Employing staff is a big deal, and it puts a lot of pressure on you as a business owner. There are advantages and disadvantages, but there are also many legal obligations that you should be aware of. If you don’t follow certain rules, you could end up with a hefty fine to pay. Here’s everything you need to know about employing members of staff.

Hiring Options

The first thing to think about is what hiring options you want to offer. Do you want permanent workers, contract workers, or freelance workers? Different options come with various legal obligations that you must follow.

Legal Checks

It’s your responsibility to check if the person is legal to work in the UK and that they have a national insurance number. There are other checks required which depend on the nature of your business. If your business is care work or education, you will need to do a DBS check on each individual.

Contracts

As an employer, you must provide your employees with a contract of employment as well as a written statement of employment. This should be provided within two months of the employee’s start date. As soon as you become an employer, it would help if you also got adequate employer’s liability insurance.

Register with HMRC

You need to register as an employer with HMRC within four weeks of employing your first member of staff. You will then also be responsible for paying an agreed salary, along with deducting the correct tax and national insurance.

Statutory Rights

Employees have several statutory rights that you must adhere to. These include working hours, workplace conditions, and pay. You will also have to set up a workplace pension scheme for all of your employees.

Clear Rules

Having an employee handbook will ensure that everyone knows where they stand. It should cover information about holidays, conflicts of interests, and general rules with what you expect from your employees, and what they can expect from you.

Payroll

You could set up the payroll yourself and manage it independently, but many people prefer to pass this burden onto their accountant. If this is something you would like to do, get in touch with us, and we will walk you through the process.

It’s essential to keep up to date employee records; most companies like to keep these records for up to six years. We can help you to ensure that you have everything up to date and in the right place. If you would prefer to concentrate on your business and leave the legalities to us, feel free to get in touch and see what we can do for you. You can also take a look at our free e-book to help you kickstart your new business for some extra tips.