Thanks, Ruth, that's pretty much the way it is in New Jersey, USA, but some municipalities require landscape contractors to have municipal licenses to work within their borders, even if the contractor is not domiciled there. Pesticide application regulations also vary somewhat from state to state, but as a rule, interiorscapers who apply any pesticide that is EPA registered (even if it's for sale for consumer use) must be licensed as pesticide applicators or operators, as must their businesses, and they must carry special insurance for pesticide applicator businesses in order to work in this state. I'm not up on UK pesticide regulations, but I do understand that there are very few chemical pesticides that you can apply legally indoors in your line of work. Do you find it difficult to deal with pest problems in the interiorscape given the restrictions in the UK?

In the UK we don't need to be licensed or certified in order to do business. Some organisations do however require specific Health and Safety Accreditation and may impose minimum levels of liability insurance.