Getting started

Do I need to register to sell cakes from home in the UK?

Short answer: if you're selling regularly, almost certainly yes — and it's free, quick, and can't be refused. Here's exactly who needs to register, how to do it, and the myths that trip people up.

Not legal advice. This is a plain-English summary to point you in the right direction. Your local council's environmental health team will give you a definitive answer for your specific situation, free of charge.

The simple version

In the UK, if you sell food to the public with any regularity, you count as a food business — and food businesses must register with their local council (specifically the environmental health department) at least 28 days before they start trading. Registration is free, it's done through a short online form, and the council can't refuse it.

It doesn't matter whether you sell one cake a month or a hundred. It doesn't matter whether you make a profit. The thing that triggers the obligation is selling food to people who aren't your own family and friends.

Who actually needs to register?

You need to register if you're doing things like:

Taking cake orders through Instagram, Facebook or word of mouth
Selling bakes at a market, fair or car boot on any kind of regular basis
Running a cake shed, honesty box or stall
Supplying cakes or traybakes to a local café, farm shop or shop

You don't need to register for a genuinely one-off, non-commercial situation — baking a cake for a friend's birthday, or a single cake for a school fete, where there's no ongoing activity. The line the Food Standards Agency looks at is whether there's "a certain continuity of activities and a degree of organisation." Selling cupcakes at work once is fine; selling them every Friday is a food business.

A helpful way to think about it: if you're regularly selling, advertising or taking orders, assume you're a food business and register. It costs nothing and removes all doubt.

How to register (it takes about ten minutes)

Go to the government's food business registration service at register.food.gov.uk.
Fill in the short form — your details, where you'll be baking (your home address, usually), and what kind of food you'll be making.
Submit it at least 28 days before your first sale.
That's it. There's no fee, and registration can't be refused.

After you register, your council's food safety officers will usually get in touch, and at some point they'll carry out an inspection — for home businesses this is normally arranged by appointment rather than turning up unannounced. Their job is as much to advise as to check.

What is "tacit consent"?

You don't have to wait for approval to start. Registration isn't the same as permission — once you've submitted the form and the 28 days have passed, you can begin trading even if you haven't heard back. This is called "tacit consent."

Common myths

"I'm too small to need to register."

There's no minimum. One cake or one hundred, the obligation is the same the moment you're selling regularly.

"Registering just invites inspection — better to stay under the radar."

Trading unregistered is a criminal offence, can lead to prosecution, and can invalidate any insurance you hold. Councils actively look for unregistered sellers on Facebook Marketplace and Instagram. Registering, by contrast, costs nothing and starts the clock on getting a food hygiene rating you can actually advertise with.

"Registration means I've passed some kind of approval."

It doesn't — it simply puts you on the council's list so they can carry out hygiene checks. Most home baking businesses only need to register, not seek formal approval.

What else do I need to sort before my first sale?

Registration is one piece. Alongside it, most home bakers will also want to:

Get a Level 2 Food Hygiene certificate (widely recommended, inexpensive, done online)
Put good food hygiene practices in place at home
Sort your allergen labelling — under Natasha's Law, anything you pre-pack for sale needs a full ingredients list with the 14 major allergens emphasised

That last one is where BakeLabels comes in — it's a free tool that turns the packets you bake with into a print-ready allergen label. If you're not sure what the law requires, our plain-English guide to Natasha's Law walks through it.

Sorted your registration? Sort your labels next.

Build a Natasha's Law allergen label for your bakes in a couple of minutes — free, no account needed.

Open the label builder →

This article is general information, not legal advice, and food law can change. For the current official guidance, see the Food Standards Agency (food.gov.uk) and GOV.UK's food business registration pages, or contact your local council's environmental health team.