Rules and ethics
Part of UK compliance for women founder funding services, from financial promotions to equality duties
Women founder funding UK regulations in England
Women founder funding UK regulations in England: an England decision record on investment messages, women-focused access, customer status and application data.
For women founder funding UK regulations in England, this decision record sets out what to record about investment messages, women-focused access, customer status and application data. It is not a UK-wide account: where a service operates in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, check the territorial extent of each provision and the rules that apply there.
| Case | Rule or test | Decision to record |
|---|---|---|
| Investment communication | FSMA 2000 section 21; Financial Promotion Order 2005 | For each post, email or event, is it an invitation or inducement, and who approved it? |
| Women-focused provision | Equality Act 2010 sections 29, 158 and 159 | Does section 29 apply, and is any positive action proportionate under the relevant test? |
| Founder buying support | Consumer Rights Act 2015 section 2 | Is the individual acting inside or outside their business, and who proves disputed consumer status? |
| Application information | Data Protection Act 2018 section 3 | What personal data do applications hold, and what is collected, accessed and retained? |
Test the purpose of each message
Section 21(1) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 prohibits a person, in the course of business, from communicating an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity. Subsection (2) removes that prohibition when the sender is an authorised person or an authorised person has approved the communication.
The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 contains the exemptions. The FCA PERG 8 guidance explains that an unauthorised person cannot make such a communication unless an authorised person has approved its content or it is exempt. An educational label does not settle the question: check the communicator, product, intended action, approval route and exemption evidence before publication. The crowdfunding for women-led businesses example shows the same perimeter.
Name the specific Financial Promotion Order exemption relied on, if any, and record how its conditions are met. Depending on the communication and audience, assess whether an exemption in Article 19 (investment professionals), Article 43 (members and creditors), Article 48 (certified sophisticated investors), Article 50 (self-certified sophisticated investors) or Article 50A (high net worth individuals) is relevant.
An authorised person cannot automatically approve a promotion for an unauthorised person: check the approval restriction in FSMA section 21A and the relevant permission under section 55NA, or whether an exemption applies. Record the approver's permission or the precise exemption relied on before publication.
Check the legal basis for women-focused access
Section 29 of the Equality Act 2010 says a service-provider concerned with providing a service to the public, or a section of the public, must not discriminate against a person requiring it by not providing the service. Any programme restricted to women founders needs to be tested against that rule.
Section 158 says the Act does not prohibit action that is a proportionate means of enabling or encouraging people who share a protected characteristic to overcome or minimise a disadvantage, meet their needs or participate in an activity. The positive action provision sets out this test. Record the disadvantage, supporting evidence and reason the action is proportionate.
Section 159 addresses positive action in recruitment and promotion. It applies where a person reasonably thinks that people sharing a protected characteristic suffer a disadvantage connected with it. This is a separate test, so section 158 should not be used as the justification for a hiring decision.
Classify the founder's purchase
Section 2 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 defines a consumer as an individual acting for purposes wholly or mainly outside that individual's trade, business, craft or profession. If a trader argues that an individual was not acting as a consumer, the trader must prove that position.
A founder buying a service for the business is usually not a consumer, whereas someone exploring a side project may be. Record the classification and its basis, then check the commercial contracts against the customer status you have assigned.
Treat each application as personal information
Founder applications may contain names, business plans and, in some cases, health or family details. Section 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018 defines personal data as any information relating to an identified or identifiable living individual. On that definition, an application form contains personal data from its first field.
Application data is also governed by the UK GDPR. Before collecting it, identify and document a lawful basis under Article 6; if an application includes health information, check whether an Article 9 condition is also required. Apply the storage-limitation principle in Article 5(1)(e), set a retention period based on need, and consult Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) guidance on lawful bases, special-category data and retention.
Map the information collected, the reason for each item, who can see it and how long it is kept. The founder data guide deals in more detail with controller and processor questions, including what each application holds.
Maintain a decision record
Apply each row to the organisation's actual activity, not the label it uses. Identify the activity first, then record the decision before the service publishes messages, restricts access, sells support or collects applications; attach the record to the communication or programme it governs.
A disclosure policy should state who is communicating and on whose approval. Use the broader UK rules and compliance guide and the quality checks to confirm that no area is missing; the operations and delivery guide is relevant to carrying recorded decisions into delivery.
- Name the entity communicating each funding message.
- Record the approval route or exemption evidence for investment content.
- Write the positive action rationale for any women-only element.
- Classify each customer as a consumer or business customer.
- Map the personal data held in each application.
