As a website owner, adhering to legal requirements in the UK is paramount.

Below is a comprehensive checklist to ensure your website complies with the legal requirements:

The identity of your business

Under the Companies Act 2006, your website must disclose certain information about the identity of your busines. This information doesn’t need to be on every page but it does need to be easily found. Typically this would go on your ‘Contact Us’ or ‘About Us’ page. Placing this information in the footer of your website is also useful for your users to find it easily and for your search engine optimisation (SEO).

• The information to include is listed below:

• Company name

• Company registered number

• Place of registration, such as England and Wales

• Registered office address

• Postal address

• Company email address

• How to contact your business via non- electric means

• Your VAT number, even if the website is not being used for ecommerce transactions

• The name of any trade bodies or professional associations that the business is part of, including membership or registration details.

User Consent for Data Usage

The GDPR regulations came into effect in May 2018 and is one of the most significant pieces of legislation improving the rights of individuals to understand how their personal data is being processed. The tasks you need to do to make sure your website is GDPR compliant are:

• Preferences on your web contact forms set to default to ‘no’ or blank and users have to actively opt-in

• Making it easy for users to withdraw their consent or opt-out

• Forms should collect a minimum of information, and only the data required for the task at hand

• Notifying users of cookies that are being used to track their behaviour

• Have in place a data breach process in case the worst happens.

Company Policies

There are a few standard pages for you to include on your website, which are:

• A privacy policy that details what personal information your business collects and how it is used

• A cookie disclosure to explain how your website uses cookies

• A disclaimer to explain how users can use the information on your website, and what liability your business accepts

Consumer protection

If you have an ecommerce website, then your business will need to comply with a range of legislation that includes the online and distance selling regulations, as well as electronic commerce regulations and the consumer rights act.

This is a complex area and you will need to consider the below:

• The required information before an order is placed, including full costs, payment terms, delivery arrangements, and the right to cancel

• The required information after an order is placed, including a copy of the contract to purchase

• That you fulfill the order in a satisfactory manner

• That your goods and services are of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose, and as described on your website

Accessibility

Your website must be accessible to everyone who needs it, to be in line with the Equality Act 2010.

This means your website must follow the below:

• Meet level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1) as a minimum

• Work on the most commonly used assistive technologies - including screen magnifiers, screen readers and speech recognition tools

• Include people with disabilities in user research

• Include an accessibility statement on your website

Cybersecurity and Data Protection

The Information Commissioner’s Office has published a set of technical security processes that are considered to represent appropriate measures under GDPR. As a business, your responsibility is to take the necessary steps to prevent personal data from being accidentally or deliberately compromised.

In practice, this includes:

• Implementing an SSL certificate on your website for the encryption of personal data

• Updating your website software regularly, including your website operating system and your content management system

• Testing your website for security vulnerabilities

Respecting copyright

You will notice that most websites have a Copyright statement in the footer. All websites and their content are inherently copyright protected provided they are original works, and adding the text can act as a deterrent from others stealing your content. Businesses of all types could be a victim to copyright infringement by unknowingly copying someone else’s work and passing it off as their own.

It is in your best interest that you exert your own right to your copyright and that you respect the copyright belonging to others.

The things to consider for copyright are:

• That you are only making use of licenses or copyright free images

• That you are detecting other sites that could be infringing your copyright

• That you are protecting your own website to copyright

Adhering to these legal requirements ensures your website's compliance with UK regulations, safeguarding your business and users alike.