How to employ someone: step-by-step
Understand the steps to take when employing someone to work for you.
- 1
Check your business is ready to employ staff
- 2
Recruit someone
You need to advertise the role and interview candidates. You can use a recruitment agency or do this yourself.
Advertising a job and interviewing candidates
As an employer you must make sure you recruit employees fairly.
- and
Check they have the right to work in the UK
- and
Find out if they need an AccessNI criminal records check
You may need to check someone's criminal record, for example, if they'll be working in healthcare or with children.
- 3
Check if they need to be put into a workplace pension
Check if you need to put your employee into a workplace pension scheme.
Know your legal obligations on pensions
- 4
Agree a contract and salary
When someone accepts a job offer they have a contract with you as their employer.
Check what the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates are for different ages
Check what the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates are for different types of work
- 5
Tell HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) about your new employee
You must tell HMRC about your new employee on or before their first payday.
Tell HMRC about a new employee
Get the employee's personal details and P45 to work out their tax code
If you don’t have the employee's P45, use HMRC’s 'starter checklist'