UK employer guides, 20 of them
The employment law a small UK employer actually meets, written for the person wearing the HR hat on a Friday afternoon. Each guide says what the rule is, what to do about it in order, where the law comes from, and what people ask. Reviewed September 2026.
Guidance, not legal advice. Each guide links to the letters and policies it leads to, and to the free calculators.
Hiring and contracts
- The written statement of employment particularsWhat has to be in the written statement, when it is due, what can go in a separate document, and what happens if you never issue one.6 min read
- Right to work checks: the employer's guideHow to check a new starter's right to work in the UK, which route to use, what to keep, follow-up checks, and the penalties for getting it wrong.5 min read
- Probation periods: how to run one that worksProbation has no special legal status, so it only works if you run it: objectives, reviews, extension clauses, notice, and the day-one rights that apply throughout.5 min read
- Casual and zero-hours workers: status, rights and the coming changesEmployee, worker or self-employed, what casual staff are entitled to, holiday at 12.07%, pensions, exclusivity, continuity, agency workers, and the guaranteed hours rights in the Employment Rights Act 2025.5 min read
Pay and pensions
- National Minimum Wage: staying compliantThe bands, what counts as pay and as working time, the deductions that push pay below the line, the six-year records rule, and how HMRC enforces it.6 min read
- Workplace pension auto-enrolment: the employer's dutiesWho you must enrol, when your duties start, minimum contributions, postponement, opt-outs, the declaration of compliance and the three-yearly re-enrolment.5 min read
Hours, holiday and flexible working
- The Working Time Regulations: hours, rest, night work and the opt-outThe 48-hour week and how to opt out of it, daily and weekly rest, breaks, night work limits, young workers, and the records you have to keep.5 min read
- Holiday entitlement and holiday pay: the employer's guideThe 5.6 weeks, part-time and irregular hours workers, 12.07% accrual and rolled-up holiday pay, what goes into a week's pay, carry-over, notice, and leavers.6 min read
- Flexible working requests: the 2024 rules for employersDay-one right, two requests a year, the two-month clock, mandatory consultation, the eight business reasons, appeals, and where discrimination law sits behind it.4 min read
Sickness and absence
- Statutory Sick Pay: the employer's guideWho qualifies for SSP after the April 2026 changes, when it starts and stops, fit notes and self-certification, linked periods, records, and how it sits with company sick pay.6 min read
- Managing sickness absence fairlyReturn-to-work conversations, trigger points, short-term patterns, long-term absence, occupational health, the Equality Act, and the capability route when nothing else works.5 min read
Family leave
- Maternity leave and pay: the employer's guideNotification, the 28-day reply, 52 weeks of leave, Statutory Maternity Pay and recovering it, risk assessments, keeping in touch, redundancy protection and the right to return.6 min read
- Paternity, shared parental, adoption, parental and carer's leave: the employer's guideThe family leave rights beyond maternity, after the 2024 and 2025 changes: paternity in two blocks, shared parental leave, adoption, unpaid parental leave, carer's leave, neonatal care leave, and time off for dependants.5 min read
Conduct and grievances
- Running a disciplinary procedure: the Acas Code in practiceEach step of a fair disciplinary process for a small employer: investigate, invite, hear, decide, appeal, with the sanctions ladder, gross misconduct, suspension, timescales and the 25% uplift.6 min read
- Handling grievances: from complaint to closedInformal resolution, the formal grievance meeting, investigation, the outcome letter, appeals, overlapping disciplinary matters, grievances about the owner, and the victimisation trap.5 min read
Redundancy, TUPE and leaving
- Redundancy step by step for a small employerIs it really redundancy, the pool, selection criteria, individual and collective consultation, alternative roles, notice, statutory redundancy pay, and the protections for pregnancy and family leave.6 min read
- TUPE for small businesses: when staff transfer with the workWhen TUPE applies, who transfers, what transfers with them, informing and consulting (including the direct route for small employers), employee liability information, changing terms, and dismissals.5 min read
- Ending employment: notice, final pay, references and the paperworkStatutory and contractual notice, pay in lieu and garden leave, final pay and lawful deductions, P45s, references, written reasons, settlement agreements and retirement.5 min read
Records and data
- Payslips and record keeping: what to give, what to keep, for how longThe itemised payslip rules including hours for variable pay, RTI, P45s and P60s, and the retention periods for pay, hours, holiday, accidents and right to work records.5 min read
- Employee data and GDPR: what a small employer has to doLawful bases for staff data, the workforce privacy notice, health and other special category data, retention, subject access requests, monitoring and GPS clock-in, breaches, and the ICO fee.5 min read
The admin, done for you
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