Your Obligations as an Employer in England, Wales and Scotland

Who this guide is for

Employers in England, Wales or Scotland, and managers acting for them, who want to know their main legal duties to employees and workers. It covers:

• Taking someone on: the checks, the insurance, registering as an employer and the written statement.
• Paying staff: the minimum wage, payslips, deductions, holiday and sick pay.
• Family leave and flexible working requests, in outline.
• Dismissing someone: a fair reason, a fair procedure, notice and written reasons.
• Redundancy pay, and consultation when 20 or more redundancies are proposed.
• Health and safety paperwork, right to work checks and workplace pensions.

What this guide does not cover

• Employers in Northern Ireland: see the Northern Ireland guide.
• Defending a tribunal claim, and tribunal time limits in detail: see our tribunal deadline guide.
• Maternity leave and pay in detail: see our maternity pay guide. Deciding a flexible working request: see our flexible working guide.
• Changing contracts, and dismissing and re-engaging staff: see our fire and rehire guide.
• Workplace pension duties in detail: see our workplace pension guide. Tax codes: see our tax code guide.
• Reporting accidents, and when a worker can refuse unsafe work: see our health and safety guide. Fire safety law. This guide does not cover it: see GOV.UK.
• Zero hours contracts and holiday for irregular hours: see our zero hours guide. The minimum wage in detail: see our minimum wage guide.
• The CITB levy: see our CITB levy guide. The ECITB levy: see our ECITB levy guide. Company director duties and filing: see our director duties guide.
• Discrimination, reasonable adjustments, TUPE transfers, tips, references, how to select people for redundancy and individual redundancy consultation. This guide does not cover them: ask Acas.

What the rules depend on

1. Is the person an employee or a worker? Workers get the minimum wage, paid holiday, payslips, a written statement and protection from unlawful deductions from pay, but usually not minimum notice, unfair dismissal protection, the right to request flexible working or statutory redundancy pay. Employees get those too. If you are not sure which someone is, see our worker or self-employed guide or ask Acas.
2. How long have they worked for you without a break? 1 month or more: statutory minimum notice. 2 years or more: ordinary unfair dismissal, statutory redundancy pay, and written reasons for dismissal if they ask. Where the employment ends on or after 1 January 2027, unfair dismissal needs 6 months. Some dismissals need no minimum service.
3. How many people does it affect? 20 or more proposed redundancies at one establishment within 90 days bring in collective consultation. With 5 or more employees, your risk assessment findings and your health and safety policy must be in writing.
4. What happened, and on what date? Sick pay, paternity leave, parental leave and the protective award changed on 6 April 2026. Tribunal time limits change for acts on or after 1 October 2026. Unfair dismissal changes where the employment ends on or after 1 January 2027.
5. Where do they work? This guide is for England, Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland has its own rules.

"I'm taking someone on"

GOV.UK lists what to do when you employ staff for the first time:

• Pay at least the National Minimum Wage.
• Check that the person has the legal right to work in the UK. You may have to do other checks as well.
• Check whether you need a DBS check, for example for work with vulnerable people or in security.
• Get employers' liability insurance as soon as you become an employer.
• Send the details of the job, including the terms and conditions, in writing.
• Register with HMRC as an employer. GOV.UK says you must register before your first payday, and you cannot register more than 2 months before you start paying people.
• Check whether you must put your staff into a workplace pension.

Right to work checks. The Home Office can fine you up to £45,000 for each illegal worker for a first breach, and up to £60,000 for a repeat breach. You will not have to pay the civil penalty if you can show you made the correct right to work checks before the person started, and any follow-up checks on time.

Employers' liability insurance. The minimum cover is £5 million. You must display the certificate where your employees can easily read it, or make it available to them electronically. You can be fined up to £2,500 for each day you are without suitable insurance, and up to £1,000 if you do not display the certificate or refuse to show it to an HSE inspector. Some employers are exempt. This guide does not list the exemptions: see HSE.

The written statement. You must give employees and workers the main document (the "principal statement") on their first day, and the wider written statement within 2 months. You must tell them about any change within 1 month of making it. The written statement is not the same as the employment contract.

"Who do I check for right to work, and how?"

