What should you have in place when you start recruiting people?

We recommend as a minimum that you ensure you are able to provide your employees with a written statement of particulars of employment or ‘contract of employment’. This is a legal requirement and must be provided within 2 months of them starting employment with you.

Employees are also entitled to access to certain policies and procedures, such as the rules on discipline and grievance and any conditions relating to sickness or injury, including sick pay.

In addition, you must check that your employees are eligible to work in the UK. If you hire an illegal worker then you could face a £10,000 fine for each worker. Certain documents confirm an individual’s eligibility to work in the UK and if you need to check what they are, a full list can be found on our homepage.

You should look at the rate of pay which you are proposing to pay any workers as you will need to ensure you comply with the national minimum wage rates. These rates, which are banded dependent on age and increase in October each year can also be found on our website. You must ensure that these rates are met or exceeded in order to be compliant as individuals have a right to make a claim for non payment of the national minimum wage.

You also have obligations under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. It is your duty to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of your employees. Will your employees be provided with Health and Safety instructions? Are your risk assessments current and action plans in place? If your employees are expected to use a computer, will they be given a display screen assessment?