Does employment law apply to small business?

Written By Sherry White

Short answer. Yes.

There are hundreds of types of legislation in the UK governing different areas. It’s complex, but there are simple ways to manage it in a small business.


The main legislation a small business needs to be aware of (correct at the date of writing):

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974

Specifies your obligations for Health & Safety in your business, specifically at what point you need to ensure you document your policy, and risk assessments.

Once you reach 5 employees (whether full time, part time or zero hours), you must have a documented policy and risk assessments.

health and safety for laboratories

Important note:

Just because you don’t HAVE to document them before you reach 5 employees, you still have to risk assess and protect employees. For that reason I often suggest documentation from day one.

Especially in certain environments.

Assuming your business isn’t complex in terms of health & safety - it should be reasonably straight forward and cost effective to engage a consultant to make sure you are covered and aware of your responsibilities.

Please reach out to us, if you need any support in this area.

The Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA)

This covers areas such as:

  • dismissal

  • parental leave

  • redundancy

  • the right to written employment terms

  • Insolvency

  • Flexible working requests

  • Whistleblower protections

  • Holiday pay

  • Payslips

  • Fines for non compliance

  • Minimum wage increases and so on

There are amendments to regulations often, typically some changes occur every year. For example in 2024 the ERA was updated to include parental bereavement leave for parents who suffer stillbirths or death of an infant, as well as entitlement for additional leave for parents of premature babies.

Your policies don’t need to repeat everything in the legislation, they just need to inform your staff how you comply with the legislation within your business. See our other topics in the knowledge hub on policies, as well as template policies in our store for you to download.

Other legislation to be mindful of includes the Equality Act, which specifies certain protected characteristics that employers must be mindful of when handling employee matters, and the Data Protection Act which specifies employees rights to know how their data is handled.

For support with any employment matters in your business, please do get in touch.

Sherry White

Sherry, Founder of NEuRDiverse—

a passionate advocate for holistic neurodivergent support, with lived experience of AuDHD and a deep understanding of co-occurring conditions.

As both a neurodivergent individual and a parent to three neurodivergent children, Sherry brings a personal and professional perspective to the challenges faced by the community.

Through NEuRDiverse, she works to create safe spaces, push for systemic change, and provide resources that reflect the real-life complexities of neurodivergence.

Sherry also holds various volunteer positions for great organisations like Response, Broken Spoke and CIPD as well as running her own business management, HR and safety consultancy company.

https://oxfordpeoplesolutions.co.uk
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The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 - what does my small business need to do to comply with Health & Safety Regulation?