Get the people basics right from your first hire
Work through the decisions in deadline order, give each one an owner and keep enough evidence that somebody else can pick up the process.
In this guide
Before your first employee starts
- Confirm the relationship, employing entity and full commitment.
- Recruit fairly and put the agreed terms in writing.
- Finish the right checks before work begins.
- Prepare payroll, pensions, insurance and safety early.
- Keep one private record of what was agreed and completed.
Confirm the relationship and full employment cost
Write down the real working arrangement: duties, control, substitution, location and equipment. Those facts help distinguish an employee, worker and genuinely self-employed supplier.
The label alone does not settle status. Use the current employment-status checklist and record the facts behind the conclusion. Review it if the arrangement changes in practice.
Confirm which legal entity will employ the person. Then cost the commitment, including salary, employer National Insurance, pension contributions, paid leave, equipment, software and any role-specific insurance or training. A first hire is usually a recurring commitment, not a salary plus a laptop.
Once the offer is accepted, use the onboarding checklist to assign the practical work and track what is ready.
Recruit fairly and make a clear offer
Turn the role into a short set of criteria tied to the work. Use the same core criteria for comparable candidates, make it easy to request reasonable adjustments and keep a brief record of the decision. Avoid collecting information because it might be useful later.
Acas sets out the Great Britain hiring sequence, from advertising through offers and induction. Northern Ireland uses a separate equality framework, covered by the Equality Commission's recruitment guidance.
The offer should name the employer, role, pay, normal hours, workplace, start date and any genuine conditions. Do not hide a material condition in a later policy. If a check is not required or relevant to the role, leave it out rather than building a larger candidate file.
Finish the terms and checks before day one
An employment contract is the agreement between the parties. The written statement records particulars the employer must provide. They overlap, but they are not necessarily the same document.
In Great Britain, the principal written statement is due on or before the first day, with specified wider information due within two months. Northern Ireland has a different entitlement and timetable. Use the Great Britain particulars list or the Northern Ireland guidance, then keep the accepted version.
Complete the appropriate right-to-work route before employment begins. Follow the Home Office employer guide and keep the dated result, not merely the document or share code used to start the check. Add a criminal-record or regulated-role check only where the role and current eligibility rules support it.
Set up insurance, safety, payroll and pensions
Arrange Employers' Liability cover through the route that applies to the business and make the certificate available as required. Great Britain uses the GOV.UK insurance guidance; Northern Ireland has a separate HSENI route.
Identify the actual risks in the workplace or homeworking arrangement and put sensible controls in place. Every employer needs safety arrangements. In both Great Britain and Northern Ireland, employers with five or more employees must write down their health-and-safety policy. Use the HSE small-business guidance in Great Britain or the HSENI policy route in Northern Ireland.
Register and prepare PAYE early enough for the first payday. Collect the current starter information, pass it to payroll and agree who will check the first submission. GOV.UK explains the P45 and starter route.
Pension duties begin when the first employee starts even if that person does not need to be enrolled immediately. Give the pension assessment, communications and declaration work a named owner and use the current regulator guidance.
Create the minimum dependable people record
Keep the information needed to run the employment relationship and meet a defined duty. For each field or document, know why it exists, who needs access, how it stays current and what will trigger review or deletion.
Separate identity, bank, health and right-to-work evidence from ordinary role details. A manager may need a working pattern and emergency route without receiving payroll or medical records. Give the person clear privacy information and a practical way to correct their details.
The ICO employment-record guidance is a useful test for purpose, access, accuracy and retention. Keep earlier versions of terms and policies when they are replaced so the record still explains what applied at the time.
Set the working pattern, leave year, bank-holiday treatment and absence-reporting route before they are needed. Make the current disciplinary and grievance procedures easy to find without asking a new employee to absorb a handbook on their first morning.
Check the rule at its source
These are the official pages we used. Check them when a decision depends on the latest rule or someone’s circumstances.
- GOV.UK - Employing staff for the first timeThe core sequence for pay, checks, insurance, PAYE and pensions.
- GOV.UK - Employment status and rights checklistHow to examine the real working relationship rather than rely on a label.
- Acas - Hiring someoneFair recruitment, adjustments, offers and induction in Great Britain.
- Equality Commission for Northern Ireland - Recruitment and selectionFair, objective recruitment and reasonable adjustments in Northern Ireland.
- GOV.UK - Written statement of employment particularsGreat Britain day-one and wider-statement requirements.
- nidirect - Written statement of employment particularsThe separate Northern Ireland timetable.
- Home Office - Employer's guide to right-to-work checksThe prescribed check routes and evidence.
- GOV.UK - Employers' Liability insuranceGreat Britain cover and certificate requirements.
- HSENI - Employers' Liability insuranceThe Northern Ireland insurance route.
- HSE - Prepare a health and safety policyProportionate safety arrangements and the Great Britain written-policy threshold.
- HSENI - Prepare a health and safety policyThe Northern Ireland safety-policy route and written-policy threshold.
- GOV.UK - Tell HMRC about a new employeeStarter information, payroll setup and the first submission.
- The Pensions Regulator - Duties for new employersThe pension duties that begin when the first employee starts.
- ICO - Keeping employment recordsPurpose, access, accuracy, retention and transparency for people data.
Start free with up to 10 active employees.
Bring your team over from a spreadsheet. There is no card, no sales call and no lock-in. For up to 10 active employees, everyday HR is free.