From 1 October 2026 right to work checks are not just for employees. You must also check:

• someone on a worker's contract: they do the work themselves and you are not their client or customer;
• an individual sub-contractor: someone you contract to do work that you have agreed to provide to someone else;
• if you run an online matching service, the people you match with customers. An online matching service is a business that keeps a register of service providers, matches them with customers online and charges a fee or commission.

For these three, a civil penalty is only possible where the person started on or after 1 October 2026.

Who you do not check. Someone running their own independent business who deals directly with their customers, such as a self-employed plumber you call out. A client company that contracts with a person's own limited company does not check that person. Calling someone self-employed does not decide it: what counts is how the arrangement works in practice.

Agency staff. The employment business (agency) that takes them on must check them.

How to check. Check everyone the same way, British citizens included, before they start. Use one of: original documents from the Home Office lists; the Home Office online service with a share code; or a right to work digital verification service provider (mainly for British or Irish passports). You cannot insist on one method, except that someone with an eVisa can only prove their right to work online. If the person does not want a check through a digital verification provider, offer to check their original documents instead.

• Online checks use a share code the person gives you, with their date of birth. Share codes start with W and last 90 days. Codes starting with R or S are for other services.
• An expired Biometric Residence Permit is not proof of right to work. Do an online check instead.
• A check by hand needs the original documents in your hands, checked with the person there in person or on a live video call (they can post the originals to you). A photo or scan is not enough, apart from the National Insurance number document below.
• No passport: a UK birth or adoption certificate (short or long) is accepted together with an official document showing the person's name and permanent National Insurance number, issued by a government agency or a previous employer. The birth or adoption certificate must be the original. Only the National Insurance number document can be a digital copy (a screenshot, for example), and only if a government agency issued it. Never ask for passwords.
• Using a digital provider is optional. If you use one, it must be on the government register for right to work checks, and you stay responsible for the check.
• Keep a copy of what you checked, and the date of the check, for as long as the person works for you plus two years. Then destroy it securely.
• If the person's permission to work has an end date, check again on or before that date. No follow-up check is needed for settled status or EU Settlement Scheme status.
• If the person cannot show documents or a share code because a Home Office application, appeal or review is waiting, ask the Home Office Employer Checking Service. A positive answer covers you for six months.

Contract chains, platforms and substitutes (from 1 October 2026). You can be treated as the employer, and fined, even if you do not employ the worker directly, where:

• you are contracted to provide work or services to someone else and use another business's workers to do it;
• you run an online matching service and the provider you matched signs a contract with the customer; or
• your contract lets a worker send a substitute.

This does not apply to a business buying work or services for its own use, such as agency staff in its own factory or a cleaning firm for its own premises. To be protected, these must be in place before the work starts. First, contract terms with the business you use: they must do the checks, not sub-contract without your written agreement, allow audits and help any Home Office investigation. Second, substitute controls: every substitute is checked before they work, and the check cannot be left to the worker. Third, identity checks that the person working is the person who was checked (the Home Office recommends at least once in every 24 hours or shift). These steps are needed for contracts entered into on or after 1 October 2026. The business that employs the worker directly still has to do the check.

Discrimination. Treating someone differently in a right to work check because of race or another protected characteristic is unlawful under the Equality Act 2010. They can claim at an employment tribunal, and there is normally no upper limit on compensation. Advice: the Equality Advisory Support Service (see Where to go for help).

This guide explains the checking rules only. To check whether a person can work, use GOV.UK "Check if someone can work in the UK". For anyone's own visa or immigration status: GOV.UK, the Home Office or a regulated immigration adviser.

"What must I pay?"

From 1 April 2026 the minimum hourly rates are:

• Aged 21 and over (the National Living Wage): £12.71.
• Aged 18 to 20: £10.85.
• Under 18: £8.00.
• Apprentices: £8.00, if they are under 19, or 19 or over and in the first year of their apprenticeship. An apprentice aged 19 or over who has finished the first year gets the rate for their age.

The rates change on 1 April every year.

Payslips. Every employee and worker must get a payslip on or before payday. It must show pay before and after deductions, any deductions that can change each time they are paid, and the hours worked if their pay depends on them.

