs from Great Britain

Northern Ireland has its own laws and regulators for employment, equality, planning, health and safety and more, so GB businesses cannot assume the same rules apply. Employers with 11 or more staff there must also register with the Equality Commission and monitor their workforce.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

How food safety enforcement works in Wales

In Wales, your local authority's environmental health officers inspect food businesses and take enforcement action, while FSA Wales sets policy and audits councils. Inspections follow a risk-based programme. Officers can serve improvement notices and prohibition orders or prosecute, and displaying your hygiene rating is compulsory under the Food Hygiene Rating (Wales) Act 2013.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Keep a private water supply safe for guests and staff

If guests or staff drink water from your own spring, well or borehole, the council must risk assess and sample it however small it is, and can stop you using it if it is unsafe. You pay its reasonable charges, keep treatment working and act on any failed sample.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Labelling and safety rules for selling food online

Comply with distance selling rules when selling food online, including providing mandatory food information before purchase, allergen labelling at two points, and maintaining safe delivery temperatures.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Late night refreshment licence

If you supply hot food or hot drink to the public between 11pm and 5am, including from takeaways, delivery services and mobile vans, you need authorisation under the Licensing Act 2003. It usually comes as part of a premises licence, which you can get for late night refreshment alone.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Make soft drinks and bottled water

Packaged soft drinks with added sugar above a threshold owe the Soft Drinks Industry Levy. You cannot market natural mineral water until your source is recognised, and taking water from your own borehole or spring above the threshold needs an abstraction licence.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Manage commercial waste in a hospitality business

You have a legal duty of care for all your waste, so hand it only to a registered carrier and complete a waste transfer note for every load. In England you must also separate food waste and dry recycling, and you need your water company's consent to discharge trade effluent to the sewer.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Manage public access on your open access land

If your land is mapped as open access land, people can walk on it without asking, but cultivated fields, buildings and land near homes are excepted. You owe walkers less duty over natural features, can close land for up to 28 days a year, and must not put up misleading signs.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Managing noise from hospitality premises

How to prevent and manage noise complaints from hospitality premises including statutory nuisance law, planning conditions, licensing conditions, soundproofing options, and the Agent of Change principle.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Martyn's Law for pubs, shops and venues

Martyn's Law applies to your pub, shop or venue only if you can reasonably expect 200 or more people there at the same time, staff included. The duties have not started and no start date has been set; the Security Industry Authority will enforce them.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Meet alarm, electrical and HMO duties as a landlord in Northern Ireland

If you let a home in Northern Ireland under a private tenancy, you must fit interlinked smoke, heat and carbon monoxide alarms and have every electrical installation inspected and tested at least every five years. A house in multiple occupation also needs a licence from the district council before anyone moves in.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Meet electrical safety and alarm duties as a landlord in Wales

If you let a home in Wales under an occupation contract, you must have a valid electrical condition report, renewed at least every five years, and give the contract-holder a copy within 14 days. Each storey needs a mains-connected, interlinked smoke alarm. Without them the home counts as unfit to live in.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Meet food composition, contaminant and labelling controls

If you make processed food, you must keep contaminants and pesticide residues within their legal limits as part of your HACCP plan. Baking, frying or roasting starchy foods forms acrylamide, so you must take steps to keep it as low as reasonably achievable.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Meet the HFSS promotion and placement rules

If your business has 50 or more employees and sells prepacked food in England, you cannot place less healthy food at checkouts, store entrances or aisle ends, or sell it on multibuy or 'free' offers. Restaurants are outside the placement and multibuy rules but cannot offer free refills of sugary drinks.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Meet the safety conditions for a short-term let

Every short-term let licence in Scotland carries mandatory safety conditions on fire and carbon monoxide detection, gas, electrical and water safety, the repairing standard, maximum occupancy, insurance and the information guests can see. You must keep the reports and certificates and display copies for guests.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Meet the safety rules for your holiday let

Paying guests make you responsible for their safety. Fire safety law requires a recorded fire risk assessment and suitable alarms, gas appliances need a yearly Gas Safe check, and you must assess and control legionella, including by flushing taps between bookings.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Minimum unit pricing compliance for alcohol retailers

