When you started your business you probably wanted to remain as lean as possible. But as your business expands, wearing all hats may become impossible and you need a helping hand to grow and remain competitive.

Employing your first member of staff sounds like a pretty easy task to do: Hire them and get them started. But is it really that easy? Recruiting entails a whole new string of expenses, legal obligations, liabilities, paperwork and of course, hunting down the right talent. We have listed some of the key steps you need to take when recruiting for the first time.

Decide Salary

This is perhaps the single most important thing that’s going to take up a substantial part of your budget.  You must decide the salary that you will give to your employees. Make sure you stick to the “National Minimum Wage” criteria.

Run a Background Check

Screen for unwanted behaviours, test for illegal substance use and make sure that the potential candidate has the legal right to work in your country. You may need to run a DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) formerly known as Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check on the candidate. This may only be required if your employees will be dealing with children or vulnerable people.

Registering as an employer

You must register with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) as an employer. It is important that you register before the first payday as it normally takes a few weeks for the processing of paper

Employee Liability Insurance

It is important that you get Employee Liability Insurance (ELI) before you start hiring. Your ELI policy should cover for you a minimum of £5 million and must be from an authorised insurer. This will help you pay compensation if your employee gets an injury or health-related problems due to work they do.

Statement of Employment

It is important that you send the job details in writing to the employees. This is known as a statement of employment and must be part of the process if you are employing someone for at least a month or more.

Pension Schemes

As an employer, you need to give your employees the opportunity to enrol for a workplace pension scheme. This is called auto-enrolment. Once you have registered with the HMRC you will be sent a staging date, this is the date by which you need to have a workplace pension scheme in place.

If you would like some advice on taking on your first employee then please do get in touch with us by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 01623 490120.