Selling Cosmetics from Home in the UK: Legal Requirements

Selling cosmetics from home in the UK is legal, common, and well-trodden. If you make soap, balms, body oils, bath bombs, or skincare and want to sell from your kitchen table, the UK rules apply the same way they would for a factory. There's no small-batch exemption. The good news: the path is well-defined, and most makers can complete it in a few weeks for under £500 per product line.

This guide walks through the exact steps in the order you should do them.

This covers Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales). Northern Ireland follows the EU Cosmetics Regulation under the Windsor Framework — different notification portal. This is not legal advice.

The Short Answer

To sell cosmetics from home in the UK you must:

1. Register your business with HMRC.
2. Appoint a UK-established Responsible Person for each product (often you, as the maker).
3. Commission a Cosmetic Product Safety Report (CPSR) for each product from a qualified safety assessor.
4. Notify each product to the Submit Cosmetic Product Notifications (SCPN) service before placing it on the market.
5. Label your products to GB cosmetics labelling rules — INCI ingredient list, batch number, Responsible Person, PAO or best-before, nominal content, and any required warnings.
6. Keep a Product Information File (PIF) ready for trading standards inspection.
7. Get product liability insurance before your first sale.

The order matters. The CPSR has to be signed off before you can notify the product, and the product has to be notified before it can be placed on the market.

Step 1: Register as a Business with HMRC

You need to register before your first sale, not after. If you trade as a sole trader, that means registering for Self Assessment with HMRC — GOV.UK guidance says "You must tell HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) by 5 October" if you need to complete a tax return for the previous tax year, with penalties for late notification. If you set up a limited company, registration with Companies House replaces this step and HMRC is notified automatically.

For most home cosmetics makers starting out, sole trader is simpler and cheaper. You can switch to limited company later if turnover grows. See the GOV.UK working for yourself guide for the registration thresholds and what counts as trading.

Tell your home insurer about the business activity. Standard household policies typically exclude commercial use of the property, and running a cosmetics business from your kitchen can void cover if not declared.

Step 2: Decide Who the Responsible Person Is

Under the UK Cosmetics Regulation (retained Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009), every cosmetic product placed on the GB market needs a designated Responsible Person established in the UK. GOV.UK guidance states:

"A cosmetic product cannot be placed on the GB market unless there is a Responsible Person established in the UK in respect of that cosmetic product."

For most UK home makers, this is you. The Responsible Person carries legal accountability for the product's safety, compliance, labelling, and notification — the role is not optional. If you set up a limited company, the company is normally named as the Responsible Person; if you trade as a sole trader, that's your registered business name.

Your name (or company name) and a GB postal address go on every product label and in the SCPN notification record.

Step 3: Commission a Cosmetic Product Safety Report (CPSR)

This is the largest single compliance cost and the step most home makers underestimate.

GOV.UK guidance on the Cosmetic Products Enforcement Regulations 2013 sets out the requirement:

"The Responsible Person is to ensure that a safety assessment is completed on a cosmetic product before it is placed on the GB market."

"a Cosmetic Product Safety Report (CPSR) signed by a qualified safety assessor"

You cannot do this yourself unless you're a qualified Cosmetic Safety Assessor (CSA). A CSA holds a degree in pharmacy, medicine, toxicology, biology, chemistry, or a similar science, plus specific cosmetic safety assessment training. Most home makers commission a CPSR from an external assessor.

For practical guidance on costs, choosing an assessor, and what documents you need ready, see our CPSR certification guide.

What a CPSR Covers

Each unique formulation needs its own CPSR. A "lavender soap" and "rose soap" with the same base formula but different essential oils are two separate products under the regulation, and each needs assessment. This is the cost line most makers don't budget for accurately at the start.

Once signed, the CPSR forms Part B of the Product Information File (PIF) that you must keep available for trading standards inspection. GOV.UK guidance is specific: "The PIF must be kept for 10 years after the last batch of the cosmetic product was made available."

Step 4: Notify Each Product to SCPN

GOV.UK guidance is explicit:

"It is the responsibility of the Responsible Person to notify the Secretary of State of any cosmetic products made available on the GB market"

"Before the product is placed (supplied for the first time after 31 December 2020) on the GB market"

The portal is the Submit Cosmetic Product Notifications (SCPN) service, run by the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS). You'll need a GOV.UK One Login to register, and you upload the product details, ingredient breakdown, and a product label image for each notification.

Notification is free. The information you supply must match the labelled product exactly — if you reformulate, you need to update the notification.

If you previously notified your products on the EU Cosmetic Products Notification Portal (CPNP) before Brexit, those notifications don't carry across automatically — you still need to notify on SCPN to place products on the GB market.

