Is anyone running a cake decorating business from home in the uk that could give me some advice on the food rules and regulations and what i need to do to get a certificate to sell my cakes. I live in Birmingham. I'm not sure if this effects the rules and regs. Any advice will be appreciated 

AHello, I am a hobby baker in London, I believe that you have to contact your local council and speak to them about it, set up and appointment to inspect your kitchen. You will also need liability insurance if your selling to the public. Your council should give you more information on this. Hope this is helpful, as I haven't been through this process myself but that's what I've been told by other decorators.

It's actually quite a nice process, you don't need to have done anything like a food hygiene cert etc before you speak to them; have a look at Birmingham City council's page here, it should be very helpful.

The way it worked for me was:

1: read over the initial guidance

2: give them a call, chat over what I need to do next

3: do the things they suggest and register with HMRC as a new business (you can do this online very painlessly and it automatically registers you for self assessment)

4: arrange for an inspection (and this wasn't like passing an exam; we talked through cleaning plans, managing pets whilst baking, how to manage the 'second, hand wash only, sink' rule without having to fork out on installing a silly extra sink in my kitchen........)

5: register officially as a food business (for you this will be done here)

6: make and sell your cakes!

Hope it all goes well; you're welcome to PM me if you ever need a hand with your HACCP; I found it to be the most frustrating part :-)

Best of luck!

Different local authorities have different rules.

When I got in touch with mine, I had to have a food hygiene certificate before they'd come and out and see me (and you can't get registered until they've seen you!) 

At the time, they were doing training sessions for about £60 (a one day course followed by multi-choice test at the end) - but they're not doing that any more.  So I re-did mine online with Virtual College.  But my EHO wanted me to do level 2, not basic!

• You will need to get product and public liability.

• You need to tell you house-hold insurance (it hardly affected my premium at all)

• You need to tell your mortgage lender / landlord.

• If you're delivering cakes, you also need to let your motor insurance company know you need business use.

• You need register your business with HMRC

I think between all the replies here that about covers it!

Suzanne x

A

Aw what meanies!... Although thinking about it I already had my FH cert from my prev job so that might be why lol