Recruiting and hiring
When employing staff you must:
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decide how much to pay them – you must pay your employee at least the National Minimum Wage
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check if they have the legal right to work in the UK
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apply for disclosure if you work in a field that requires it, for example with vulnerable people or children
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get employment insurance – you need employers' liability insurance as soon as you become an employer
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send details of the job (including terms and conditions) in writing to your employee
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tell HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) by registering as an employer – you can do this up to 4 weeks before you pay your new staff
Ways of employing staff
There are a number of different ways to find and employ staff for your business.
The following will give you more information on the different options available to you.
Recruiting employees
Find guidance from Business Gateway on:
- recruiting full or part-time employees
- fixed-term contracts
- agency workers, freelancers and outside contractors
Using recruitment agencies
Employers using agencies to find temporary or permanent workers have certain responsibilities. Visit GOV.UK for more information on:
- employer's responsibilities
- additional rights after 12 weeks
- transfer fees
- complaining about an agency
Jobcentre Plus
Jobcentre Plus has a range of recruitment services that can help you as an employer.
Visit GOV.UK for information on:
- recruitment advice and support
- work trials
- Work Choice
- work experience and apprenticeships
- other employment schemes
Universal Jobmatch
When you advertise a job with Universal Jobmatch, you can:
- post jobs
- review CVs
- get updates on job seekers who match your requirements
Visit the GOV.UK website to find out what you need before you start, and how to use the service.
Apprentices
Apprentices undertake on-the-job training that's relevant to your business. You can encourage your apprentice to progress through several levels of qualifications. In some cases it's possible to get a degree through an apprenticeship.
The apprenticeships.scot website gives information on apprenticeships, how they work and how to take on an apprentice.
Adopt an Apprentice is funding where you can get £2,000 (£5,000 in the oil and gas industry) for hiring a Modern Apprentice who has been made redundant from another employer.
Certificate of Work Readiness
The Certificate of Work Readiness is a work experience programme from Our Skillsforce. It can help you to cost-effectively recruit young people with the right skills for your business.
It also gives young people the chance to demonstrate the value they bring to the workplace.
The Certificate takes around 10 weeks to complete and includes a minimum of 190 hours work experience. This helps them earn an SQA qualification which proves they have the right experience. You then have the reassurance that you're hiring a young person who knows how to perform their role.
Other help recruiting young people
The Our Skillsforce website gives information on other ways to help you recruit, train and pay young people, from short term work placements and internships through to financial support to create full time jobs.
Equality monitoring
You do not have to track how many job applications you get from different groups of people, or the characteristics of the people working for you.
If you collect personal information (like ethnicity, gender, faith, sexuality) about job applicants or staff, you must protect their data.
You must not discriminate against a candidate based on their personal information.
Checking 'right to work' documents
You must check that a job applicant is allowed to work in the UK before you employ them.
Visit GOV.UK for more information on:
- checking the documents
- taking a copy of the documents
- what to do if the applicant cannot show their documents
Recruiting disabled people
The job specification (or requirements) of a vacancy cannot exclude disabled people from applying.
However, some jobs may have an essential requirement which cannot be met with a 'reasonable adjustment'.
Visit GOV.UK for more information on:
- job specifications
- encouraging applications
- reasonable adjustments
- the Work Choice programme
Employing ex-offenders
Employers should not turn someone down for a job because they've been convicted of an offence if their conviction is 'spent'.
Job applicants do not have to tell potential employers about spent convictions.
Visit GOV.UK for more information on:
- what counts as a spent conviction
- cautions
- exceptions
Criminal record checks in Scotland are carried out by Disclosure Scotland.
Child employment
The youngest age a child can work part-time is 13, except children involved in areas like television, theatre and modelling.
They can only start full-time work when they reach the minimum school leaving age.
Visit GOV.UK for more information on:
- the minimum ages children can work
- paying children and young people
- performance licenses and supervision for children
- restrictions on child employment
- local council rules for child employment permits
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