Setting Up In The UK: Employing Staff   

The next stage in setting up a company in the UK involves employing staff. So, you have a company, you have set up your Terms of Business, you are VAT registered – it is time to employ people.  

When setting up a company in the UK, you might already have an individual in mind to send over from your country to the UK entity. Once you have employed that member of staff it is important to communicate the key factors such as how much they are being paid and when. This is usually explained in detail in their employment contract. UK law states that you need to provide a contract of employment on or before their start date and job descriptions must be in place.  

We would advise that you have a staff handbook in place that highlights company policies and grievance and disciplinary procedures in detail.   

What should you offer UK hires in terms of benefits?  

Start-ups generally are not expected to provide a range of benefits –people accept that getting the business first takes priority over benefits. But some well-established companies overseas are happy to provide similar benefits to their UK staff as they do for their own people. Here’s our list of the top 10 employee benefits you could offer to your UK team.  

You must also set up an auto-enrolment pension scheme: a plan in place for the employee to join should they wish to at a later date, irrespective of their intentions on day one. Our next blog will go into this area in more detail (link to set up in the UK: Pensions). 

We can assist with  HR support when employing staff and preparation of  employment contracts  when required.