New-business setup checklist.

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This checklist covers what most new UK businesses need to sort before and just after opening day. Not everything will apply to you: tick off what you need, skip what you don’t. Some steps take weeks, so the order matters.

As soon as you decide

Three months or more before opening

• Choose your structure: sole trader, partnership or limited company. Ask an accountant if you’re unsure. (Business setup)
• Register the business: a limited company with Companies House (directors verify their identity), or Self Assessment with HMRC for a sole trader.
• Choose a registered office address, or a virtual office to keep your home address private.
• Apply for a business bank account. Checks can take days or weeks.
• Pick accounting software and decide who will do the books. (Business management)
• Before signing a lease, check broadband availability, the meter type, where bins can go and whether any licence is needed.

When you get the premises

Eight to twelve weeks before opening

• Take meter readings on the day you get the keys and tell the energy supplier. Agree a contract so you’re not left on deemed rates. (Utilities)
• Find your MPAN (electricity) and MPRN (gas) on the bill or meter, and note any contract end dates.
• Set up the water account with a retailer.
• Book broadband and phone installation, and arrange to keep (port) any existing numbers. (Telecoms)
• Check anything that still uses an old phone line, such as alarms or older card machines, ahead of the PSTN switch-off.
• Food business? Register with your local council at least 28 days before you start trading, and apply for any premises licence.
• Talk to an FCA-authorised insurance broker about employers’ liability, public liability and property cover. (Insurance)

Four to six weeks before opening

Payments, IT, waste and staff

• Order card machines and EPOS, and load your products, prices or services. (Payments)
• Arrange waste and recycling collections through a registered waste partner, with separate streams where required. (Waste)
• Set up email on your own domain, devices and accounts, with multi-factor sign-in. (IT services)
• Set up Wi-Fi, keeping any guest network separate from your tills and card machines.
• Get your website live and your opening hours listed online.
• Hiring? Register as an employer with HMRC, set up payroll and a workplace pension, and check each person’s right to work.

Opening week

Test everything

• Run real test payments on every card machine and through the EPOS.
• Check broadband speed and what happens if it drops: have a backup plan.
• Display your employers’ liability certificate where staff can see it.
• Put contracts, meter readings, insurance documents and waste transfer notes in one folder.

After you open

Keep it under control

• Write down every contract end date and set reminders a few months before each one.
• Review your first few energy bills against your contract rates.
• Keep an eye on the VAT registration threshold (£90,000 taxable turnover).
• Check whether clients or insurers want Cyber Essentials.
• Keep waste transfer notes for at least two years.

Need a hand with any of it?

BizUp360 introduces you to partners for each of these areas, and stays with you at renewal. Tell us your opening date and we’ll build your checklist with you: send us an enquiry, message us on WhatsApp or email sales@bizup360.co.uk. Terms explained in the glossary. See also setups for your type of business.

General information for UK businesses, not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules differ in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in places. Last reviewed 30 October 2026.