Deductions. You can only take money out of someone's pay if the law requires or allows it (for example income tax, National Insurance or student loan repayments), they agree in writing, or their contract says you can. You can also do it if there is a statutory payment due to a public authority, they did not work because they took part in a strike or industrial action, there was an earlier overpayment of wages or expenses, or a court has told you to take debt payments.

A deduction cannot normally take pay below the minimum wage, even if the worker agrees to it. In retail, you cannot take more than 10% of gross pay in each pay period to cover shortfalls such as a till shortage. When someone leaves, you can take the full amount owed from their final pay.

Holiday. Almost all workers, including employees, are entitled to 5.6 weeks' paid holiday a year: at least 28 days for someone who works 5 days a week. The statutory entitlement is capped at 28 days. Bank holidays can count as part of the 5.6 weeks. Holiday builds up while someone is off sick and during maternity, paternity or adoption leave.

Sick pay. Since 6 April 2026, statutory sick pay (SSP) has been payable from the first full day of sickness absence, for up to 28 weeks, with no waiting days and no minimum earnings. It is £123.25 a week, or 80% of the employee's average weekly earnings over the 8 weeks before the absence if that is lower. You can pay more under a company sick pay scheme.

When an employee cannot get SSP, or their SSP is coming to an end, you must fill in form SSP1 and give it to them. If they disagree with your decision, they can contact HMRC's Statutory Payment Dispute Team.

"An employee wants family leave or to work flexibly"

• Employees can take up to 52 weeks of maternity leave, however long they have worked for you. For maternity pay, see our maternity pay guide.
• From 6 April 2026, paternity leave and unpaid parental leave are rights from an employee's first day. Statutory paternity pay still needs 26 weeks of continuous employment.
• Employees can ask for flexible working from their first day, and can make 2 requests in any 12-month period.
• Before refusing a flexible working request you must discuss it with the employee. You must decide, including any appeal, within 2 months unless they agree to a longer time. You can only refuse for one or more of 8 business reasons set out in law. The Employment Rights Act 2025 adds a duty to state and explain the reasons for a refusal, but that part is not in force yet.

Dismissing an employee where the main reason is that they took, or wanted to take, family leave is automatically unfair. The employee does not need 2 years' service to claim.

"I want to dismiss someone"

An employee can currently claim ordinary unfair dismissal once they have at least 2 years of continuous employment. If the employment ends on or after 1 January 2027, they need at least 6 months.

You must show a valid reason you can justify, and that you acted reasonably in the circumstances. The potentially fair reasons are conduct, capability, redundancy, a legal restriction that stops the person doing the job, or some other substantial reason. Be consistent, for example do not dismiss someone for something you let other employees do, and investigate fully before dismissing.

For misconduct or poor performance, follow the Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures: establish the facts, tell the employee about the problem in writing, hold a meeting, let them be accompanied, decide what action to take and tell them in writing, and let them appeal.

A tribunal takes the Acas Code into account. If an employer unreasonably failed to follow it, the tribunal can increase an award by up to 25%. The Code does not apply to redundancy dismissals or to fixed-term contracts that end without being renewed.

No minimum service is needed where the reason is automatically unfair, such as whistleblowing, pregnancy or raising a health and safety concern, or where the dismissal is discrimination.

Notice. An employee with at least 1 month's service must get at least the statutory notice: 1 week for 1 month to 2 years; 1 week for each full year from 2 to 12 years; 12 weeks for 12 years or more. Their contract can give more notice, but not less. There are some situations where you can dismiss without notice, for example for violence.

Written reasons. An employee with 2 years' service can ask for a written statement of the reasons for their dismissal, and you must give it within 14 days of the request. If you dismiss an employee who is pregnant, or on maternity or adoption leave, you must give written reasons without being asked, whatever their length of service.

"I need to make redundancies"

An employee with 2 years or more of continuous employment is entitled to statutory redundancy pay. It is half a week's pay for each full year worked at 21 or under, 1 week's pay for each full year at 22 to 40, and 1.5 weeks' pay for each full year at 41 or over. Only the last 20 years count.

For redundancies from 6 April 2026, a week's pay is capped at £751 and the most statutory redundancy pay can be is £22,530. You must tell the employee in writing how you worked it out. An employee may lose statutory redundancy pay if they unreasonably turn down a suitable alternative job you offer.

