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Rules and compliance

What UK law and the regulators actually require of a restaurant that publishes.

Last published 10 Oct 2026 — the TableSpark team, London
ARTICLES375
FILMS14
TOPICS9

All entries

1–12 of 51 Newest first · Rules and compliance · Articles Rules and compliance · Articles ✕

October 2026

2026-10 1 entry
FIG. 02 Rules and compliance
Rules and compliance 2026-10-05

Food Delivery Laws UK: What a Restaurant Must Set Up

A restaurant that starts delivering takes on rules dine-in never triggered. Each of the four checkpoints, from launch to the door, carries its own risk if it is missed.

September 2026

2026-09 11 entries
FIG. 03 Rules and compliance
Rules and compliance 2026-09-09

The food waste disposer under the sink: what a restaurant may send to the sewer, nation by nation

Three nations put the duty on the drain itself; no England food waste rule was located, but discharging without the undertaker's consent is its own exposure.

FIG. 04 Rules and compliance
Rules and compliance 2026-09-09

The right to work check reaches sub-contractors from 1 October 2026

From 1 October the illegal-working penalty reaches individual sub-contractors and online matching services. Which people in this restaurant are inside the scheme, line by line.

FIG. 05 Rules and compliance
Rules and compliance 2026-09-09

The tribunal window doubles on 1 October, and the date that decides it is not the date the claim arrives

From 1 October 2026 the window for a tribunal dispute with a former member of staff doubles — but only where the 'relevant date' falls on or after that day.

FIG. 06 Rules and compliance
Rules and compliance 2026-09-09

Statutory sick pay from the first qualifying day: what a sick shift now costs a UK restaurant rota

A Saturday-only kitchen porter who calls in sick now costs money, and what it costs turns on a qualifying-days question most small restaurants have never answered in writing.

FIG. 07 Rules and compliance
Rules and compliance 2026-09-09

The table-meal exception cited for bottomless brunch was deleted in 2014

Operators are told a bottomless brunch is safe because it comes with a meal. The exception they cite was removed in 2014, and the page owners land on still shows it.

FIG. 08 Rules and compliance
Rules and compliance 2026-09-05

The Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard Binds the Landlord — the Lease Decides Who Pays

Continuing to let a sub-standard commercial building has been unlawful since April 2023 — the penalty is the landlord's, but the lease can send the cost to the tenant.

FIG. 09 Rules and compliance
Rules and compliance 2026-09-05

You Never Employed Them, and the PAYE Bill Can Still Be Yours

A new Chapter of ITEPA 2003 can hand a restaurant the PAYE and NIC bill for staff it never employed — but only on three chain shapes, and the ordinary UK agency is not one of them.

FIG. 10 Rules and compliance
Rules and compliance 2026-09-05

Who holds the food-safety duty once a third-party rider has the bag

In England the 8 °C rule may not govern a hot courier delivery at all — but which branch applies turns on an undefined term, and reading it wrong inverts the risk.

FIG. 11 Rules and compliance
Rules and compliance 2026-09-05

Do I need a written fire risk assessment? In England and Wales, since 2023, always

England and Wales scrapped the five-employee test in 2023 — record the whole assessment or risk a penalty. In Scotland and Northern Ireland, any licensed premises is caught.

FIG. 12 Rules and compliance
Rules and compliance 2026-09-05

Fingerprint clocking-in and UK law: the opt-out that has to stay open

A fingerprint clocking-in terminal turns payroll admin into special category data. Consent can make it lawful — but only where refusing costs a member of staff nothing.

FIG. 13 Rules and compliance
Rules and compliance 2026-09-04

The Plastic Fork Is Illegal, the Plastic Bowl Might Not Be — Single-Use Item Bans by Nation

A plate that counts as exempt packaging in England has no exemption in Wales, where it carries a penalty — and a straw needs a declared health reason, not a simple request.

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