Taking on staff - the options

• You must give them a written statement of the main terms and conditions of their contract of employment. Use our interactive tool to create a written statement of employment.
• You must give them an intemised pay statement at or before the time of payment.
• You'll have to make sure the working environment is safe and secure.
• You must also have insurance to protect against claims for any illnesses, injuries or diseases your employees may pick up as a result of working for you.
• You'll need to register as an employer with HM Revenue & Customs to set up a payroll, deducting tax and National Insurance contributions from your employees' pay and forwarding the money to HM Revenue & Customs.
• Your employees will be entitled to a minimum level of paid holiday, a maximum length of a working week and minimum levels of rest breaks.
• They must also be paid at least the national minimum wage.
• If your staff are off sick for more than three days, they will be entitled to statutory sick pay.
• If your employee is pregnant, or is about to or has recently become a parent, they'll be entitled to maternity, paternity or adoption leave and parental leave during the first five years of their child's life (longer for a disabled child). You must also seriously consider any requests from parents with children under six to work more flexibly.
• You must treat your employees fairly and avoid discrimination. If things do go wrong, all employees are entitled to fair treatment, whether you have to dismiss them, make their position redundant or if you're selling your business.

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