How to calculate and apply minimum unit pricing for alcohol sales in Scotland, including enforcement and penalties.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Music and entertainment licensing

TheMusicLicence requirements for playing background music, hosting live performances, and DJ events in hospitality venues including costs, what's covered, and how to comply with PPL PRS.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

National Minimum Wage, tips, and pay compliance in hospitality

How to ensure NMW compliance in hospitality, covering the accommodation offset, why tips cannot count towards minimum wage, unpaid trial shift rules, uniform deductions, and avoiding being named under the government's naming scheme for employers who underpay.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Novel foods authorisation in Great Britain

A food not widely eaten in the UK or EU before 15 May 1997, such as CBD products or edible insects, is a novel food and needs FSA authorisation before you can sell it in Great Britain. Expect the process to take 18 months or more.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Operating in a short-term let control area

Additional planning requirements in designated short-term let control areas in Scotland, including Edinburgh and parts of Highland.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Outdoor trading and pavement licensing for hospitality

Pavement licences for outdoor seating, A-board permits, and requirements for placing tables, chairs and signage on public highways for pubs, cafes and restaurants.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Pay or reduce the Late Night Levy

If your council has introduced a Late Night Levy, you pay it every year when your premises licence or club premises certificate allows alcohol sales in the late night supply period, whether or not you open then. An exemption, a 30% reduction or removing those hours from your licence can cut the bill.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Personal licence (alcohol)

You need a personal licence to be the designated premises supervisor at licensed premises in England and Wales, but staff who sell alcohol do not. Apply to the council where you live with an accredited qualification and a basic DBS check.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Premises licence (alcohol)

To sell or supply alcohol in England or Wales, you need a premises licence from your council's licensing authority, and a Designated Premises Supervisor who holds a personal licence. The same licence can also cover regulated entertainment and hot food or drink served between 11pm and 5am.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Prepare for a food hygiene inspection

Inspections are usually unannounced, so keep your records and premises inspection-ready every day. The officer scores how food is handled, the condition of the premises and how well you manage food safety, and a weak area on any of the three pulls your rating down.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Prepare for Scotland's visitor levy

What accommodation providers in Scotland need to know about the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act 2024, including Edinburgh's scheme starting July 2026.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Pubs Code for tied tenants

If you are a tied tenant in England or Wales of a pub company owning 500 or more tied pubs, the Pubs Code gives you rights, including the option to go free of tie under Market Rent Only. The Pubs Code Adjudicator enforces the Code and resolves disputes.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Register a food business in Wales

Every food business in Wales, from restaurants and market stalls to home bakers and online sellers, must register with its local authority at least 28 days before trading. Registration is free and cannot be refused, but failing to register is a criminal offence. The Food Hygiene (Wales) Regulations 2006 set the rules.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Register as an alcohol wholesaler (AWRS)

If you sell alcohol to other businesses, you must register under the Alcohol Wholesaler Registration Scheme (AWRS) with HMRC. Learn who needs to register, how to apply, and due diligence obligations.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Register your visitor accommodation in Wales

If you take bookings for overnight stays in Wales of 31 nights or less, you must register with the Welsh Revenue Authority by 31 March 2027. That covers hotels, holiday lets, spare rooms on Airbnb, campsite pitches and glamping. Registration is free, and accommodation first offered from 1 April 2027 must register before taking bookings.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Right to work checks for hospitality employers

Before anyone starts work for you, including a trial shift, complete a right to work check, using the Home Office online service for anyone with digital status. A proper check protects you from a civil penalty of up to £45,000 per illegal worker, or £60,000 for repeat breaches.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Run a campsite, caravan site or holiday park

Most sites that station caravans need planning permission and a caravan site licence from the local authority, while tent-only sites generally need just planning permission. Outdoor hook-ups need regular inspection, and paid adventure activities for under-18s need a licence.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Run a hotel, B&B or guest house

A hotel is strictly liable for guests' property, though you can limit that liability by displaying the statutory notice at reception. You must keep a record of every guest aged 16 or over, and your fire risk assessment must reflect that guests sleep in a building they do not know.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Run an animal feed or pet food business

