Website terms and conditions: what a UK small business site needs

What are website terms and conditions?

Website terms and conditions are the written rules that sit behind your website. They tell visitors what they can and cannot do with your site, and what you promise in return.

People often use the phrase for two different documents:

• Terms of use: the rules for anyone who visits, such as who owns the words and photos, and what you are not responsible for.
• Terms of sale: the contract a customer agrees to when they buy from you online, covering price, payment, cancelling and refunds.

A brochure site that only shows your services may need only the first. A site with a shop, online booking or paid subscriptions needs both.

This is a general guide, not legal advice. It explains what each page is for and where the official rules live. For wording that fits your business, speak to a qualified solicitor.

Does a UK small business website need terms and conditions?

No single UK law says every website must have a page called terms and conditions. But the law does require certain information on many business websites, and terms are the usual place to put much of it.

Selling to consumers at a distance has its own rules. The government guide to online and distance selling says you must give certain information before an order is placed. It warns that if you do not follow the rules you could be made to pay compensation or face an unlimited fine.

The guide also explains the right to cancel. You must tell customers they can cancel up to 14 days after their order arrives. If you do not tell them, they can cancel at any time in the next 12 months. Clear terms of sale are how most shops tell them.

If you only show your services and take enquiries, terms of use are not strictly required, but they are useful. They set out who owns your content and limit what visitors can claim from you.

Which policy pages does a UK small business website need?

Most UK small business websites need some or all of these pages. Which ones apply depends on what your site does.

• Business details: who you are and how to reach you. Every business site needs these, usually on a contact or about page and in the footer.
• Privacy notice: what personal data you collect and why. Needed as soon as your site has a contact form, booking tool, newsletter sign-up or tracking.
• Cookie notice and consent: which cookies your site sets, and a way to accept or refuse the ones that are not essential.
• Terms of sale: needed if customers can buy, book or subscribe through your site.
• Terms of use: good practice for most small sites, and a sensible way to protect your content.

The business details part is set out in law. Regulation 6 of the UK's Electronic Commerce Regulations 2002 lists what a business offering services online must make easily, directly and permanently accessible. It includes:

• your business name and the geographic address where you are based;
• contact details, including an email address, so people can reach you quickly;
• your registration number, if you are on a public register such as the one for companies;
• your value added tax (VAT) number, if you are registered for it.

Limited companies have extra details to show on their websites as well, so check the full list with your adviser before the site goes live.

Does my website need a privacy policy?

Almost certainly, yes. If your website collects any personal information, you need to tell people what you do with it. A name and email address sent through a contact form counts.

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is the UK's data protection regulator. Its guide to the right to be informed under the UK version of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) calls this privacy information. It says you must provide privacy information to individuals at the time you collect their personal data from them.

The same guide says the information must be concise, transparent, intelligible and easily accessible, in clear and plain language. It also says you must regularly review and, where necessary, update it. Its checklist starts with the name and contact details of your organisation. It goes on to why you collect data and how long you keep it.

The same applies to an AI chat assistant on your site. Our AI chatbot for small business websites takes a visitor's name, number and what they need. Your privacy notice should say what happens to those details.

That is why a privacy notice copied from another site rarely fits. It has to describe what your own forms, tools and suppliers do with data, which no template can know.

Rather have it done for you? We build your website free, it goes live in days, and you pay nothing for the first 14 days. No card needed. See how the free 14-day trial works.

Do I need a cookie notice as well?

If your site sets cookies, usually yes. A cookie is a small text file saved on a visitor's phone or computer. Many analytics, advertising and chat tools set them.

The ICO guide to cookies and similar technologies covers the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR). In brief, it says you must tell people if you set cookies, and clearly explain what the cookies do and why. You must also get the user's consent.

The guide is specific about how. Consent needs a clear positive action, such as ticking a box or clicking a link. You cannot set non-essential cookies on your home page before the visitor agrees. Hiding cookie details in a privacy policy that is hard to find does not count as consent.

There is an exception for cookies that are essential to a service the visitor asked for, such as remembering what is in their basket. Cookies that are only helpful or convenient still need consent.

What should website terms of sale include?

If you sell online, your terms of sale carry most of the information the distance selling rules ask for. The government guide lists what you must give before an order is placed, including:

• your business name, contact details and address;
• a description of your goods or services;
• the price, including all taxes, and how a customer can pay;
• how and when goods will arrive, and what that costs;
• the minimum length of any contract and billing period;
• how customers can cancel, and when they lose the right to cancel.

The guide says this information must be easy to understand and in a format the customer can save for future reference. After the order, you must give a copy of the contract in the same kind of format.

Fairness matters as much as completeness. Section 62 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 says an unfair term of a consumer contract is not binding on the consumer. A term is unfair if, contrary to good faith, it causes a significant imbalance in rights and obligations to the consumer's detriment. A term that is not fair may not protect you at all.

Who should write your website terms and conditions?

A qualified solicitor should write your terms, or check the ones you draft. Your terms are a contract, and your privacy and cookie notices describe legal duties. Small errors can leave you exposed or make a term unenforceable.

The Law Society runs Find a Solicitor, a free service for finding regulated legal professionals in England and Wales. You can search by area of practice, including company and commercial work for small businesses, technology, and consumer law.

To keep the cost down, go to the meeting prepared. Bring a short list of what your website does. Say what you sell, which forms and tools you use, and whether you sell outside the UK. The more exactly you describe the site, the less time the adviser spends finding out.

Copying another business's terms is a common shortcut, and a risky one. Their terms describe their products, prices and data, not yours. They may also include terms that would be unfair for your customers, and an unfair term is not binding on them.

Where should policy pages sit on your website?

Good wording only helps if people can find it. The rules above keep returning to the same idea: the information must be easy to reach at the moment it matters.

• Link every policy page from the footer of every page, so it is one click away wherever a visitor lands.
• Link your terms of sale beside the button that places an order, and ask buyers to confirm they have read them.
• Put a short consent line under each form, with a link to your privacy notice.
• Show the cookie choice before any non-essential cookie loads, with an easy way to refuse.
• Put your business details on your contact page as well as in the footer.
• Date each policy page, and review it whenever your site, tools or prices change.

Plan these places before any design starts, not after the site is live. Our guide how to write a website design brief shows where to list them, and what is a website wireframe? shows how page layout is planned.

That split is how we work. Our web design team builds websites for UK small businesses with the policy pages planned in from the first sketch. We place each page, link it from the footer, and add a consent line beside every form, as our own enquiry form does. Your solicitor writes or approves the words; we make sure people can find them. As our web design page puts it, each site is designed for your business and written for your customers. It is not a template with your logo dropped in.

Buzzozo builds premium websites for UK small businesses, and plans start from £149 a month for the first 100 businesses. There is no contract, and you can cancel any time. You can compare what each one includes on our plans and prices page. Want to see your own site with its policy pages in place first? Start your free 14-day trial. No card needed, and you can cancel any time.

This is a general guide, not legal advice. It explains what each page is for and where the official rules live. For wording that fits your business, speak to a qualified solicitor.

Common questions