Legal tips for tradespeople

  • A freelance small business owner sat at her desk reviewing her business figures.

    Over a fifth of freelancers and SMEs experience an increase in late payments

    In this article, Rob Rees, Divisional Director at Markel Direct, looks into how late payments are affecting the freelance and small business market and shares eight tips for safeguarding your finances.

  • A freelancer sat around a table with his client addressing an unpaid invoice.

    How to pursue unpaid invoices

    The late payment of invoices can present major financial difficulties for small businesses, freelancers and contractors.

  • Freelancer sat at his desk working on his laptop

    5 legal issues freelancers can face and how to manage them

    When it comes to choosing a career as a freelancer, the benefits are abundant – having the freedom to choose how much or how little work you take on, where you work, who you work with, what you work on and overall having the freedom to control your own career.

  • Woman studying contract with pen in hand

    What to do if an employee or subcontractor breaches their contract

    If you are self-employed and run your own business, you’ll know that finding the right people to help you to carry out the day to day work of your organisation can be difficult.

  • Yellow copyright symbol on a blue background

    How does copyright work?

    In the UK, laws surrounding copyright date back as far as the 18th century, and the concept of protecting people’s work from being copied and sold by others is even older. But how exactly do these rules work? Here, we explore the meaning of copyright, how it can help you to protect your work and why it is so important.

  • Two people sat at a table signing a business contract

    What is a breach of contract?

    Many businesses rely on employees to ensure that the day-to-day running of the business is taken care of. Each permanent employee will have a contract that lays out certain terms and conditions that should be adhered to while working for the company, but what happens when there is a breach of such a contract?

  • businessman researching GDPR on a laptop

    What are the penalties for non-compliance with GDPR?

    Brought into effect in 2018 as a way of harmonising data privacy laws across the European Union, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is designed to give individuals greater control over the information that businesses can collect about them and what businesses can do with this information.

  • The true extent of cybercrime on the UK's self-employed and SMEs, revealed!

    The True Extent of Cybercrime on the UK's Self-Employed and SMEs Revealed

    Cybercrime continues to rise across the globe, with the UK alone losing billions of pounds a year to fraud and online attacks.

  • What you need to have in a Contract for Services

    What you need to have in a Contract for Services

    As a self-employed freelancer or contractor working on projects for clients, it’s important to have a contract for services that covers all of the essential clauses needed to ensure you are protected from a legal and tax point of view.

  • Five common contractual mistakes and how to avoid them

    Five common contractual mistakes and how to avoid them

    Drafting contracts that are robust when you’re a self-employed freelancer working with different clients is essential.