When is a written health & safety policy legally required?

Under section 2(3) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, you must have a written health & safety policy once you employ five or more people. Below five employees the duty to manage health & safety still applies, but you don't have to write the policy down — though it's recommended.

Who checks a restaurant's compliance documents?

Several bodies, each for their area: your local authority's Environmental Health officers (food safety, allergens, hygiene rating), the local fire and rescue authority (fire risk assessment), Trading Standards (allergen labelling), the HSE or local authority (health & safety), and the licensing authority and police (alcohol). A single inspection usually focuses on one area, but the records need to be ready for any of them.

How long do I need to keep compliance records?

It varies by document and there's no single rule, but as a practical baseline keep food-safety and training records for at least the period between inspections (often a few years), and HR and accident records longer. The more important principle is that records must be current and retrievable — an out-of-date or missing record is treated as no record at all.

Do these requirements change with the number of staff?

Some do. The key threshold in the small-restaurant range is five employees: at 5+ you must put your health & safety policy and the significant findings of your risk assessments (including fire) in writing. Employers' liability insurance and a day-one written statement of particulars apply from your very first employee. Alcohol and under-18 duties switch on by activity, not headcount.

11 min readUpdated 4 June 2026

The compliance documents every UK restaurant needs (2026 checklist)

The short answer

A UK restaurant is expected to hold a core set of compliance documents: a HACCP-based food safety management system, allergen information, a cleaning schedule, a fire risk assessment, a written health & safety policy (once you employ five or more people), COSHH and manual-handling assessments, a staff handbook, a data protection policy, and — if you serve alcohol — a responsible alcohol-service policy. Most are required or expected under named legislation, enforced by your local Environmental Health, fire and licensing authorities. The point of each is not the paperwork itself but being able to prove you manage the risk.

Opening and running a restaurant in the UK means holding a surprising number of documents — not for their own sake, but because each one is how you prove, to a different inspector, that you manage a particular risk. This is the plain-English checklist: what each document is, the law behind it, and where to go deeper. It mirrors the set a place like yours is expected to keep — an established restaurant should already have most of these; a new opening can work through them one at a time.

The core compliance documents — and the law behind each

Each item below is a category of document, with its regulatory hook. Where we've published a full guide, follow the link for the detail.

Food safety management system (HACCP)

Regulation (EC) 852/2004; Food Safety Act 1990

A documented, HACCP-based system — for most restaurants, the FSA's Safer Food, Better Business pack.

Read the guide

Allergen information

Food Information Regulations 2014; Natasha's Law 2019

Accurate declaration of the 14 named allergens for every dish, and full labels on prepacked-for-direct-sale food.

Read the guide

Cleaning schedule

Regulation (EC) 852/2004, Annex II

A documented regime — what is cleaned, how often, with what, by whom. Sits inside your food safety system.

Read the guide

Fire risk assessment

Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005

A 'responsible person' must assess fire risk, record it in writing at 5+ staff, and train the team.

Read the guide

Health & safety policy

Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, s.2(3)

A written H&S policy is required once you employ five or more people, with risk assessments behind it.

Read the guide

COSHH assessment

Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regs 2002

Cleaning chemicals and sanitisers must be risk-assessed — hazards, controls and PPE recorded.

Read the guide

Manual handling assessment

Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992

Lifting, carrying and delivery risks must be assessed — part of your wider health & safety records.

Read the guide

Staff handbook / HR policy

Employment Rights Act 1996; ACAS Code

Written disciplinary and grievance procedures, plus a day-one statement of particulars for every employee.

Read the guide

Data protection policy

UK GDPR; Data Protection Act 2018

You hold staff and booking data — the ICO expects a written policy and, usually, registration.

Read the guide

Responsible alcohol service policy

Licensing Act 2003

If you serve alcohol: a premises licence, a designated premises supervisor, Challenge 25 and a refusals log.

Read the guide

Safeguarding / young workers

Children & Young Persons Act 1933; Working Time Regs 1998

If you employ under-18s: a young-worker risk assessment, restricted tasks, and limited hours.

Read the guide

Who checks these — and what an inspection looks for

No single body checks everything. Your local authority's Environmental Health team covers food safety, allergens and your hygiene rating; the fire and rescue authority covers your fire risk assessment; Trading Standards covers allergen labelling; the HSE or local authority covers health & safety; and the licensing authority and police cover alcohol. What they all really test is the same thing: not whether you own the document, but whether it's current and whether you can prove the system behind it is actually run.

The thread running through all of them: training and proof

Read the list again and a pattern emerges. Almost every one of these documents carries a duty to train staff on it and to keep a record that you did. Food safety, allergens, fire, health & safety, alcohol service, safeguarding — each assumes the team knows the current version and that you can show it. That's the work that doesn't fit in a folder, and the work that fails first when the team changes.

From a folder of documents to a prepared team

Holding the documents is the start; keeping the team trained on the current version of each, and keeping the proof, is the real job — and it's exactly where frunt fits.

frunt reads the compliance documents you already keep, turns them into role-based training your team complete on their phones, and keeps a dated, versioned record of who's current on what. When a document changes, the matching training is flagged for renewal — so the audit trail an inspector asks for is already written. Get started with frunt, or book a walkthrough to see it on your own documents.

Frequently asked questions

What documents do I legally need to run a restaurant in the UK?: The core set is: a HACCP-based food safety management system (e.g. an FSA Safer Food, Better Business pack), allergen information, a cleaning schedule, a fire risk assessment, a health & safety policy (written if you employ 5+), COSHH and manual-handling assessments, a staff handbook with disciplinary and grievance procedures, a data protection policy, and — if you serve alcohol — a responsible alcohol-service policy. You must also register your food business with the local authority before opening.
When is a written health & safety policy legally required?: Under section 2(3) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, you must have a written health & safety policy once you employ five or more people. Below five employees the duty to manage health & safety still applies, but you don't have to write the policy down — though it's recommended.
Who checks a restaurant's compliance documents?: Several bodies, each for their area: your local authority's Environmental Health officers (food safety, allergens, hygiene rating), the local fire and rescue authority (fire risk assessment), Trading Standards (allergen labelling), the HSE or local authority (health & safety), and the licensing authority and police (alcohol). A single inspection usually focuses on one area, but the records need to be ready for any of them.
How long do I need to keep compliance records?: It varies by document and there's no single rule, but as a practical baseline keep food-safety and training records for at least the period between inspections (often a few years), and HR and accident records longer. The more important principle is that records must be current and retrievable — an out-of-date or missing record is treated as no record at all.
Do these requirements change with the number of staff?: Some do. The key threshold in the small-restaurant range is five employees: at 5+ you must put your health & safety policy and the significant findings of your risk assessments (including fire) in writing. Employers' liability insurance and a day-one written statement of particulars apply from your very first employee. Alcohol and under-18 duties switch on by activity, not headcount.

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