These data were generated as part of a 12-month ESRC-funded research project examining the impact of the new and changed regulations arising from the COVID-19 pandemic on the UK small business community. Researchers from Newcastle University and the University of Birmingham, in collaboration with the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), conducted a survey and follow-up interviews with small businesses across all regions of the UK to understand their experience of understanding and responding to regulations during the pandemic. The transcripts archived here comprise interviews with small business owners (n=23).Regulations introduced due to the governmental response to COVID-19 force business leaders to take decisions with far-reaching consequences for employees' livelihoods, public and employee health, and the viability and survival of their businesses. Crucially, what underpins such decisions are complex judgements based on their understanding of the regulatory context and their capacity to discriminate between swathes of legal obligation and guidance of different kinds. This presents a particularly significant challenge to small businesses (0-49 employees) due to their constrained resources. The current pandemic represents the immediate context for this research, which will undertake a large-scale survey with follow-up interviews to understand how small businesses receive, understand and act on the UK's regulatory response to the pandemic and the financial, legal, and emotional costs of complying with this regulatory challenge. The UK regulatory context is further complicated by actions being taken at the level of devolved nations and regionalised variation of regulatory impact at different times. The research, in partnership with the FSB (Federation of Small Businesses), will provide evidence and insights to inform governmental regulatory responses to future public health crises and to regulation in a post-COVID landscape. It will arm those who formulate regulation and related guidance relevant to small businesses with greater clarity about the means by which businesses receive and interpret guidance, and whether and how they act on it. Regulation informed in this way has the potential to deliver a positive impact on employees' livelihoods, public and employee health, and the survival of UK small businesses.

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