It has been said that the UK is one of the easiest places in the world to set-up a business and start hiring the talent you need. Whether you’ve been operating in other countries and now want to expand into the UK, or you have been operating as a sole trader for a while and are now ready to expand, or you’re starting from scratch, we are on hand to give you step-by-step support to get everything in order that you need to take on your very first employee.

While becoming an employer can seem like a mammoth task, it’s actually relatively simple in the UK. Once you’ve found the right employee there are just 10 key things you need to do to become an employer and put your vision into motion.

  1. Set out a salary and initial benefit offering. 

You should already have a rough idea of how much you want to pay your new employee but it’s important to decide on the exact amount. Striking the right balance to attract the talent you need with ensuring margins remain profitable can be a challenge, but the key thing is to ensure you at least meet the National Minimum Wage.  You also need to ensure you offer at least 28 days annual leave (inclusive of public holidays) for full-time workers.

  1. Check right to work in the UK 

As an employer, you’re responsible for ensuring your employee has the right to work in the UK. Documents that demonstrate this include a British passport, a passport or proof of pre-settled status for EU or Swiss nationals, and a residence permit. You should both see the original as well as make a copy of the documentation that shows the right to work in the UK, and you can find the full list of approved documents here and the correct way to mark the declaration and the modified document check procedure during Covid-19.

  1. Check DBS requirement 

Depending on the nature of your business, you may need to apply for a DBS check to be conducted, formally known as a CRB check. This is a step that’s essential for firms working with vulnerable people and security but should only be conducted where reasonable and proportionate to the risks of the role performed.

  1. Get employers’ liability insurance 

As soon as you become an employer, you will need to take out insurance to provide you with cover. This insurance provides you with essential protection should an employee makes a compensation claim should they become injured or ill through their work. Taking out insurance is a legal requirement.

  1. Send your employee written particulars of employment 

You will need to issue the employee with the contract of their employment in writing on or before their first day of employment, this should cover all terms and conditions and must include at a minimum all the statutory employment rights during employment such as certain statutory minimum payments, at least 28 days holiday (inclusive of public holidays), contract length and notice of termination periods, how disciplinary and grievance will be handled and where they will work from.   Under the General Data Protection Act and Data Protection Act (UK) 2018 you must also issue a employee privacy notice and have a clear plan on how you will safely store, process and purge employee and candidate data.

  1. Inform HMRC 

You will need to inform HMRC that you will be taking on an employee by registering as an employer. It’s usually takes around five days to set up your employer PAYE reference number and you can register up to four weeks before you first pay your employee. Once the employee starts work, you will need to prepare payslips calculating any tax and NIC deductions and submit these details to HMRC in real time (known as RTI). This is where an accountant or payroll bureau would come in!

  1. Check pension auto-enrolment 

Under the Pensions Act 2008, every employer in the UK must put certain staff into a pension scheme and contribute towards it. Eligible employees are aged between 22 and the State Pension age, earn at least £10,000 a year, and normally work in the UK. As a result, most new employer will need to set up a workplace pension scheme.  Currently minimum contributions are 8% of employee salary and at least 3% of which must be funded by the employer.  It is a good idea to decide if you want to make pension deductions via salary sacrifice or net deduction schemes as this may impact contractual wording.   Details of pensions arrangements must also be registered with the Pensions Regulator.

  1. Enrol with the Information Commissioners Office.

As you now hold or process sensitive personal data either of your staff or of your customers or clients, you are required under the Data Protection Act UK 2018 to register with the IOC.  Current fees per annum are approximately £40.  You should also assign an employee as the data protection officer.

  1. Follow Health and Safety Executive Requirements

You will have a range of obligations to ensuring safety and wellbeing of employees, workers, visitors and other applicable parties and you must comply with the policy and notification requirements as set out by the HSE.

  1. Get your mandatory policies and procedures in place

There are a number of rights for workers which necessitate the presence of specific company policies.  These are typically contained within a staff handbook and include, for example, policies around how you will handle discipline and grievance matters, flexible working applications and data protection.  Your HR Optimisation consultant can happily assist if you need a UK compliant handbook produced which matches your company ethos and tone of voice.

 

Whilst this list is not exhaustive, it gives a good flavour of some of the essential considerations for hiring in the UK.   As always, get in touch if you are starting out on your UK employer journey. We will be happy to help. 

 

 

 

Hannah Powell