Skip to main content
We're here with practical information for your business. Learn about business planning, running a business and more.

Search

For a successful business, you need a viable business idea, the skills to make it work and the funding. Discover whether your idea has what it takes.

Forming your business correctly is essential to ensure you are protected and you comply with the rules. Learn how to set up your business.

Advice on protecting your wellbeing, self-confidence and mental health from the pressures of starting and running a business.

Learn why business planning is an essential exercise if your business is to start and grow successfully, attract funding or target new markets.

It is likely you will need funding to start your business unless you have your own money. Discover some of the main sources of start up funding.

Businesses and individuals must account for and pay various taxes. Understand your tax obligations and how to file, account and pay any taxes you owe.

Businesses are required to comply with a wide range of business laws. We introduce the main rules and regulations you must comply with.

Marketing matters. It drives sales and helps promote your brand and products. Discover how to market your business and reach your target customers.

Some businesses need a high street location whilst others can be run from home. Understand the key factors from cost to location, size to security.

Your employees can your biggest asset. They can also be your biggest challenge. We explain how to recruitment and manage staff successfully.

It is likely your business could not function without some form of IT. Learn how to specify, buy, maintain and secure your business IT.

Few businesses manage the leap from start up to high-growth business. Learn what it takes to scale up and take your business to the next level.

UK set to ditch cookie banners in GDPR shake-up

31 August 2021

The government is expected to get rid of some website cookies rules as it promises to scrap key parts of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into force in 2018.

Culture secretary Oliver Dowden is expected to announce data regulation reforms which he has said will cut costs for businesses, boost innovation and drive growth, opportunities and jobs. In an interview with The Telegraph, he said the plans include getting rid of cookie pop-ups for most websites (with some exceptions), many of which he said were "pointless".

"There's an awful lot of needless bureaucracy and box ticking and actually we should be looking at how we can focus on protecting people's privacy but in as light a touch way as possible," he said.

Oliver Dowden has announced that John Edwards is the government's preferred candidate to be the next Information Commissioner. Edwards, who is currently the New Zealand Privacy Commissioner, is expected to shake up current data regulations and the government has said he would "go beyond the regulator's traditional role".

John Edwards said: "I look forward to the challenge of steering the organisation and the British economy into a position of international leadership in the safe and trusted use of data for the benefit of all."

The government has also said it will make new "data adequacy" partnerships that will make it easier for businesses to send people's personal data internationally. Data adequacy is about agreeing that data protections are similar in two countries so that personal information remains safe. The UK currently has a data adequacy agreement with the EU but that could change if UK data laws diverge too far from EU rules.

According to the government, billions of pounds worth of trade goes unrealised around the world due to barriers associated with data transfers. "Now that we have left the EU I'm determined to seize the opportunity by developing a world-leading data policy that will deliver a Brexit dividend for individuals and businesses across the UK," said Oliver Dowden. "It means reforming our own data laws so that they're based on common sense, not box-ticking."

Written by Rachel Miller.

Stay up-to-date with business advice and news

Sign up to our lively and colourful newsletter for new and more established small businesses.

Contact us

Make an enquiry