When you recruit new staff you’ll find there’s lots of helpful advice and support available to help you get the job specification and description right, find the right candidates, hold interviews, take up references and make the eventual hiring decision. Whether you are employing someone for the first time or taking on extra staff, there is practical guidance and advice as well as financial assistance that you can tap into.

When your business is ready to take on its first employee you may need to register with HMRC as an employer. You will also be responsible for insurance, employment contracts, pay rates, pensions, health and safety, PAYE.

HMRC provides an online tool to help you work out if you need to register:

The National Minimum Wage
The National Minimum Wage Act requires all employers to pay workers at least the National Minimum Wage.

National minimum wage 

Find training and employment schemes for your business
A range of government programmes, are available for employers who are considering hiring employees, offering work experience or upskilling existing staff, some of which offer financial incentives.

training and employment schemes

Pensions
it is your responsibility as an employer to automatically enrol your employee(s) into a workplace pension scheme if they:

  • live in the UK
  • are over 22 years old
  • are earning more than £10,000 per year.

Workplace pensions 

ACAS provides a series of step-by-step guides to recruiting a new member of staff, settling in a new employee, and writing a new employee’s contract.

The government-backed small business recruitment service provides individual support for small businesses to recruit staff, including a helpline and aftercare.

Employers can reduce the amount of National Insurance contributions (NICs) they pay for their employees by up to £2,000 with the new employment allowance.

You can post your jobs online free on one of Europe’s largest jobs boards to get a list of suitable jobseekers, automatically matched by CV and skills.

See the governments A-Z guide for recruiting and hiring staff to get all the information that you need for taking on staff.

We have information on Skills productivity and the ageing workforce and promoting Fuller Working Lives.

 Get your business ready to employ staff: step by step

recruitment 1

Follow these 6 steps to check what you need to do as an employer before you can take on staff.

Employ someone: step by step

Recruitement3
Follow these 5 steps to check what you need to do to employ someone to work for you.