Step 5: Label Your Products Correctly

UK cosmetics labels have their own set of mandatory elements, separate from the CLP labelling regime that covers candles and wax melts. The required elements:

1. Responsible Person name and GB address
2. Nominal content (weight in g or volume in ml)
3. Best-before date or Period After Opening (PAO) symbol with months
4. Precautions and warnings required by the regulation's annexes
5. Batch number (a code identifying the production batch)
6. Function of the product (if not obvious from presentation)
7. List of ingredients in INCI format, prefixed with "Ingredients:" and ordered by descending weight at point of incorporation
8. Country of origin (if manufactured outside the EU; GB-made products do not require this on the label but it can help with trade)

For the full breakdown of each element with examples, see our detailed cosmetic labelling requirements guide, or check your draft labels with the free cosmetic labelling requirements checker.

Soap, Bath Bombs, and Crossover Products

If you make products that contain hazardous ingredients (some essential oils, surfactants in concentration, products with high-strength acids), CLP labelling may also apply on top of cosmetics labelling. Bath bombs and bath salts often straddle both regimes depending on their ingredient profile. See our CLP labels guide for the hazard labelling rules.

Step 6: Keep a Product Information File

The PIF holds everything the regulator needs to verify your product is safe and compliant. GOV.UK guidance states "The PIF must be kept for 10 years after the last batch of the cosmetic product was made available" and must be "readily accessible to a competent authority at the address notified". In practice that means a trading standards inspector can ask for it and you need to be able to produce it promptly.

A typical PIF includes:

• Product description and intended use
• Method of manufacture and GMP statement (good manufacturing practice — BS EN ISO 22716 is the recognised standard)
• Cosmetic Product Safety Report (Part A safety information + Part B assessor's reasoning and conclusion)
• Proof of claimed effects (if you make any marketing claims like "moisturising")
• Information on animal testing of ingredients (almost always "none" for handmade cosmetics)

You can keep the PIF on a laptop or in a binder. Trading standards inspections are infrequent for small home makers, but they do happen, and they're more common after a customer complaint or local council notification.

Step 7: Insurance

Product liability insurance is not legally required by the Cosmetics Regulation, but you should not sell without it. A typical home cosmetics product liability policy starts around £80–£150 per year for low-turnover sole traders, often bundled with public liability. Selling through Etsy, markets, or your own website typically requires you to declare product liability coverage to the platform or venue.

Insurers will usually ask for evidence of the CPSR before quoting — they need to know your products have been safety-assessed.

What a Typical Compliance Path Looks Like

Most first-time home makers complete steps 1–7 in 4–8 weeks. The CPSR is the long pole — a safety assessor typically needs 2–4 weeks per formulation, faster if you supply complete ingredient documentation upfront. Indicative costs (verify with current quotes):

• Business registration: £0 (sole trader) to ~£12 (limited company)
• CPSR per product: typically £100–£400 from independent assessors, often more for novel formulations or claim-supported products
• SCPN notification: £0
• Product liability insurance: £80–£200 per year for typical home turnover
• PIF setup and labelling design: time only

For three product lines, expect £300–£1,200 in CPSR fees plus the recurring insurance premium. Each additional product line adds a CPSR fee.

FAQ

Do I need a licence to sell cosmetics from home in the UK?

There is no separate "cosmetics seller licence" in the UK. Your obligation is the seven-step compliance path above: CPSR, Responsible Person, SCPN notification, labelling, PIF, HMRC registration, and insurance.

Can I sell soap I make from home?

Yes — provided each formulation has a signed CPSR, the product is notified on SCPN, the labels meet GB cosmetics labelling rules, and you maintain a PIF. The same rules apply whether you sell from your kitchen or a factory.

Do I need planning permission to make cosmetics at home?

Generally no, if you're not changing the use class of your home. Local councils may require notification or inspection if you scale up to significant volumes, or if you cause increased traffic, deliveries, or odour. Check with your local council before scaling beyond hobby volumes.

Do trading standards inspect home cosmetics makers?

They can. Inspections are uncommon for small home producers but do happen, usually triggered by a customer complaint or a referral from a local council. Under the GB cosmetics regulation your PIF must be "readily accessible" to the competent authority when requested.

What happens if I don't notify a product?

The SCPN service warns: "You may face a fine and a prison term of up to 3 months if you do not notify OPSS about a cosmetic product. This fine could be unlimited in England and Wales or up to £5,000 in Scotland and Northern Ireland." Notification is free and takes minutes — there's no benefit to skipping it.

Practical Next Steps

If you're at the planning stage:

1. Sketch your starting product range (3 products is a workable first batch).
2. Get CPSR quotes from 2–3 cosmetic safety assessors.
3. Draft your labels — check them with the free cosmetic labelling requirements checker before commissioning print runs.
4. Decide between sole trader and limited company.
5. Budget for the CPSR before counting any pre-orders as revenue.

For a deeper dive on CPSR specifically, see our CPSR certification guide — including how to choose an assessor and what documentation to prepare. For UK soap and cosmetics safety assessment basics, see our safety assessments overview.

Sources

• GOV.UK — Regulation 1223/2009 and the Cosmetic Products Enforcement Regulations 2013 (Great Britain)
• GOV.UK — Submit a cosmetic product notification
• GOV.UK — Making cosmetic products available to consumers in Great Britain
• GOV.UK — Working for yourself
• GOV.UK — Register for Self Assessment
• SCPN — Submit Cosmetic Product Notifications service