Hiring Your First Employee - The Documents UK Law Requires From Day One
Hiring your first employee converts you, overnight, from a business with no employment paperwork into one with legal duties that start on day one. None of them are difficult, but several are dated, and the dates are not negotiable.
This guide covers the legal minimum for a first hire, the day-one rights that now attach to it, and the sensible second tier that saves the first dispute from becoming the first crisis.
The First-Hire Checklist
| Document or duty | Deadline |
|---|---|
| Written statement of employment particulars | On or before the first day of work |
| Employer registration with HMRC | Before the first payday |
| Itemised payslips | From the first payment |
| Pension auto-enrolment duties | Start the day your first member of staff begins work |
| Employer's liability insurance, minimum £5 million | From the day you employ anyone |
| Right to work check | Before employment starts |
| Health and safety risk assessment and first aid provision | From the start; written policy required once you reach 5 employees |
The Written Statement Is Not the Contract, But Start With One Anyway
The law requires a written statement of particulars, covering pay, hours, holiday, notice, place of work and more, on or before day one. Most employers sensibly go straight to a proper employment contract, which contains everything the statement requires and settles the terms the statement leaves loose, such as confidentiality, deductions and lay-off.
The contract is also where the boundary questions from our guide to policies, procedures and handbooks start mattering: terms in the contract, rules in the policies, and no contradictions between them.
Money, Pensions and Insurance
Register as an employer with HMRC before the first payday, issue itemised payslips from the first payment, and note that auto-enrolment duties begin the day your first member of staff starts work, even if they end up not qualifying for enrolment.
Employer's liability insurance of at least £5 million from an authorised insurer is required from the day you employ anyone, with fines for every day without it. Insurers, in turn, increasingly ask what policies you have, which is how paperwork and premiums meet.
Day-One Rights Have Grown
The first hire arrives with more day-one rights than a few years ago. Alongside minimum wage, 5.6 weeks of paid holiday and discrimination protection, the Employment Rights Act changes made statutory sick pay payable from the first day of illness and paternity and unpaid parental leave day-one rights from April 2026, with unfair dismissal protection arriving at six months' service from January 2027.
The practical consequence is that informal management runs out of road much earlier. A first employee who reaches six months has real dismissal protection, which makes the induction, review and record habits from our guide to proving staff have read policies worth building from hire one.
Health and Safety Starts Before the Written Policy
The written health and safety policy becomes mandatory at 5 employees, but the underlying duties start immediately: assess the risks of the work, provide adequate first aid arrangements, and report what RIDDOR requires. For office-based first hires this is genuinely light; for trades, kitchens and workshops it is the serious end of the checklist.
Our guide to policies for growing businesses maps what changes at each headcount from here, so nothing on this page needs doing twice.
The Sensible Second Tier
Beyond the legal minimum, three documents earn their keep with a first hire: a short disciplinary and grievance procedure aligned to the Acas Code, because the uplift for ignoring it is real money; a holiday and absence procedure, because leave and sickness are the first friction points; and a one-page data protection notice for employee data, because payroll makes you a controller of it.
A slim first-employee handbook can carry all three, sized to the business you are now rather than the one you might become.
First Employee Policy and Procedure Writers
Policy Pros writes first-hire document sets for UK businesses: the contract, the core procedures and a right-sized handbook, on professional templates with review dates built in. Our small business policies service covers the package, and it grows with you rather than needing replacement at the next threshold.
If your first employee starts soon, contact us for a free quote, or call 020 3951 2875.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need an employment contract for my first employee?
You must give a written statement of employment particulars on or before their first day. A proper employment contract satisfies that duty and settles more, which is why most employers go straight to a contract rather than issuing the bare statutory statement.
When do pension duties start for a first employee?
Auto-enrolment duties start the day your first member of staff begins work. Whether they must actually be enrolled depends on their age and earnings, but the assessment, communication and declaration duties apply either way, so the process needs setting up around the first payroll.
Is employer's liability insurance compulsory with one employee?
Almost always, yes. Cover of at least £5 million from an authorised insurer is required from the day you employ someone, with limited exemptions such as certain family businesses, and daily fines for operating without it.
What policies does a one-person employer actually need?
Legally, very few beyond the documents in the checklist. Practically, a short disciplinary and grievance procedure, a holiday and absence procedure and an employee data protection notice cover the situations most likely to arise, and a written health and safety policy joins the list once you reach 5 employees.
