Recruitment

It is illegal to discriminate against applicants on the grounds of:

• Race
• Gender
• Disability
• Age

…unless an accurate assessment suggests that the job may be inappropriate for particular applicants (usually gender and disability issues).

Extending this, it is illegal for employers to discriminate between employees when it comes to areas such as 'pay', 'training', 'promotion', etc.

Contract of Employment

All employees should be given a contract of employment that shows:

• The start date
• Place of work
• Job title
• Pay & hours
• Holiday entitlement
• Required notice periods
• Sickness pay
• Pension schemes (if appropriate)
• Disciplinary procedures
• Maternity rights (if applicable)
• Emergency time off policy

Employees should also be made aware of any other procedures and business policies i.e. use of communications, redundancy, etc

Income Tax & National Insurance

When taking on a new employee, the employer is responsible for the employee's national insurance contributions and income tax.

This is a very delicate process and therefore the following link will direct you to the appropriate Inland Revenue page to assist you further.

The contents of the page are as follows:

• Who to treat as an employee
• National Insurance Numbers
• Employee gives you a form P45
• Employee doesn't give you a form P45
• P45 received after the first pay day
• Taking on an employee for one week or less
• Tracing National Insurance Numbers

Visit www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/employers/taking_on.htm