A comprehensive journey for UK employers covering the full employment lifecycle - from ongoing payroll and compliance duties through to managing workforce changes, redundancies, and employment termination. Use this after you've hired your first employee.
RunningUpdated 3 November 2026
Your ongoing employment responsibilities
Once you've hired employees, you have continuous legal obligations - from running payroll correctly to maintaining workplace safety. This journey covers everything you need to manage your workforce compliantly, from day-to-day operations through to handling redundancies and workforce changes.
Running payroll and paying your employees
Once you have employees, you must run payroll correctly every pay period. This includes paying at least the National Minimum Wage, reporting to HMRC in real time, and making the correct tax and National Insurance deductions.
Understand the 48-hour week, rest breaks, and working time limits
Managing statutory payments
As an employer, you're responsible for paying statutory entitlements when employees are off sick, on parental leave, or have other qualifying absences. You can often reclaim some or all of these costs from HMRC.
Statutory maternity, paternity, adoption, and shared parental leave
Reporting benefits and expenses
If you provide benefits in kind (company cars, private medical insurance, etc.), you must report them to HMRC annually via P11D forms. From April 2027, most benefits must be payrolled instead.
Auto-enrolment duties are ongoing - you must assess new joiners, re-enrol opt-outs every 3 years, and maintain minimum contribution levels. The Pensions Regulator can impose significant penalties for non-compliance.
TPR guidance for employers on auto-enrolment duties
Maintaining health and safety standards
Your health and safety duties are ongoing - you must maintain a safe working environment, conduct regular risk assessments, provide training, and report serious incidents. Requirements scale with your workforce size.
Every employer must make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks its work poses to employees and anyone else affected, act on it, and review it when it may no longer be valid.
Assess first aid needs and appoint trained first aiders
Meeting fire safety requirements
As the 'responsible person' for your premises, you must conduct fire risk assessments, maintain fire safety measures, and ensure staff are trained. Requirements apply regardless of business size.
The Equality Act 2010 places ongoing duties on employers to prevent discrimination, make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees, and ensure equal pay. Failure to comply can result in unlimited tribunal compensation.
Equal pay requirements and gender pay gap reporting
Managing contracts and working arrangements
Employment relationships evolve - you may need to vary contracts, handle flexible working requests, or manage different types of worker. Understanding your legal obligations helps avoid disputes.
Follow a fair procedure in line with the Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures, which is the minimum an employer should follow. If a claim reaches an employment tribunal and you unreasonably failed to follow the Code, the tribunal can increase any award by up to 25%. If the employee unreasonably failed to follow it, the award can be reduced by up to 25%.
A worker invited to a disciplinary or grievance hearing who reasonably asks to be accompanied has the right to bring a colleague or a trade union representative.
The minimum procedure for handling discipline and grievance cases.
Handling dismissals and disciplinary matters
When employment relationships break down, following correct procedures is essential. Unfair dismissal claims can result in significant compensation - for dismissals with an effective date before 1 January 2027, compensatory awards are capped at the lower of £123,543 and 52 weeks' pay, and the cap is removed from 1 January 2027.
When and how to use settlement agreements to end employment
Managing redundancies
If you need to reduce your workforce, strict legal requirements apply - including individual consultation, fair selection criteria, and collective consultation for 20+ redundancies at one establishment. Getting this wrong can be expensive.
Fair selection criteria and avoiding unfair dismissal claims
Transferring employees (TUPE)
When you buy or sell a business, or when service contracts change hands, TUPE may apply. Employees transfer automatically with their existing terms and conditions, and strict consultation duties apply.
Understanding TUPE: when it applies and your obligations
Protecting whistleblowers
Workers who report wrongdoing in the public interest have legal protection against dismissal and detriment. You should have clear procedures for raising concerns and ensure whistleblowers are not victimised.
Understand protected disclosures and your duties to whistleblowers
Working with trade unions
You may need to work with trade unions - whether through voluntary or statutory recognition. Recognised unions have rights to be consulted on redundancy, TUPE transfers, and pension changes.
As your workforce grows, additional legal requirements kick in - gender pay gap reporting at 250+ employees, apprenticeship levy at a £3 million annual pay bill, and collective consultation thresholds.
Apprenticeship Levy for employers with an annual pay bill over £3 million
Keeping employment records
You must keep various employment records for specified periods - payroll records for 3 years, working time records for 2 years, and some health and safety records for 40 years. Good record-keeping protects you in disputes.