hese 20 key employment rules will help you get started on the right foot.

1. UK employment law is complicated. Individuals can be classified as

employees, workers or independent contractors.
2. All employees and workers are entitled to a written statement of their terms
and conditions of employment which must be provided on or before the first
day of commencing employment. For employees, we recommend that a
contract of employment is provided to them to protect the business and clearly
set out the relationship between the parties.
3.
4. You must register as an employer with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) before your
first pay day when you take on your first employee. You must run a payroll and
issue employees with a payslip detailing earnings before and after any deductions
including tax and National Insurance. You must report your payroll information to
HMRC electronically every time you pay an employee and pay any tax and NI
owing.
5. You must check that all employees have the legal right to work in the UK before
they start work and keep copies of the documents provided.
6. Employees and 'workers' are entitled to a written statement of employment terms.
7. You can only change the terms of an employment contract if you have reserved the
right to do so or have your employee's agreement or consent. Any changes must be
agreed by both parties and confirmed in writing within one month of the change
taking effect.
8. An employment contract exists once a potential employee accepts an unconditional
offer of employment, which may be before their employment commences.
9. You can make a job offer subject to successful completion of a probationary period.
Three to six months is typical; the period needs to be long enough to allow you to
judge whether the employee is able to do the job.
10. Almost all employees are entitled to be paid a minimum wage including casual, part-
time and agency workers. The National Living Wage applies to workers aged 23
and over and is £8.91 per hour. There are four hourly rates of National Minimum
wage: £8.36 for workers aged 21 to 23; £6.56 an hour for 18 to 21-year-olds; £4.62
per hour for 16 and 17-year-olds and £4.30 for apprentices under 19 or older than
this but in the first year of their apprenticeship. After this, apprentices must be paid
the rate applicable to their age.
11. Employees are entitled to 5.6 weeks' paid holiday per year (at least 28 days a year
for a full time employee). Part-time workers are entitled to the same holiday on a
pro rata basis. Entitlement to holiday starts to accrue from the first day of
employment and continues to accrue even during periods of absence such as
maternity or sick leave.
12. Statutory sick pay (SSP) is £96.35 per week, but many employers pay more than
this. You can refuse to pay SSP if you reasonably believe your employee is not
genuinely ill or they fail to comply with your notification requirements.
13. All employers must 'auto-enrol' eligible employees into, and contribute towards, a
workplace pension. Unless your employees specifically opt out, you will have to
provide them with access to a contributory pension and make contributions towards
their pension funds.
14. Employers are responsible for the health and safety of all employees, including
those who work from home. All the normal health and safety legislation applies.
15. A pregnant employee is entitled to paid time off for ante-natal care, which can
include parenting and relaxation classes. You can ask for evidence of
appointments, for example a doctor's letter or NHS appointment card.
 16. New and adoptive parents may be entitled to statutory maternity leave or statutory
adoption leave providing they meet qualifying criteria. Employees who qualify are
entitled to 26 weeks' ordinary leave and 26 weeks' additional leave. Statutory
paternity leave covers one or two weeks' consecutive paid leave where an
employee's partner gives birth to or adopts a child.
17. Statutory maternity pay (SMP) and statutory adoption pay (SAP) is paid at 90% of
the employee's average weekly earnings (AWE) for the first six weeks. For the
remaining 33 weeks, it is £151.97 a week or 90% of the employee's average
earnings if lower. Statutory paternity pay (SPP) is paid at £151.97 a week or 90% of
AWE if lower. Leave must be taken within 56 days of the birth or adoption.
18. An employee can end their maternity or adoption leave and pay early and share the
remaining leave and pay with their partner (if the partner is also eligible) as shared
parental leave and pay. They can choose how much of the leave each will take.
19. All employed parents have the right to two weeks' statutory parental
bereavement leave if they lose a child under the age of 18 or suffer a stillbirth from
24 weeks of pregnancy.  Eligible parents can claim £151.97 or 90% of AWE,
whichever is lower.
20. Gross misconduct is conduct that is so bad it destroys the employer-employee
relationship and merits instant dismissal. You should detail, in your contract of
employment or staff handbook, examples of what constitutes gross misconduct.
You must also follow fair and reasonable dismissal procedures.
21. All employers, regardless of size, must provide written details of their disciplinary
rules and procedures. There is an Acas Code of Practice that sets out the basic
requirements of fairness and, for most cases, provides a standard of reasonable
behaviour.
22. All workers over 18 are entitled to one day (24 hours) off per week and to work no
more than 48 hours per week - although they can 'opt out' of this limit. Younger
workers are entitled to work no more than eight hours per day and 40 hours per
week. They are not permitted to opt out of these limits, even if they want to.
23. Almost all employees with 26 weeks' continuous service are entitled to
request flexible working. This includes both full-time and part-time employees.

