Useful Resources & Signposting

for Employing Sta , PAYE, HMRC and Employment Law

Useful Resources and Signposting for Employing Sta , PAYE, HMRC and Employment Law
Recruiting and employing new sta can be a mine eld, especially if you are new to it. To make your life as easy as possible we have gathered the resources you'll need when hiring a new employee into one guide. A good place to start with any hunt for the facts on employment is the government website; recently updated it is now much easier to nd what you are looking for. Much of the information we reference in this guide can be found on the employment section of their website: https://www.gov.uk/browse/employing-people

Hiring for the rst time

If it's your rst time hiring someone then good on you; things must be going well and a student or graduate will be a fantastic addition and help to keep your company growing. This page gives you the 6 things you MUST do before you take on a member of sta : https://www.gov.uk/employing-sta

Eligibility to work in the UK

Checking someone is eligible to work in the UK is important; the ne for employing illegal workers can be up to 10,000: https://www.gov.uk/legal-right-to-work-in-the-uk

Your Responsibilities as an Employer

HMRC, NI and Taxation A major responsibility when employing sta is keeping the tax man happy. For information on your responsibilities have a look at these two links: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/employers/index https://www.gov.uk/browse/employing-people/payroll When new sta start you or your accountant will need your new employee's P45 to register them as an employee of your company. If they don't have a P45 they need to ll in a P46: P46 PDF Download - http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/forms/p46exemptonline.pdf When you are up and running you have a monthly obligation to pay your national insurance contributions to HMRC. It can be a struggle to nd the place to pay. There are lots of options as you can see here, at Wiltr pay online with a debit card which you can do through Santander bill payment: https://www.santanderbillpayment.co.uk/hmrc/scripts/nrpaynow You will need your HMRC Payment Booklet when you do this.

More important recourses relating to HMRC, reporting and paying people can all be found from the options on this page: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/employers/ In an emergency or if you want to talk to someone in person you can always contact them direct on 0300 200 3200, don't be surprised if there is a bit of a delay. PAYE is a complex and important subject to get right and we would recommend using a quali ed professional. At Witlr we use BJP Finance and I would recommend them to anyone reliable and always up with the latest law changes. quick,

Employment Law (General) Employment law can scare people and it shouldn't be that way. Stay sensible, be honest and transparent with your potential recruits and sta , follow the basic rules and you will mitigate any chance of ending up in a tribunal. These three sites have a lot of information on employment law, the ins and outs and the best way to stay safe. http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1461 http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/work_e.htm https://www.gov.uk/browse/working As with the PAYE the best way to make sure you are doing it correctly is to use or consult a quali ed professional. At Witlr we use Humphries Kirk and again we would recommend them to anyone.

Minimum Wage Every UK resident is entitled to the UK National Minimum Wage, click the link below for more information: https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates For full time sta you should multiply the minimum wage by their contracted working hours to make sure you are exceeding these benchmarks or you can check it with the HMRC Calculator.

Holiday Entitlement As an employer it would be nice to keep your sta in every day and not let them leave the country! Realistically this isn't going to encourage a positive and e ective work force and it could also land you in a bit of trouble. To nd out the holiday entitlement you must give to your sta you can look here: https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights

Dismissing Sta You should always be careful when dismissing sta . Try to make sure you document the whole process you went through, for example: written notices and verbal warnings. Your company policies on dismissals should really be outlined in sta member's contracts. There are only a few cases in which you can dismiss a member of sta immediately: https://www.gov.uk/dismissal/reasons-you-can-be-dismissed In any other situations a notice period must be served, just as they would have to serve the notice they have agreed to when signing your contract.

Internships and Placements A hot topic in the press is internships and if they should be paid; we do not support unpaid internships at Witlr and recommend that any employers read this before trying to employ an unpaid intern; most of the time it is illegal. https://www.gov.uk/employment-rights-for-interns In our opinion you should pay any member of sta what they are worth however inexperienced they are its good for company culture and your reputation.

Discrimination It is illegal to discriminate against anyone because of their personal characteristics including disabilities and or any 'spent' convictions. This applies at application level right through to when they are employed. For more information visit this page: https://www.gov.uk/employer-preventingdiscrimination and https://www.gov.uk/exo enders-and-employment

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