Most UK businesses need no licence at all. You can start as a plumber, a cleaner, a consultant, a photographer or a builder tomorrow without asking anyone's permission. Licensing kicks in around a specific list of activities — food, alcohol, waste, transporting people, looking after children, security, scrap metal, trading in the street and playing music in public. Find your trade below, go to the authority named, and check the current rules there. Two duties apply to almost everyone: data protection, and pensions once you employ anyone.
At a glance
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Do most businesses need a licence? | No. Licensing attaches to specific activities, not to trading generally |
| The one tool to use | GOV.UK's licence finder — your activity and postcode, in about a minute |
| Who issues them | Usually your local council; some by a national body |
| Applies whatever you do | Data protection, and pension auto enrolment once you employ someone |
| Applies once you employ | Employers' liability insurance, by law |
| Cost | Varies by licence and by council |
| Timing | Some take weeks and must be applied for before you trade — check early |
Start here: the licence finder
Before you read a list, use the official tool. GOV.UK's licence finder asks what you do and where, and returns the licences that apply to you with a link to the body that issues each one. It takes about a minute and it is kept current, which is more than any article can promise.
We are deliberately not listing fees on this page. Licence fees are set by individual councils and national bodies, they change, and a wrong number here could cost you real money. Get the fee from the authority you are applying to.
Use the list below to work out what to search for, then go to the source.
Find your trade
Food — making, storing, selling or serving it. If you handle food for sale, including from your own kitchen, a market stall, a van or a cafe, you must register the food business with your local council before you start. Registration is not optional and it is not a judgement on your cooking — it simply puts you on the list to be inspected. An environmental health officer visits and gives you a food hygiene rating, which most customers will see. Food safety training is expected in practice even where it is not separately licensed. Selling anything with meat or dairy across a border, or wholesale, can bring extra approval requirements.
Alcohol. Selling alcohol needs two things: a premises licence for the place you sell it from, issued by the council, and a personal licence held by the person who authorises the sales, which requires a qualification and a DBS check. Events and one-off sales can sometimes be covered by a temporary event notice instead. Late-night hot food, live music and other regulated entertainment sit under the same licensing regime, so a takeaway open past 11pm may need a licence even with no alcohol involved.
Waste — if you carry away anything that is not yours. Gardeners taking green waste, builders removing rubble, house clearance, man-and-van work: carrying, transporting or dealing in other people's waste means registering as a waste carrier. In England that is the Environment Agency; Natural Resources Wales, SEPA and the NIEA cover Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. In England the upper tier registration is £191.02, renewed every three years. Fly-tipping penalties fall on the person whose waste it was as well as whoever dumped it, so keeping a record of where waste went protects you too.
Taxi and private hire. Three separate licences, all from the council: one for the driver, one for the vehicle, and an operator licence if you take bookings. Expect a DBS check, a medical, a local knowledge or driving assessment, and a vehicle inspection. Rules differ between hackney carriage and private hire, and private hire cannot legally be hailed in the street.
Childcare. Looking after other people's children for reward usually means registering — with Ofsted in England, and with the equivalent bodies in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. This covers childminding from home as well as nurseries and some out-of-school clubs. Expect DBS checks, first aid training, qualifications and a home or premises inspection.
Security work — SIA. Door supervision, security guarding, close protection, CCTV operation and some vehicle immobilising need a Security Industry Authority licence held by the individual doing the work. Working without one is a criminal offence, and businesses supplying security staff have their own obligations.
Scrap metal. Dealing in scrap, including mobile collection rounds, requires a scrap metal dealer licence from the council — either a site licence or a collector's licence, renewed every three years, at a fee your council sets. Cash payments for scrap are banned, and you must record and verify who you bought from.
Street trading, markets and pitches. Selling from a stall, a van or a table on the street usually needs street trading consent or a street trading licence from the council, and the rules vary street by street. Tables and chairs on the pavement outside a shop or cafe need their own permission. Private land and organised markets have their own arrangements, so always ask the council whose pavement it is.
Music, radio and TV played where people can hear it. If you play recorded music in a shop, salon, cafe, gym, van used for work with customers present, or anywhere staff or customers can hear it, you generally need TheMusicLicence from PPL PRS. Live music can bring licensing requirements too, and a TV shown to customers may need a TV licence. Fees depend on your setting and use — pplprs.co.uk has the current rates. This one surprises people, because it feels like a private radio in your own shop.
Also worth checking, by trade: animal activity licences from the council for dog boarding, day care, breeding or selling animals; registration with the council for tattooing, piercing, electrolysis and acupuncture; landlord and house-in-multiple-occupation licensing; and consumer credit permissions from the FCA if you let customers pay in instalments.
If your trade is not on this list, that is usually good news. Run it through the licence finder anyway, because it takes a minute and it beats assuming.