Discrimination

 
 
Underpinned by the Equality Act 2010, it’s crucial that employers get
this right as they are legally responsible for discrimination and
harassment by their staff. Discrimination can be direct (e.g. not
employing somebody because they are gay) or indirect (applying a
policy equally to everyone that disadvantages one group, e.g. irregular
shifts for women who may be carers). Harassment is often dismissed as
‘just banter’, but as Jo points out, “it’s not the intention that’s the issue,
it’s how it was perceived.” To prevent discrimination or harassment,
“employers need a workplace policy, should train their staff about what
is and isn’t acceptable, and take prompt action against anyone who
oversteps the mark,” advises Jo.
 

5. Disciplinary and grievance

 
 
You need to have disciplinary and grievance procedures that follow
the ACAS Code of Practice in place. If you’re going to dismiss someone,
you’ll need a good reason and it must not be unlawful or unfair (genuine
redundancy can be grounds for dismissal). When dismissing employees,
says Jo, “As long as an employer approaches the situation in a fair,
reasonable way, and can justify their actions, the law allows for ‘a range
of reasonable responses’”. And you don’t necessarily have to go through
the rigmarole of a series of verbal and written warnings – you can go
straight to a final written warning or dismissal in serious cases.
 
UK employment law is complicated. Individuals can be classified as employees,
workers or independent contractors.
All employees and workers are entitled to a written statement of their terms and
conditions of employment which must be provided on or before the first day of
commencing employment. For employees, we recommend that a contract of
employment is provided to them to protect the business and clearly set out the
relationship between the parties.

Employees have certain minimum legal rights, including the right to receive a week's
notice per year of service up to a maximum of 12 weeks. A national minimum wage of
£8.72 per hour (for workers aged 25 or over; lower rates apply to younger workers) and a
maximum average working week of 48 hours apply to most workers. Minimum wage
rates increase in April each year. Workers can "opt out" of the maximum working week.
Workers are entitled to minimum daily and weekly rest periods and to 5.6 weeks' holiday
each year.

The contract should include:

General – Names of employer; place of work (working from home has become the
norm due to COVID-19.  See our QuickGuides “Home Working” and Remote
Working & the Digital Nomad”); job title; hours and days of work, including detail
on whether they may be varied and how; details of any probationary period; pension
arrangements (see below); and information on any training provided by the employer.
Salary – Salary is usually paid in arrears in 12 equal monthly installments. It is
compulsory for tax and national insurance payments to be deducted at source under a
Pay As You Earn (PAYE) scheme. Individuals must be paid at least the national
minimum wage or national living wage (“minimum wages”). The current national
minimum wage rates are as follows:

 Apprentices (aged under 19 or aged 19 or over and in the first year of their
apprenticeship) - £4.30 an hour
 Individuals under 18 - £4.62 an hour
 18-20 years - £6.56 an hour
 21-22 years - £8.36 an hour
 23 and over - £8.91 an hour

Entitlement to any paid leave, including:

Sick Leave – Employees are not legally entitled to receive their salary whilst off sick.
However, if the employee is ill for 4 or more days (including weekends), they would
be entitled to Statutory Sick Pay.
Statutory Sick Pay is currently £96.35 per week, is reviewed on an annual basis, and
normally increases from April each year. Please note that many businesses usually
continue to pay full salary during sickness absence for a specified amount of days per
year on a contractual or discretionary basis. 
Maternity/Adoption/Paternity/Parental leave: Maternity leave of up to 52 weeks is
permitted in the UK, 39 weeks of which the employee will be entitled to Statutory
Maternity Pay (SMP). 
Holidays – 28 working days holiday must be provided as a legal minimum. Normally
the 28 days includes public holidays. In some instances, custom and practice may
assume longer holidays (e.g. 30 days per year or 33 days’ per year).
Other Leave – other paid leave entitlement such as statutory leave should be referred
to in the contract.
Notice Period – Both employees and employers are under an obligation to provide
each other with some form of notice period upon terminating the employment
agreement.
Longer periods of notice are often agreed in the contract of employment particularly
for senior employees.

Disciplinary and Grievance procedure скарга – The business should have a

disciplinary procedure (to deal with performance or conduct issues arising) and a
grievance procedure (to deal with employees complaints) in place and the rules
applying to these are complex and change frequently.  The disciplinary and grievance
procedures need to be in line with the ACAS Code of practice for disciplinaries and
grievances.
Other Benefits – Whilst it is not a legal requirement to provide benefits such as
living allowances, private health insurance, and death in service, if you decide to
provide such benefits they should be included in the contract.  Such benefits are
usually taxable so advice should be sought.
Discrimination - If an employee succeeds in a discrimination claim (for example, on
the grounds of gender, race, age or disability) a Tribunal award is uncapped so can be
very expensive.  Unlike unfair dismissal claims, the employee does not need to have
worked for the employer for a period of time to claim discrimination (i.e.,
discrimination claims can be brought pre-employment (during the recruitment
process) or from day one of the employment.