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Legal checklist

It’s important to know your legal requirements from the beginning of your business journey. Seeking guidance from professional organisations will help you establish your business in the right way from the start. There may be legal requirements that are necessary to start your business.

Trading Standards Commercial Services

Nottinghamshire County Council (NCC) have a specialist commercial team of experienced Trading Standards Officers who have the most up to date knowledge of legislation and industry changes to help you achieve compliance and protect your business.

You can book a free 30-minute initial consultation by going to the contact commercial services link shown below and completing a business advice request form. They will be able help to identify and prioritise what you need to do and if your situation requires more support than this, you can buy additional hours in blocks of 5 and 10 so that you can get the ‘right level’ of help you need to suit your industry and situation.

Checklist

Use this checklist to help you get started. You will need to think about these points when starting a business:

Business structure

One of the first questions you need to answer is the legal structure of your business. Will you set the business up as a self-employed individual, limited company, or partnership with others? Whatever structure you decide upon, be sure to obtain confirmation this is the right structure for you and any others connected with the business. This will affect how you do your accounts and sometimes what grants for which you can apply.

For help with this please visit these websites:

Business licenses

Check to see if you require any special licenses to operate your new business. Use the License Finder Tool to find out which licenses you need. You can also contact your local authority Licensing and Permits team.

Intellectual property (IP)

You need to check to see if what you want to do will make use of someone's else's intellectual property? And if not, will you be bringing your own ideas into the public domain? If you are, then you need to ensure you can protect yourself, and consider if any copyrights, patents, design rights or trademarks apply to your work. Get help from Business and IP Centre Nottinghamshire at your local library in Sutton in Ashfield.

Working with food

All local authorities can provide guidance on food safety standards when starting a food business, this covers; food hygiene and handling, to helping find suitable premises and registering your business – Visit the Council Food business page.

Free business support - Food and drink toolkit

Nottingham County Council have produced a free PDF toolkit book that you can download. It is intended for use by any food and drink sector businesses operating across the county. The toolkit contains a lot of information to support growers, producers, manufacturers retailers and hospitality food and drink providers.

Property classifications

Depending on the property that you are interested in, you may have to apply to your local council for a ‘change of use’ to enable you to trade; Contact the Duty Planning Officer.

Office or work from home?

Do you need your own office? Or can you take a desk in a shared space?
If you only require space for a few hours a week, then you could look at co-working or hot desk spaces.

Most local authorities have some low-cost incubation offices to help support young growing businesses. Contact the commercial estates team at the council where you plan to be based – Visit the Council Commercial Property Teams page.

However, if you choose to work from home but would like to have a professional address, then you could take on a virtual office space (but remember to amend your home insurance to consider the fact you are also using it as a place of work).

Finally, remember that if you are running a business, even from home, you should notify the Business rates team by email of the Council where you are based. This can also be useful to you, when any economic support grants are launched, as you will be listed on the Business rates database and so you will be included in any notifications that are sent out.

Commercial premises

If you are looking for retail or commercial premises then there are several factors to consider, such as footfall if you rely on passing trade, transport links for deliveries and what your budget is. You will also need to consider the rateable value of the premises. If this is above £12,000 then you will be liable for business rates.

It’s also useful to understand how the Business rates scheme works and enquire about Transitional relief and Small business rates relief, for exemptions and how to appeal. You can do this by emailing our business rates team and simply ask them for clarification. 

Insurance

This is a key area for every business owner to consider. You should research what you need and ensure you have all the relevant insurances in place and with reputable insurers. There are 3 main types: Employers Liability, Public Liability and Professional Indemnity – you can find out more on our Business support page. 

Trade Waste

You can get help with bins, waste and recycling from Ashfield trade waste team, but please bear in mind that depending on your business, there may be some legal requirements that you will need to consider.

What Funding do you need?

You need to think about your cash flow and what funding you need to take your business forward. There may be local grants available that you could access, so please contact your local Council business support team. You can also apply for a personal loan from £500 and £25,000 from the British Bank. 

If you receive Universal Credit:

You may also be able to get a 12-month start up period if you become self-employed. This means your Universal Credit payments will be based on your monthly earnings; you will also not need to look for any other work and you’ll get extra support from a work coach who’s trained to work with self-employed individuals. Your current work coach can tell you if you’re eligible. Find out more about claiming Universal Credit when you’re self-employed:

Page updated: 1 October 2024