Starter checklist

Use it when the payroll record needs starter facts

The starter checklist gives payroll the declarations needed when a new employee cannot provide a usable P45. It can also collect student-loan and postgraduate-loan information even where a P45 is available. It is not a contract, right-to-work check or substitute for the rest of onboarding.

Ask the employee to complete the current HMRC starter checklist, or collect the same required information through a compliant payroll process. The answers help payroll select the initial tax-code treatment and decide whether loan deductions need to start.

Get the declaration before the first run

Collect the employee's identity details, start date, previous-employment declaration and loan information early enough for payroll to check them. Do not answer the declaration for the person or infer it from their CV, age or salary. Where the employee has a P45, check its leaving date and details rather than treating any old form as current.

HMRC says the employer must report a new employee on or before their first payday. The new-employee process connects the P45 or starter information to that first payroll report.

Keep the evidence payroll actually used

Record when the checklist was completed, the exact answers supplied and how they were entered into payroll. If a P45 or HMRC notice arrives later, keep it with the change rather than overwriting the original starter evidence.

Student-loan details need their own check. The HMRC starter guidance for loans explains when a P45, checklist or HMRC notice can trigger deductions. Payroll should retain the source of the plan and loan type used, plus any later start or stop notice. A clear record makes it possible to explain the first payslip without asking the employee to remember which box they ticked months earlier.