Clients in the UK
Websites, ads and AI automation for UK businesses From a team in Guwahati, India, whose afternoon is your morning
Working with a team in India should feel much like working with one in another UK city that starts a little earlier. This page covers what’s particular to UK clients: the hours we share, how VAT and payment work, how your customers’ data is protected and which UK rules shape the work.
The short answer
What is it like for a UK business to work with Smart Web Labs?
Close to working with a team in another UK city that starts earlier. India is four and a half or five and a half hours ahead of you, so your morning is our afternoon and questions get same-day answers. Quotes and invoices are in pounds, UK VAT is handled through the reverse charge, and data transfers are covered by the ICO’s standard agreement.
- Ahead of you
- 4½ hours in British Summer Time, 5½ hours in winter
- Currency
- Pounds sterling, by international bank transfer
- Data
- UK GDPR transfers covered by the IDTA or the Addendum
Shared hours
How do our working hours line up with yours?
India Standard Time is UTC+5:30 and doesn’t change. UK clocks go forward on the last Sunday in March and back on the last Sunday in October, so we’re four and a half hours ahead of you during British Summer Time and five and a half hours ahead for the rest of the year.
India timeGuwahati
UK timeLondon
| UK time | In India, late March to late October | In India, late October to late March |
|---|---|---|
| 09:00 | 13:30 | 14:30 |
| 11:00 | 15:30 | 16:30 |
| 13:00 | 17:30 | 18:30 |
| 15:00 | 19:30 | 20:30 |
| 17:00 | 21:30 | 22:30 |
In practice, your morning is the best time for calls and decisions, and anything you send before lunch can usually be acted on the same day. Late-afternoon requests are picked up first thing in our next morning, which is still before your day starts.
Holidays don’t match either. UK bank holidays differ between England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and India has its own public holidays and festivals, such as Bihu here in Assam. You get our holiday calendar at kick-off, and we plan around yours.
A typical week
What does working together look like, week to week?
Less like a relay and more like sharing an office for half the day. Your morning overlaps our afternoon, so most questions are settled the same day, and our morning gives us a few hours’ work before you’re online. The rhythm below is the one we agree at kick-off.
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Before you start
Work already moving
By the time you sit down, we’ve had a few hours on the day’s tasks, and anything we need from you is waiting in the shared thread.
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Your morning
Calls and decisions
The overlap is the time for calls, design reviews and quick back-and-forth, while both sides are at their desks.
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Your afternoon
A written wrap-up
Our day ends during your afternoon with a short note of what was done and what’s next, so nothing waits on a reply overnight.
VAT and payment
How do VAT and payment work for UK clients?
Our invoices are in pounds and don’t carry UK VAT. Under HMRC’s rules for business-to-business services, the supply is treated as made where you belong, and a VAT-registered business accounts for it itself through the reverse charge. Payment is by international bank transfer against the stages in the proposal.
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Invoices in sterling
Prices are quoted and invoiced in pounds, so your cost is fixed once the proposal is signed, whatever the exchange rate does afterwards.
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The reverse charge
If you’re VAT-registered, your accountant records the VAT on our services in your own return, as HMRC’s guidance describes. Your accountant will confirm how it applies to your business.
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Stages you can see
Each payment is tied to something you can review, such as approved designs or a launched site, and ongoing work is billed monthly in advance.
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Ad spend stays separate
Google and Meta bill your advertising directly to you, under their own terms, so ad spend never passes through our invoices.
Next step
Need the paperwork sorted before you start?
Tell us what you need and how your business handles customer data. The written quote will say which agreements we’ll sign and when.
Data protection
How is UK personal data protected when we work from India?
Carefully, and on paper. The ICO treats making personal data accessible to an organisation outside the UK as a restricted transfer, and its own guide uses a UK business giving a company in India remote access as an example. So before we touch your customers’ data, the right agreement is in place.
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Agreement
The IDTA or the Addendum
We sign the ICO’s International Data Transfer Agreement with you, or its Addendum to the EU clauses if your business already uses them.
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Assessment
A transfer risk assessment
The ICO expects you to check that people’s data stays as well protected after the transfer. We supply the details of our security and access controls that your assessment needs.
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Minimum
As little data as possible
Most of our work doesn’t need customer records at all. Where it does, we work inside your systems with limited access rather than copying data out of them.
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Roles
You stay in control
You decide what data is collected and why; we process it only on your instructions, as the agreement sets out, and delete or return it when the work ends.
Cookies and consent
What do UK cookie rules mean for your website?
Under PECR, which the ICO enforces alongside the UK GDPR, a site must tell people about its cookies, explain what they do and get consent before setting any that aren’t strictly necessary. That has generally included analytics and advertising tags. The ICO is revising its guidance, so we check the current position when we build.
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A banner that’s fair
Accept and reject carry equal weight, nothing is pre-ticked, and visitors can change their choice later from a link on every page.
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Tags that wait their turn
Analytics and advertising tags load only after consent. Google’s Consent Mode then lets campaigns learn from the visitors who agree, without guessing about the rest.
