Expanding to the UK: 10 considerations to help you master UK employment law

When expanding to the UK from the US, it’s essential to familiarise yourself with the complex local employment rights to ensure your terms of employment in the UK are up to standard in the eyes of the law. As well as the legal obligation, a comprehensive, robust HR and people strategy is a great way to demonstrate your duty of care to your staff.

In this article in our Expanding to the UK series, our Head of Talent Acquisition Solutions in the UK, Maddy Roberts, outlines our 10 top considerations – split into 3 key areas – to help your business effectively navigate complex UK employment law and best practices.

Key takeaways

After reading this article, you will:

• Understand how to fulfil your basic HR requirements in the UK
• Be familiar with key UK employment legislation 
• Be able to deliver a more attractive recruitment process to your UK applicants

Essential UK workforce entitlements

These are some of the most fundamental areas of UK employment law that are vital to familiarise yourself with:

1. Time working and time off: Employees must not be contracted to work more than 48 hours a week on average over a 17-week period, or 8 hours a day.¹ Most that work these hours must receive at least 28 days (5.6 weeks) of paid annual leave a year⁴, split into 20 days provided by you, the employer, and 8 days of compulsory paid holiday, known as ‘Public Bank Holidays’.

2. Dismissals: UK law (Employment Rights Act 1996) states that specific and valid reasons must be given for letting employees go, related to either conduct (the employee has done something inappropriate or unacceptable), capability (employee is unqualified or otherwise unable to do the job) or redundancy (the role is no longer needed).² If you don’t have ‘in-house’ resource with experience in UK employment law, it’s advisable to seek assistance from employment experts.

3. Discrimination and bullying: Under the Equality Act 2010, employers can be held liable for any harassment their employees suffer at work that relates to age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender, race, religion or belief.³ 

Pay

These considerations relate to the complex laws surrounding how you pay your people: 

4. Minimum wage: The UK has a legally mandated employee minimum wage, which differs depending on employee age. The cost of living in London is estimated to be 20% higher than anywhere else in the UK, so many employers offer a raised salary to those living in the capital, known as ‘London Weighting’.⁶

5. Pay slips: These can be paper or digital, and must include gross pay, net pay, any deductions, and a breakdown of how the wages will be paid (if more than one payment method is used).⁵

6. Withholding pay: similar to dismissals, employees are understandably heavily protected around areas of pay and compensation, but organisations can proactively protect themselves appropriately too, if necessary.

Recruitment

The certain laws and processes that encourage fair recruitment practices, specifically relating to areas like equality, diversity and data protection.

7. Discrimination law

From writing a job advertisement all the way through to onboarding new hires, UK law (Equality Act 2010) states that applicants with certain protected characteristics cannot be discriminated against at any point throughout the recruitment process. These characteristics include:

• Age
• Gender or gender identity 
• Disability
• Race, religion or belief
• Sex or sexual orientation

8. Data protection: You must store applicant data securely and in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Under the GDPR, an employer can only process the personal data of employees under certain conditions; the purpose of the data should be specified to the candidate and only the necessary amount of data should be stored.⁷

9. Work permits and visas: If hiring non-UK residents, familiarise yourself with the visa and work permit requirements, and do all necessary checks to ensure your employees have a right to live and work in the UK. By employing someone that doesn’t have the right to work in the UK, you face 5 years in jail and a potentially unlimited fine.⁸

10. Optimising the candidate experience: Candidates are not just job seekers; they are potential contributors to the success and growth of your organisation. At NFP, we are able to obtain  direct feedback from a large cross-section of UK candidates - this is what they tell us they value in a recruitment process:

• Communication: Candidates appreciate timely updates on the status of their application and clear expectations regarding the recruitment timeline.
• Respect: Regardless of the outcome, every candidate should be valued and reminded that their time and effort is appreciated.
• Efficiency: Lengthy application processes can be a major turnoff for candidates. Streamlining procedures and ensuring appropriate and proportionate stages of the process can significantly enhance the candidate experience.