Setting up as an employer

1. Tell HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) by registering as an employer - you can do this up to 4 weeks before you pay your new staff.  
2. Have you got a payroll provider or payroll system in place? You’ll need one to ensure that you can pay your staff on time and correctly and to account to HMRC for tax and national insurance. 
3. Get employment insurance - you need employers’ liability insurance as soon as you become an employer.
4. Check and understand your employer Health & Safety responsibilities. As a minimum, you’ll need to risk assess work premises and equipment and put in place control measures for any risks that are identified. Do not forget about staff who may be working from home – your H&S responsibilities as an employer can apply to home work settings.
5. Put in place at least minimum staff policies (e.g. a Code of Conduct, Equality & Diversity, Disciplinary, Grievance, Performance etc). Although not a strict legal requirement, these should be in place from the outset to help manage expectations on what is expected from staff and to mitigate risk.

Hiring staff

6. Check if they have the legal right to work in the UK. This is a strict legal requirement and you can be exposed to fines and criminal liabilities if you knowingly employ someone who is not entitled to work in the UK. 
7. Check if you need to apply for a DBS check (formerly known as a CRB check) if their work will involve or be done at locations where there are vulnerable people or children.
8. Decide how much you are going to pay your staff - you must pay your employee at least the National Minimum Wage. Think about whether you are going to be paying across different components and not just a base salary – technical breaches of the National Minimum Wage Regulations are not as uncommon as you might think! 
9. Send details of the job (including terms and conditions) in writing to your employee. As a minimum, you need to give your employee a written statement of employment if you’re employing them for more than 1 month. A more detailed employment contract is an important tool to help mitigate risk and to give you the contractual ability to manage your staff moving forwards. 

Check if you need to automatically enrol your staff into a workplace pension scheme. You are required to provide a workplace pension scheme for eligible staff as soon as your first member of staff starts working for you. Use the Pensions Regulator’s tool for employers to find out what you need to do and when you need to do it.