Before you make, store or sell animal feed or pet food, you must register as a feed business operator, with the Animal and Plant Health Agency in England. Pet food made from animal by-products needs a second APHA registration, and you may use only authorised feed additives.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Selling energy drinks to under-16s

Yes, for now: no law in England sets a minimum age to buy energy drinks. The government plans to ban sales to under-16s from April 2027, but it has not made the rules yet.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Separate food waste in Wales

Since 6 April 2024, every workplace in Wales producing 5 kilograms or more of food waste a week must keep it separate and have it collected separately. The rules cover restaurants, pubs, takeaways, manufacturers and staff kitchens alike. Food waste must not go down the sewer, and Natural Resources Wales enforces separation.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Set up a HACCP-based food safety system

Every food business beyond primary production must run permanent food safety procedures based on the seven HACCP principles, scaled to its size and kept up to date with records. Small caterers and shops can use a Food Standards Agency toolkit; larger or higher-risk businesses need an HACCP plan.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Set up camping or glamping on your farm

In England, you can run tent camping on farmland for up to 60 days a year, with no more than 50 pitches, without planning permission, if you notify the council first and keep records. Glamping pods and static caravans need planning permission, and caravan sites also need a site licence from the council.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Set up food premises that meet hygiene standards

Food premises anywhere in the UK must meet the hygiene standards in Annex II of Regulation (EC) 852/2004. Plan the layout so raw and ready-to-eat food never cross, fit washable floors and walls, and provide separate handwashing facilities, ventilation, storage and pest control before you open.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Take on a short-term space for a pop-up shop

Before you trade from a pop-up in England, get a written agreement that settles whether you hold a lease or a licence and who pays business rates. Check your use fits the unit's planning class, and carry out a fire risk assessment if you control the space.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Temporary Event Notice (TEN)

A Temporary Event Notice lets you sell alcohol, put on regulated entertainment or serve hot food and drink late at night at a one-off event without a premises licence. It cannot cover 500 or more people at once, including staff, or an event longer than 7 days, and the police or environmental health can object.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Train your staff in food safety

The law requires food handlers to be supervised and instructed or trained in food hygiene to suit their work, and HACCP staff to be adequately trained, but it does not require certificates. Train new starters before they handle food, cover allergens and keep records.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Wales Visitor Levy for accommodation providers

How the Wales Visitor Levy works, including who it applies to, rates, exemptions, and how to collect and remit it. Councils can choose to adopt the levy from April 2027.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Welfare at the time of killing in Wales and Northern Ireland

What a slaughterhouse or other business that kills animals must do in Wales and in Northern Ireland. Each nation has its own 2014 Regulations enforcing Regulation (EC) No 1099/2009, its own competent authority, its own certificate rules and its own CCTV Regulations, with different dates.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Working time and rest breaks in hospitality

Working Time Regulations explained for hospitality employers including maximum hours, rest break entitlements, split shift rules, night work limits, young worker protections, and the 48-hour opt-out.

Tax & Finance

Check if you need to register for VAT

You must register for VAT when your taxable turnover passes the registration threshold in any rolling 12 months, or when you expect it to pass the threshold within the next 30 days alone. Under the first test, register within 30 days of the end of the month. Late registration brings penalties and backdated VAT.

Compliance & Legal

File your confirmation statement

File a confirmation statement every 12 months, within 14 days after your review period ends. Filing late is a criminal offence for the company and its officers.

Premises & Operations

Meet your business waste duty of care

Every business that produces, stores or disposes of waste has a duty of care under section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, and stays responsible after it hands the waste on. Use only registered waste carriers, complete waste transfer notes correctly, and follow the stricter rules for hazardous waste.

Compliance & Legal

Verify your identity for Companies House as a director or PSC

Yes, if you are an individual director or PSC of a UK company, or an individual director of an overseas company registered in the UK. Corporate directors and officers of corporate PSCs are not yet required to verify. The transition for existing directors and PSCs ends on 17 November 2026.