How to use this checklist
Steps are grouped by when they happen. The “Who” column is a suggestion: change it to fit your team. “Payroll” means whoever runs your payroll, in house or at your accountant. Steps that name a law or a regulator are legal duties; the rest is good practice. The checklist is for employees in England, Scotland and Wales.
Steps marked “Worklayer agent” are ones an agent can do in Worklayer once you set it up for new hires: assigning tasks, sending the welcome, booking calendar invites, inviting to Slack channels, asking for documents and chasing open tasks. Worklayer is our own product. Right to work, contracts, pensions and HMRC stay with HR and payroll: Worklayer does not run UK payroll or file anything with HMRC.
The checklist
Before the first day
| Step | Who |
|---|---|
| Check the right to work before employment starts: an online check with a share code, a manual check of original documents, or a certified identity service provider for British and Irish passports (Home Office guidance) | HR |
| Keep a dated copy of the right to work check for the whole employment and two years after it ends | HR |
| First employee only: register as an employer with HMRC and take out employers' liability insurance | HR |
| Prepare the written statement of employment particulars (Employment Rights Act 1996, s.1) | HR |
| Create the employee record: start date, manager, team, working pattern, holiday entitlement | HR |
| Assign onboarding tasks to HR, the manager and IT, each with a due date | Worklayer agent |
| Ask the new starter for their P45 or a completed HMRC starter checklist, National Insurance number and bank details, and chase until they arrive | Worklayer agent |
| Send the welcome message: first-day plan, address, start time, who to ask for | Worklayer agent |
| Send IT the set-up task, due before the start date | Worklayer agent |
| Set up laptop, email, accounts and access | IT |
| Write a first-weeks plan and choose a buddy | Manager |
| Book introduction meetings for the first week | Worklayer agent |
First day
| Step | Who |
|---|---|
| Give the written statement on or before the first day: pay, hours, holiday, place of work, probation, notice, sick pay and the other day-one particulars (s.1 ERA 1996) | HR |
| Health and safety induction for the actual job (Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, reg. 13) | Manager |
| Give the privacy notice for employee data (UK GDPR, Article 13) | HR |
| Hand over equipment and log-ins | IT |
| Welcome to the team, tour, key contacts | Manager |
| Invite to the team's Slack channels | Worklayer agent |
| Hand in the P45 or fill in the starter checklist, and confirm bank details | Employee |
First week
| Step | Who |
|---|---|
| Set up the new starter in payroll with the tax code from the P45 or starter checklist | Payroll |
| Meet the team and the people they will work with most | Employee |
| Agree goals for probation | Manager |
| Remind owners of onboarding tasks still open | Worklayer agent |
| End-of-week check-in: what is missing | Manager |
First month
| Step | Who |
|---|---|
| Report the new starter to HMRC on or before their first payday, in the Full Payment Submission | Payroll |
| Assess for workplace pension: enrol staff aged 22 to State Pension age earning over £10,000 a year, or postpone for up to three months and tell them in writing (The Pensions Regulator) | Payroll |
| Complete mandatory training such as data protection and security | Employee |
| Chase any onboarding task still open | Worklayer agent |
| One-month review with the manager | Manager |
Probation
| Step | Who |
|---|---|
| Give the wider written statement within two months: pension, collective agreements, non-compulsory training, disciplinary and grievance procedures | HR |
| Pension enrolment and the letter to the employee within six weeks of the start date, unless postponed | Payroll |
| Holiday accrues from day one: 5.6 weeks a year pro rata (holiday calculator) | HR |
| Book the probation review a few weeks before probation ends | Worklayer agent |
| Hold the probation review and record the outcome | Manager |
| From 1 January 2027 employees can claim unfair dismissal after six months' service instead of two years (Employment Rights Act 2025) | HR |
The legal duties and their deadlines
| Duty | Deadline | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Right to work check | Before employment starts; keep the copy for the employment plus two years | Home Office |
| Written statement (principal) | On or before the first day | ERA 1996, s.1 |
| Wider written statement | Within two months | GOV.UK |
| Tax code from P45 or starter checklist | Before the first payment | HMRC |
| Report the new starter | On or before the first payday | HMRC |
| Pension automatic enrolment | Within six weeks of the start date, or postpone up to three months | The Pensions Regulator |
| Health and safety training | On recruitment | Reg. 13, 1999 Regulations |
| Holiday records | Keep for six years (since 6 April 2026) | Employment Rights Act 2025 |
Employing someone without the right to work carries a civil penalty of up to £60,000 per worker. A correct check, done before the job starts and kept on file, is your defence. From January 2027 you will also have to give every new starter the government's statement on their right to join a trade union.
Common mistakes
- Checking the right to work on day one or later. The check must be done before employment starts, or you lose the defence against the civil penalty.
- Accepting a biometric residence permit or a photocopy. BRPs are no longer accepted: ask for a share code and do the online check.
- Sending the contract after the start date. The principal written statement is due on or before the first day, not when probation ends.
- Waiting for the first payday to ask for the P45. Without it or a completed starter checklist, payroll has to use code 0T on a non-cumulative basis: no personal allowance on the first pay.
- Treating probation as a pension waiting period. Postponement must be chosen and written to the employee within six weeks, and lasts three months at most.
Questions
Before the person starts work. Use the online service if they give you a share code, check their original documents with them, or use a certified identity service provider for British and Irish passports. Keep a dated copy for the whole employment and two years after it ends.
The principal written statement: employer and employee names, job title, start date, pay and when it is paid, hours and days, holiday, place of work, probation, notice, sick pay and other paid leave, benefits and any compulsory training.
Pension, collective agreements, non-compulsory training and disciplinary and grievance procedures can follow within two months.
Ask them to fill in HMRC's starter checklist. It tells payroll which tax code to use. Then report them to HMRC on or before their first payday in the Full Payment Submission.
Your duties start on their first day. Staff aged 22 to State Pension age earning over £10,000 a year must be enrolled, usually within six weeks of starting. You can postpone for up to three months, for example during probation, if you write to them within six weeks.
An agent starts when you add a new employee: it assigns tasks to HR, the manager and IT, sends the welcome, books introductions, invites to Slack channels, asks for documents and chases what is open. It can only do what an admin allows. It does not do right to work checks, payroll, pensions or HMRC reporting. Onboarding with Worklayer