The complete employment lifecycle: employer responsibilities from hire to exit
A comprehensive guide to employer responsibilities across every stage of the employment relationship, from lawful advertising and recruitment …
Record keeping
UK-wide
Keep the right employment records
Employer record-keeping duties in one place. What employer records you must keep for pay, right-to-work checks, working time, PAYE, pensions and statutory pay, and how long to keep each type.
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As an employer, you must keep specific records about your employees and your payroll. Each duty comes from different legislation, and each has its own retention period. This guide brings the duties together in one place, so you can check what you need to keep and for how long.
This guide applies to every employer, from the point you take on your first employee. Some duties, such as right-to-work checks and PAYE records, apply as soon as you employ anyone. Others, such as pension auto-enrolment records, apply once your duties under the Pensions Act 2008 start.
National Minimum Wage and pay records
You must keep records that show you have paid at least the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage for every pay reference period.
Right-to-work check records
You must keep a copy of the document you checked when you confirmed an employee's right to work in the UK. This is separate from your other payroll and HR records.
Working time and holiday pay records
You must keep records to show you have complied with the 48-hour weekly limit, opt-out agreements and night-worker health assessments. A separate duty to keep annual leave and holiday pay records came into force on 6 April 2026.
PAYE and payroll records
You must keep the payroll records HMRC needs to check you have deducted and reported the right amount of Income Tax and National Insurance.
Pension auto-enrolment records
You must keep records that show you have met your automatic enrolment duties for each worker.
Employment contracts and statutory pay records
You must keep a copy of each employee's written statement of employment particulars, and records of statutory pay such as Statutory Maternity Pay. Statutory Sick Pay has no separate record-keeping duty. Keep SSP payments as part of your general PAYE records.
Related task guides
Each record-keeping duty links to the guide that covers the underlying process in full.
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Check a job applicant's right to work (opens in a new tab)
How to carry out and document a right-to-work check before someone starts work.
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Working time: legal limits and rest breaks (opens in a new tab)
The 48-hour limit, rest breaks, night work and the holiday pay record duty in full.
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Run payroll and report in real time (opens in a new tab)
Operating PAYE and submitting RTI reports to HMRC.
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Set up workplace pensions and auto-enrolment (opens in a new tab)
Assessing workers, enrolling them and meeting your ongoing pension duties.
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Pay at least the National Minimum Wage (opens in a new tab)
Working out and paying the correct minimum wage rate.