The duties that apply whatever you do
Data protection. Almost every business holds personal information — customer names, phone numbers, addresses, staff records. That brings duties under UK data protection law, and many businesses must also register with the Information Commissioner's Office and pay an annual data protection fee, £52 a year for most small businesses. Some are exempt. For a one-person business the practical work is small and worth doing properly.
Pensions, once you employ anyone. Take on your first employee and you have to put them into a workplace pension and contribute, unless they choose to opt out. This is called auto enrolment, it starts with employee number one, and it has to be declared to The Pensions Regulator.
Employers' liability insurance, also from your first employee. It is a legal requirement, not a nice-to-have, and the fines for not holding it are daily. Our business insurance guide covers what else is worth carrying.
Health and safety, tax registration and the rest. Registering with HMRC, keeping records, and taking reasonable care of anyone affected by your work apply whether or not a licence does.
Who issues what
It helps to know which door to knock on.
Your local council handles most licensing that touches a place or the public: food registration, alcohol and entertainment, street trading, taxis and private hire, scrap metal, animal activities, and skin piercing. Search for your council by postcode on GOV.UK and go to their licensing pages — every council publishes its own forms and fees.
National bodies handle the rest: the Environment Agency and its equivalents for waste, the SIA for security, Ofsted and its equivalents for childcare, the ICO for data protection, The Pensions Regulator for pensions, and the FCA where credit is involved.
Rules and bodies differ between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. If you are outside England, check your nation's own guidance rather than assuming the English answer applies.
What happens if you trade without one
It varies from a polite letter to a criminal conviction, and it is not worth finding out which. Unlicensed food businesses get shut down and prosecuted. Selling alcohol without a licence is a criminal offence. Working as unlicensed security is a criminal offence. Carrying waste unregistered brings fixed penalties and, if the waste is fly-tipped, liability for it.
The quieter cost is insurance. If you are operating without a licence you were required to hold, an insurer may decline the claim that finally comes in — which turns a paperwork problem into a business-ending one.
None of this is a reason to be frightened. It is a reason to spend twenty minutes on the licence finder before you start, rather than after.
What this looks like in practice
Take City Florists, a small flower business that sells subscriptions — a bouquet delivered weekly for £40 or fortnightly for £22 — and also runs a Saturday market stall.
No licence is needed to sell flowers. But the founder needs four things checked. The market stall sits on a public street, so it needs street trading consent from the council. The radio plays in the workshop where two part-time staff can hear it, so that is a music licence from PPL PRS. There are 250 subscribers on file with names, addresses and delivery notes, which means data protection duties and probably an annual fee to the ICO. And with two people on the payroll come a workplace pension and employers' liability insurance.
Add the ones that were genuinely needed together and you get a modest annual figure — but it is a real cost that lands in the first year, and most new founders have not budgeted a penny for it. Licence fees, insurance and the ICO fee belong in the plan next to the van and the stock, so that they turn up as something you expected rather than something that ruined a month.
Create a mini business plan in minutes with Plan.business. Put in your rate, your hours and your costs, and it works out the rest — what you will make, when you break even, and what you need to charge to hit your target.
Where to go next
ICO registration and data protection — whether you have to register and pay the fee, what UK GDPR actually asks of a one-person business, marketing consent for email and texts, and what to do if you lose data.
How to trademark a business name — what a trademark protects that a company name and a domain do not, how classes work, and how to apply.
Pension auto enrolment for small employers — what employing your first person actually commits you to, who has to be enrolled, what it costs on top of a salary, and the declaration you must file.
Business insurance — public liability, professional indemnity and the employers' liability cover the law requires once you have staff.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a licence to start a business in the UK? Usually no. There is no general business licence in the UK — you can start trading as a plumber, cleaner, consultant or builder without permission. Licences attach to specific activities such as food, alcohol, waste carrying, taxis, childcare, security and street trading. Check yours on GOV.UK's licence finder.
How do I find out which licences my business needs? Use GOV.UK's licence finder: enter your activity and your postcode and it lists what applies, with links to whoever issues each one. Do this before you start trading, because some licences take weeks and a few must be in place beforehand.
Do I need to register with the council to sell food from home? Yes. Any business making, storing or selling food for sale — including from a home kitchen, a stall or a van — must register with the local council before trading. Registration leads to an inspection and a food hygiene rating.
Do I need a music licence for my shop or salon? Generally yes, if customers or staff can hear recorded music, radio or TV, including from a personal device. TheMusicLicence from PPL PRS covers it, and the price depends on the size and type of the business.
Do I need to register with the ICO? Many businesses that hold personal information must register with the Information Commissioner's Office and pay an annual data protection fee (£52 for most small businesses), though some are exempt. Even if you are exempt, the data protection rules themselves still apply to you.
Figures correct as of September 2026. Tax thresholds, fees and rates change; check the linked GOV.UK pages before acting. Prices and costs shown are indicative and vary by area and by what's included.
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Two ways to do this
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