Guides & Articles
Practical explanations of UK tax, compliance, and business topics — written by governance professionals, not content farms.
How to Conduct an OCTAVE Risk Assessment: A Practical 4-Step Guide
Walk through the OCTAVE Allegro methodology step by step — from asset registration and threat identification to CIA triad scoring and treatment planning. Includes ISO 27001 mapping.
How to Conduct a DPIA: A Step-by-Step Guide Following the ICO Template
Walk through all five stages of a Data Protection Impact Assessment — processing description, necessity, risk identification, mitigations, and outcome. Includes when a DPIA is legally required and what the ICO expects.
Data Breach Compensation by Sector: NHS, Landlord, Gym, Pharmacy and More
Compensation amounts after a data breach depend on the type of data exposed and your sector. This guide covers NHS medical data, landlord tenancy records, gym memberships, pharmacy prescriptions, and other common breach scenarios.
Cyber Insurance UK: What It Costs, What It Covers, and Whether You Need It
Cyber insurance covers the financial fallout of data breaches, ransomware, and business interruption. This guide explains what UK policies typically include, how much they cost, and what factors affect your premium.
How to Calculate Company Profit for Corporation Tax in the UK
Taxable profit is not the same as revenue. This guide explains what counts as allowable deductions, how to calculate your company profit, and how it feeds into the corporation tax calculation.
What Happens After a Data Breach: Your Step-by-Step Guide
You have been notified that your personal data was involved in a breach. What should you do next? This step-by-step guide covers immediate actions, how to protect yourself, and how to claim compensation.
Data Breach Compensation UK: How Much Can You Claim?
If your personal data was exposed in a breach, you may be entitled to compensation under UK GDPR. This guide explains who can claim, what counts as damage, typical compensation amounts, and how to start a claim.
Corporation Tax UK: How to Calculate What Your Company Owes in 2025
A practical guide to UK corporation tax for 2025/26 — covering the 19% and 25% rates, marginal relief, allowable deductions, and how to calculate your company's tax liability.
UK Contractor Day Rate: How to Set the Right Rate in 2025
How to calculate the minimum day rate you need to match your previous salary, benchmark against the market, and factor in IR35, holidays, and bench time.
Password Security in 2025: How Strong Is Your Password Really?
What makes a password strong or weak, how hackers crack them, why length matters more than complexity, and how to calculate how long your password would survive a brute-force attack.
What is a Risk Matrix? A Practical Guide for ISO 27001 and Business Risk
A risk matrix maps likelihood against impact to score and prioritise risks. This guide explains how to build one, what the colour zones mean, and how it fits into ISO 27001 and ISO 31000.
UK GDPR: Your Rights as an Individual and How to Exercise Them
UK GDPR gives individuals eight core rights over their personal data. This guide explains each right, how to exercise them, what organisations must do, and what to do when they fail to respond.
IR35 Status Checklist: 10 Questions to Determine If You're Inside or Outside
A practical checklist of the key IR35 factors HMRC and tribunals consider — covering control, substitution, mutuality of obligation, and integration. Use this to assess any contract.
How IR35 Affects Your Take-Home Pay in 2025
A plain-English guide to how IR35 works, what inside vs outside IR35 means for your income, and how to calculate the real financial difference using 2025/26 tax rates.
What is Tronc? A Complete Guide for Hospitality Businesses
Tronc allows hospitality businesses to distribute tips and service charges to staff while saving employer National Insurance. Here is how it works, what changed in 2024, and how to calculate distributions.
How the ICO Calculates GDPR Fines: A Practical Guide
The ICO has issued fines of up to £20 million for data protection failures. This guide explains the two enforcement tiers, what factors increase or reduce fines, and what real ICO cases tell us about how penalties are set.
UK Stamp Duty in 2025: New Rates, Thresholds and What Changed in April
The temporary stamp duty thresholds introduced in September 2022 expired on 31 March 2025. This guide explains the new SDLT rates, first-time buyer relief, and the additional property surcharge — with worked examples.
The Real Cost of a Data Breach: What the IBM 2024 Report Tells UK Businesses
The IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024 puts the global average at $4.88 million. But what does a breach actually cost a UK organisation — and what factors drive the final bill up or down?