The 5 most common Business Compliance Issues

When starting a new business, it is vital that you comply with all the appropriate regulating bodies and authorities. Whilst regulation depends upon the type of business you own, here are the 5 most common issues you need to be aware and compliant of:

GDPR policies

The fines for breaching GDPR can be severe: which can reach 4% of annual turnover. In order to comply, businesses must have a Privacy Notice dealing with all data that is collected and how it is used.

Employment Contracts

From an employee perspective, it is a legal requirement for a business to provide an appropriate employment contract. Failure to do so is a breach of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and can lead to compensatory awards in tribunal claims.

HMCR Filing and Company House Filing

Companies must send annual accounts, whether they are trading, non-trading or dormant. It can be an offence if you do not file your company accounts on time within the deadline; you can receive an automatic late filing penalty. To avoid this, seek expert legal advice.

Check licensing and regulatory body requirements

All businesses are different and have a variety of different compliance requirements depending on sectors. Some are authorised by regulatory bodies, whilst others require a license to carry out the business. Failure to comply with such regulations could potentially lead to criminal sanctions.

To avoid this, you must seek legal advice and make sure your business complies with all relevant regulations.

Properly drafted contracts

Having properly drafted business contracts ensures your business never falls short of unforeseen problems that may arise. A contract that is poorly written, biased, or unclear is ripe for litigation: which can run into high costs indeed.

It is imperative for businesses to prevent litigation and have contracts drafted correctly: as some contracts are governed by statutory regimes and will not be enforceable if they are drafted incorrectly.

If you are unsure of regulatory obligations, it is vital to seek expert legal advice on how to comply, to avoid being heavily fined. If you are facing action by an authority or a governing body seek urgent legal advice!

Blunt advice on business compliance matters from Yorkshire Powerhouse

Have you any questions?

Here at Yorkshire Powerhouse, we’re happy to help as much as possible – is there anything else we can do to help you, do you have any further questions or can we help introduce you to an expert – please let us know: