Tuesday 1 July 2014

Legal Compliance – The Breakdown

What is Legal Compliance?
Legal compliance refers to the requirement of businesses and organisations to obey the legal laws and regulations that are in place. A few examples could be:
·         Internal policies and procedures  - staff management (problems are addressed appropriately)
                                                  - contract obligations
                                                  - employee salary, safety and satisfaction

·         External policies and procedures - treatment of consumers
                                                  - management of the business (sales & services)
                                                  - advertising
Why is it so Important?
Legal compliance can ultimately make or break a business. Complying with the rules and regulations in place will ensure that your business operates legally with minimal risks. It would also help protect your business, staff and reputation and will prevent any damages that could occur.

Problems
Consequences
The biggest and undeniably most important problem that you could face by not complying with the legal requirements is facing a criminal charge. A criminal offence would:
·         Ruin the reputation and image of your business
·         Affect the sales and services that you have to offer
·         Be very costly
...and many more. All of these would have a knock on effect which could potentially lead to the breakdown of the business that you worked so hard to make a success.

The Reality of Unaddressed Legal Compliance Issues
The Legal Services Board recently conducted a study of 10,000 SME’s and a staggering 46% claimed that unaddressed issues had detrimental effect on their business with the average cost per issue being £13,812.
The report also found that:
·         23% suffered a significant loss of income
·         12% reported an increased cost
·         9% suffered damage to their reputation
·         6% reported employee numbers had to be reduced or the business had to close down completely

How to Protect Yourself

Pre-emptive Measures
The most obvious way to protect your business would be to ensure you comply with all the legal requirements. Make sure you know what laws you are bound to and how to comply with them. Dealing with issues as soon as they arise would eliminate them or prevent them from escalating and becoming a criminal offence.

Non-compliance issues
Seeking legal advice for unfortunate non-compliance issues and/or pre-emptive measures can prove to be the more cost effective solution than solving the problem/s on your own. This could help prevent or minimise the damages that are highlighted above and ensure that matters are dealt with efficiently.

How We Can Help
iSolicitor prides itself in offering a unique service to SME’s by ensuring that your needs are maintained. By turning to us, we can provide you with valuable advice and help you by:
  • Providing free assessments of your needs with no obligation for you to pursue it further
  • Provide Compliance Check Audit of your business( to ensure pre-emptive legal protection)
  • Provide ad hoc skype consultations – saving you time and money so you do not need to take                                                                time out of your day to meet us in our office
  • Offering you fixed price packages – no hidden costs!
  • Offering online services outside of working hours and at weekends
 

Contact us on 020 8805 5307 or enquiries@isolicitor.co.uk for a no obligation chat.

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