The most important things are:
- You must pay at least the National Minimum wage.
- Get Employers’ Liability insurance as soon as you become an employer.
- Send a written job description (including Terms & Conditions) to your employee.
- When employing someone for over 1 month, give them a written statement of employment.
- Register as an employer with HMRC (do this 4 weeks before paying your employee, and get some Payroll software that can deal with Real Time Information submissions).
- Prepare to auto enrol eligible employees into a company pension scheme.
- If your business works with vulnerable people or security, apply for a DBS check (formerly CRB)
Don’t leave everything till the last minute!
*Further information is available from Gov.UK