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A notice that matches reality
Your cookie notice lists the cookies the site actually sets, checked with a browser scan before launch and again whenever a new tag is added.
UK rules
Which other UK rules shape a website?
A handful of UK requirements apply to particular kinds of site, and they’re easy to miss when a site is built abroad. We check which apply to you at the start and build them in, though your solicitor or accountant has the final word on what your business needs.
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Online shops
Distance selling
Consumers who buy online can cancel up to 14 days after delivery, and before they buy you must show your business name and address, the full price with taxes, delivery details and how to cancel, as GOV.UK’s guidance sets out. Checkout pages and confirmation emails are built around those rules.
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Companies
Your company details
A limited company’s website must show its registered number, its registered office address and where it’s registered, as GOV.UK explains. We put them in the footer and the legal pages.
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Public bodies
Accessibility regulations
Public sector websites must meet WCAG 2.2 AA and publish an accessibility statement. Everything we build meets that standard already, and we can draft the statement with you.
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Email and texts
Marketing messages
PECR allows marketing emails or texts to individuals only with their consent, or under the soft opt-in for existing customers who were given a simple way to opt out at the start and in every message. Our follow-up automations are built to that rule.
Contracts
Whose terms do we work under?
Yours, if you prefer. Many UK businesses have standard supplier terms; we’ll review and sign them, or work from our proposal. Either way, the agreement gives you the work, covers confidentiality and names the governing law, and your solicitor should look it over before you sign.
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The work is yours
Everything we make for you, from code to copy, becomes yours under the agreement, and every account sits in your company’s name throughout.
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English law, if you like
The agreement states which law applies. Many UK clients prefer the law of England and Wales, and we’re content to work under it.
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A clean exit
Either side can end the agreement on the notice it sets out. We hand over work in progress, remove our access and answer questions from whoever comes next.
Your morning
Want to talk before lunch?
Send a few lines about your business. We’ll suggest a call in your morning and send a written quote in pounds.
What we do
What do we do for UK businesses?
Everything we offer, delivered with UK customers in mind. Sites take payment in pounds through providers UK shoppers know, campaigns target UK regions and run to UK hours, and automations plug into the tools UK teams already use. Each service page explains the full scope.
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01 / Build
Websites
Sites and stores written in British English, with prices in pounds, UK delivery options and a cookie banner that follows PECR.
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02 / Grow
Ads and search
Google and Meta campaigns aimed at UK regions, cities or the area around your premises, reported in sterling, and local SEO for any UK premises, including listings on directories UK customers use, such as Yell.
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03 / Automate
Automation
Assistants and follow-ups that respect UK consent rules, connected to tools such as HubSpot, Xero or Microsoft 365.
Fit
Which UK businesses is this a good fit for?
Firms that are comfortable working in writing and want one accountable team for their site, campaigns and follow-up. It suits a business that can give us a decision-maker during the UK morning, and a company with an in-house marketer who needs specialist help more than a whole agency.
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A good fit
Small and mid-sized firms across the UK, online shops selling to UK consumers, and teams with a marketer who wants a technical partner for the site, the tracking and the automation.
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Probably not the right fit
Work that needs someone on your premises, support that must answer within minutes at any hour of the UK day, or a project where nobody on your side can make decisions during the morning overlap.
Questions
Questions from UK businesses
What UK clients tend to ask before working with a team in India: meeting in person, invoicing, British English, customers’ data requests and how quickly work can begin. Anything else is probably answered on the FAQ page.
Can we meet in person?
Work with UK clients happens by video, phone and email, and the written updates do much of what a meeting would. If you’re ever in India, you’re welcome at our office in Guwahati.
Can you put our purchase order number on invoices?
Yes. Give us the PO number and any reference your accounts team needs, and they’ll appear on every invoice for that work.
Do you write in British English?
Yes. This site is written in British English, and so is everything we write for UK clients, with UK date formats and prices in pounds.
What if one of our customers asks for their data?
You answer it as the controller under the UK GDPR. Because the data lives in your own systems, you can find and export it directly, and we’ll help with anything held in tools we set up for you.
Is our customers’ data stored in India?
Not as a rule. Your site, CRM and analytics stay with the services you choose, and we work in them remotely, which the ICO still counts as a transfer, hence the IDTA. Anything we have to hold ourselves is kept to the minimum and deleted when the work ends.
Will you sign our data processing agreement as well?
Yes. The IDTA covers the transfer itself; your data processing agreement covers how we handle the data day to day. Both are signed before any work involving personal data begins.
Can you complete our supplier security questionnaire?
Yes. We’ll answer questions about access control, two-step sign-in, the devices we work on and how we handle data, and explain our practices in writing where your questionnaire asks for evidence.
Do we need to pay in rupees?
No. You pay in pounds, and your bank sends the transfer as it would to any overseas supplier.
How soon can work begin?
Normally within one to three weeks of a signed proposal. Having the data agreement signed and your accounts shared early is what speeds it up most.
Get a free quote
Tell us about your project
A few lines are enough: what your business does, what you need and when you’d like to start. We’ll reply with questions or a written quote in pounds.
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