Policies fail in two ways: they bury the rules in prose, or they name no one to enforce them. This company policy template fixes both. It opens with a document-control block (ID, version, owner, review date), then sets out purpose, scope in and out, numbered policy statements, who is responsible, how breaches are ranked and reported, and when the policy will be reviewed.

The sample is a data protection and acceptable use policy for Pennyroyal Manufacturing, a fictional 240-person factory group in Yorkshire. It uses a 12-character password minimum, a 24-hour internal breach report, a 72-hour regulator report and a £50 gift limit. Replace the thresholds, owners and sites with your own, check them against current law, then circulate with a sign-off sheet.