Registered Office Address: What It Costs and Who Needs One
Form a limited company and your home address is public the same day. What a registered office service costs, the Companies House rules, and who needs one.
Running Your Business
The parts of freelancing that are not tax and not software, and that nobody hands you a checklist for.
Start at the beginning if you are new: registering as a sole trader with HMRC, what you are allowed to call the business, and whether to stay a sole trader at all.
Then pricing, which is where most of the money is won or lost. Setting a day rate and choosing between a day rate and a fixed price cover the arithmetic; budgeting on irregular income covers what happens after the money arrives. Before the work starts, the contract clause checklist is worth twenty minutes.
On the obligations nobody mentions until they apply: whether you need to register with the ICO and pay the data protection fee, when working from home triggers business rates, what changes when you hire a subcontractor, and whether to trademark the name.
Insurance sits here too: what a sole trader actually needs, and separately public liability, professional indemnity and employers’ liability, which becomes a legal requirement the moment you have an employee.
Checked 26 August 2026. General information, not legal or financial advice.
Business Storage UK: What It Costs and What You Can Claim
Self storage rent for stock or tools is an allowable expense. What a unit costs at the UK average rate, the VAT catch, and how to claim it on your return.
SimplyBook.me Review 2026: Can It Actually Stop No-Shows?
SimplyBook.me’s cancellation policy does not charge a no-show. Deposits do, and they need the Basic plan. What it really costs a UK mobile beauty business.
Booking Software for UK Sole Traders: Which Ones Let You Charge for a No-Show
Square, Setmore, SimplyBook.me, Calendly and Acuity compared for UK sole traders: what each free plan really gives you, and the cheapest way to charge for a no-show.
Cyber Insurance for Freelancers: What It Will Not Cover
Cyber insurance for freelancers: Cyber Essentials bundles £25,000 of cover if you opt in — and excludes money stolen electronically. What to check first.
Trademarking a Business Name as a Sole Trader
A trading name owns nothing — a registered trade mark does. What £205 buys, what you can’t register, and when a freelancer should bother.
Employers’ Liability Insurance: £2,500 a Day Uninsured
Employers’ liability insurance is the only cover UK law forces on a small business. When a sole trader counts as an employer, who is exempt, and the daily fine.
Professional Indemnity Insurance: What Sole Traders Miss
No law makes a sole trader buy professional indemnity insurance — a regulator or a client might. And the cover has to outlive the business by six years.
Public Liability Insurance Cost: What the Ads Leave Out
Public liability insurance cost: the from-£5.40 headline is the cheapest tenth of customers, before monthly charges. Real published prices for sole traders.
Public Liability Insurance: Do the Self-Employed Need It?
Public liability insurance is not a legal requirement — only employers’ liability is. What it covers, when a client insists, and why the premium is deductible.
Hiring a Subcontractor as a Sole Trader: Status First
Hiring a subcontractor as a sole trader means proving they are genuinely self-employed. Get it wrong and HMRC can pursue the unpaid tax from you.
Business Rates When Working From Home: When They Apply
Most home-based freelancers never pay business rates. Once the Valuation Office gives part of your home a rateable value, that changes — here is when.