Hiring your first employee — or your fifth — in the UK involves more admin than most founders expect. There's no single checklist the government hands you. Instead, you're piecing together guidance from HMRC, Companies House, Acas, and whoever you last spoke to at a networking event.
This post cuts through that. Here's what actually matters when you're hiring employees as a UK small business, in the order it matters.
Before you post the job
Decide if you actually need an employee
This sounds obvious, but it's worth asking. A full-time employee on £30,000 salary costs you closer to £34,000–£35,000 once you add employer National Insurance (13.8% on earnings above £9,100) and pension contributions (minimum 3% on qualifying earnings). That's before equipment, software licences, or any recruitment spend.
If the work is project-based or genuinely variable, a contractor or freelancer might serve you better for now. But if you need consistent output, ongoing institutional knowledge, or someone managing customers — hire properly. Misclassifying employees as contractors is one of the more expensive mistakes a small business can make. HMRC takes it seriously.
Write a job description that actually works
Most small business job posts are either copied from a corporate template (and feel robotic) or dashed off in 20 minutes (and attract the wrong people). Neither serves you well.
A good job post for a small business should:
- Be specific about what the person will actually do in weeks 1–12
- Name the salary range (posts with salaries get significantly more applications — typically 30–40% more)
- Be honest about the stage of the company and what that means day-to-day
- Avoid requirements padding ("5 years experience" for a role that a sharp 2-year person could do)
If you want a head start, our free job description generator can produce a solid draft based on the role, seniority, and your company context — then you edit to make it yours.
Register as an employer with HMRC
You need to do this before your new hire's first payday — not after. Go to HMRC's website and register as an employer. You'll get a PAYE reference number, which you need to run payroll. It can take up to 5 working days, so don't leave it until the week they start.
If you're not already set up with payroll software, this is also the moment to sort that. Options like Xero, Sage, or BrightPay handle the basics for small teams at reasonable cost (£10–£40/month for most small businesses).
The legal requirements for hiring in the UK
Right to work checks
This is non-negotiable. Before someone starts, you must check they have the legal right to work in the UK. For British or Irish citizens, that's typically a passport or birth certificate plus proof of NI number. For everyone else, you'll be working with the Home Office's online checking service.
Keep a copy of whatever you check. If you fail to do this and someone isn't entitled to work in the UK, you can be fined up to £60,000 per illegal worker under current rules (raised in 2024). The right to work check takes about 10 minutes. Do it.
Employment contract
Employees are legally entitled to a written statement of employment particulars on or before their first day. This used to be something you could provide within two months — that changed in 2020. Day one is now the deadline.
Your contract should cover:
- Job title and start date
- Pay and pay frequency
- Hours of work
- Holiday entitlement (statutory minimum is 28 days including bank holidays for full-time employees)
- Notice periods
- Sick pay policy
- Pension details
You don't need a lawyer to draft a basic contract, but don't just download any template. Make sure it matches UK employment law as it stands now, and that it reflects your actual policies.
Workplace pension (auto-enrolment)
If your employee is aged 22–66, earns more than £10,000/year, and works in the UK, you must automatically enrol them into a pension scheme. You contribute a minimum of 3%, they contribute 5% (of qualifying earnings). Providers like NEST, People's Pension, or Smart Pension are popular with small businesses and straightforward to set up.
You also need to write to the employee within six weeks of their start date confirming their enrolment. The Pensions Regulator website has letter templates.
Employers' liability insurance
Legally required the moment you take on an employee. You need a minimum of £5 million cover. Most standard business insurance packages include this, but check before the person starts — not after.
Running a fair recruitment process
Interview and selection
Keep your interview process focused on the job. Avoid questions about age, family plans, health conditions, nationality, or anything else that touches on the nine protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. This isn't just about avoiding tribunals — it's about making better decisions. Structured interviews with consistent questions across candidates produce better hires.
For most small business roles, two rounds is enough. First round: skills and fit. Second round: more depth, maybe a short task. Three or four rounds for a £28,000 operations role is a fast way to lose good candidates to companies that move faster.
Making an offer
Once you've chosen someone, make the offer — ideally verbally first, then in writing. A written offer letter should confirm the role, start date, salary, and that it's subject to right to work checks and references.
Get references. It feels like a formality, but it isn't. A five-minute conversation with a previous manager regularly surfaces things that didn't come up in interview.
Onboarding: the bit most small businesses underinvest in
Bad onboarding is expensive. Research consistently shows that employees who have a poor onboarding experience are significantly more likely to leave within 90 days. Replacing someone typically costs 20–30% of their annual salary in recruitment, lost productivity, and management time — so a £32,000 hire who leaves after two months has cost you £6,000–£10,000 net.
You don't need a 40-page onboarding manual. You need:
- A clear first week plan so they're not sitting around waiting to be told what to do
- Access to all the tools, systems, and information they need from day one
- A 30/60/90 day goal structure so both of you know what success looks like
- Regular check-ins in the first 90 days — weekly is not too much
Small businesses have a genuine advantage here. You can give a new hire real context, real responsibility, and a real relationship with the founder — most large companies can't do that.
What it actually costs
Here's a rough breakdown for a £30,000/year hire, all-in:
- Salary: £30,000
- Employer NI: ~£2,884
- Pension (3%): ~£600 (on qualifying earnings)
- Recruitment: £0–£6,000 (job boards, agency fees if used)
- Equipment/setup: £500–£2,000 depending on role
- Total year-one cost: roughly £34,000–£42,000
That range is wide because recruitment is the most variable cost. Using an agency typically costs 15–20% of first-year salary — so £4,500–£6,000 for a £30,000 role. Direct hiring via Indeed, LinkedIn, or Reed is far cheaper but takes more of your time.
Where Penroll fits
Penroll is built for exactly this kind of hiring — small teams making a handful of hires a year, without a dedicated recruiter. It helps you write better job posts, structure your hiring process, and move faster without the chaos. If you're spending hours on job descriptions and interview scheduling instead of running your business, that's the problem Penroll solves.