Employing New Staff

Galexia Digital • December 21, 2018

You’ve worked hard and your business is growing; so much so that you now find yourself in the position where you need to employ someone to help you…now that’s impressive – You’re the Boss! The Big Cheese!! Chief Moneybags!!!

But whilst you’re basking in your newfound oh so bossy glory, it’s important to understand your requirements when employing staff for the first time, so let’s have a look:

What you need to know
There are 4 main requirements to consider:
  1. Before you take anyone on, make sure you register for PAYE with HMRC. Ideally this should be done at least 4 weeks before you pay any new staff.
  2. Draw up a contract of employment detailing your employees duties, hours, terms and conditions etc. Be mindful that you must pay your employee at least the National Minimum Wage and always check if they have the legal right to work in the UK.
  3. Seek employment insurance. You’ll need employers’ liability insurance before any employees start slipping on those blasted banana skins on the office floor!
  4. Enrol your staff automatically into a workplace pension scheme provided all of the following apply:
  • they are classed as a ‘worker’
  • they are aged between 22 and State Pension age
  • they earn at least £10,000 per year
  • they usually work in the UK (see HMRC’s detailed guidance on this if you aren’t sure)
Employees can actually opt out of the pension scheme after the automatic enrolment so have a chat with them about their preferences for this.

Pension providers
Take your pick of pension providers who are independently reviewed and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and are open to small employers:
  • Aviva Master Trust
  • The BlueSky Pension Scheme (TBPS)
  • Workers Pension Trust
  • AutoEnrolment.co.uk
  • Aviva Workplace Pension
  • True Potential Investments
  • NEST
  • The People’s Pension
  • Corporate Pensions Trust
  • Standard Life Workplace Pension
  • Ascot Lloyd Benefit Solutions
  • Welplan Pensions
  • The Creative Pension Trust
  • The Lewis Workplace Pension Trust

How OnTheGo can support you
  • We can complete and submit your PAYE application to HMRC on your behalf. Following this, our payroll services include running your employees payroll on HMRC compliant software where your employees will have access to their own payroll portal and can access their payslips anytime they want.
  • We work with Kingsbridge Insurers who can contact your directly to go through your obligations and insurance plans.
  • We recommend SmartPension due to their advanced technology platform and if you go ahead we can set up your workplace pension for and offer thorough guidance throughout the process. If you require, we can also submit pension deductions with SmartPension every month for you.
For employment contracts, its always best to get some employment legal advice however there are simple templates you use online and you can follow HMRC’s guidelines here.

If you have questions of any of above, get in touch with us today.

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