20 or more redundancies. If you propose to make 20 or more employees redundant at one establishment within 90 days, you must consult trade union representatives or elected employee representatives, or the staff directly if there are none. There is no limit on how long consultation lasts, but no dismissal can take effect until at least 30 days after it starts for 20 to 99 redundancies, or at least 45 days for 100 or more.

You must give the representatives or staff written details of the reasons, the numbers and categories of employees involved, how you plan to select people, how you will carry out the redundancies and how you will work out redundancy payments.

You must also notify the Redundancy Payments Service online on form HR1: at least 30 days before the first redundancy for 20 to 99, or at least 45 days before for 100 or more. You can be fined an unlimited amount if you do not.

If you do not consult properly, a tribunal can make a protective award. From 6 April 2026 the most a tribunal can award is 180 days' pay for each affected employee; it was 90 days.

"Health and safety"

All employers must assess the risks in their workplace and control them. If you have 5 or more employees, you must write down the significant findings of your risk assessment and have a written health and safety policy.

You must display the health and safety law poster, or give each worker the approved leaflet.

HSE enforces health and safety law in many workplaces. For offices, shops, hotels and restaurants, the local council does.

"Do I have to provide a pension?"

You must put a worker into a workplace pension automatically, and pay into it, if they are aged 22 or over and under State Pension age, earn more than £10,000 a year with you, and work or usually work in Great Britain.

In most schemes, contributions are worked out on earnings between £6,240 and £50,270 a year. The legal minimum is 8% in total, including at least 3% from you. You must not encourage or force anyone to opt out. If someone opts out, you must put them back in about every 3 years if they still qualify.

"Who checks that I am getting it right?"

The Fair Work Agency was set up in April 2026. It brings together several existing enforcement bodies, and it takes over minimum wage enforcement from HMRC in April 2027. HMRC enforces the minimum wage on behalf of the Fair Work Agency. This guide does not say when the Fair Work Agency will start enforcing holiday pay or statutory sick pay: ask Acas.

The Home Office issues right to work penalties. You can be reported to The Pensions Regulator for not following your automatic enrolment duties.

A worker can also claim against you at an employment tribunal. Before most claims they must notify Acas to start early conciliation.

Deadlines you must meet

• Written statement: the principal statement on the first day, the wider statement within 2 months, and any change within 1 month.
• Payslips: on or before each payday.
• Flexible working: your decision, including any appeal, within 2 months of the request unless the employee agrees to longer.
• Written reasons for dismissal: within 14 days of the employee asking.
• 20 to 99 redundancies at one establishment: consultation, and form HR1, at least 30 days before the first dismissal. 100 or more: at least 45 days before.
• Tribunal claims against you: most must be made within 3 months less 1 day of the act complained of, or 6 months less 1 day where that act happened on or after 1 October 2026. For one case, see our tribunal deadline guide.

Money figures

• Minimum wage from 1 April 2026: £12.71 (21 and over), £10.85 (18 to 20), £8.00 (under 18 and apprentices).
• Statutory sick pay from 6 April 2026: £123.25 a week, or 80% of average weekly earnings if lower.
• Redundancy pay, for redundancies from 6 April 2026: a week's pay is capped at £751; the most is £22,530.
• Employers' liability insurance: minimum cover £5 million.
• Illegal working: a civil penalty of up to £45,000 per worker for a first breach, or up to £60,000 for a repeat breach.

Traps

• Do not use Northern Ireland rules here. Northern Ireland has its own unfair dismissal qualifying period, redundancy pay cap, consultation periods and protective award.
• The 6-month qualifying period for unfair dismissal applies only where the employment ends on or after 1 January 2027. Before that, it is 2 years.
• The 30 or 45 days are a minimum before the first dismissal takes effect, not the length consultation must last. The count is of proposed redundancies at one establishment within 90 days.
• The Acas Code does not cover redundancy dismissals.
• Employers' liability insurance is needed from the day you become an employer, not only once you have several staff.
• Statutory sick pay no longer has waiting days or a minimum earnings level.
• Paternity leave is a day-one right, but the pay is not.
• Bank holidays are not an extra statutory right on top of the 5.6 weeks.