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Employment essentials pack

UK employers must give every employee a written statement of particulars on or before their first day, keep a right to work check on file before employment starts, and follow the ACAS Code before dismissing anyone. A tribunal can add up to 25% to an award where the Code is not followed.

Core pack · 14 documents · 96 pages

The short answer

Who this pack is for

UK employers with 1 to 50 staff and no HR department
Anyone hiring their first employee
Companies that have outgrown a contract copied from the internet
Office and finance managers who have inherited the HR file
Accountants and bookkeepers whose clients keep asking for these documents

Not for you if: You already pay an HR provider such as Peninsula or Croner, or you need advice on a live dispute. This pack is paperwork, not representation.

What it solves

An employee starts on Monday and there is no written contract.

Someone has to be dismissed and there is no written procedure to follow.

A right to work check was never recorded and a Home Office letter arrives.

What the law requires

Written terms, on or before day one

Section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 requires a written statement of particulars for employees and workers, delivered no later than the first day. It must cover pay, hours, holiday, place of work, probation, training and notice. Missing it rarely creates a claim on its own, but it adds two to four weeks pay to any successful claim brought alongside it.

Source: GOV.UK, employment contracts and written statements

Right to work, before employment starts

The check must be completed before the first day, using a share code for most non-UK nationals or the manual document route where it applies, and the evidence kept for the length of employment plus two years. Done correctly it gives a statutory excuse against a civil penalty.

Source: Home Office, employer's guide to right to work checks

A process before dismissal

The ACAS Code sets the minimum: investigate, put the allegations in writing, hold a meeting the employee may be accompanied to, decide, and offer an appeal. Skipping steps is the most common reason an otherwise defensible dismissal fails at tribunal.

Source: ACAS Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures

What is in the pack

ID	Document	Pages
EMP-01	Written statement of employment particularsEmployment Rights Act 1996 s.1	9
EMP-02	Part-time and fixed-term contract variantsFixed-term Employees Regulations 2002	8
EMP-03	Staff handbookACAS Code; GOV.UK	22
EMP-04	Disciplinary policy and procedureACAS Code of Practice	7
EMP-05	Grievance policy and procedureACAS Code of Practice	6
EMP-06	Absence and sickness policy, with SSPGOV.UK statutory sick pay	6
EMP-07	Holiday policy and entitlement calculatorWorking Time Regulations 1998	5
EMP-10	Right to work check procedure and recordHome Office employer's guide	6

And six more: flexible working, probation, leaver and references, family leave, pay and pension auto-enrolment, working time records.

How updates work

Every document carries a version number and a reviewed date. On the first Tuesday of each month the pack is checked against its primary sources. If anything has changed you receive the updated file and one line explaining what moved and why. If nothing has changed you receive an email saying so.

April and the Budget are the months when most figures move.

Questions

Can I edit these documents?

Yes. They arrive as Word files with your company details already merged in. Edit any clause, add your own, change the branding.

What does personalised mean?

Your company name, registered address, company number, sector and named contacts are merged into all fourteen documents before delivery. A cover sheet lists the decisions only you can make, such as notice periods and holiday year start.

What happens when the law changes?

Documents are reviewed on the first Tuesday of every month. If anything changes you get the updated file and a line explaining what moved and why. If nothing changes you get an email saying so.

Is this legal advice?

No. These are templates built from published regulator guidance. They are a starting point, not a substitute for advice on a specific dispute.

How are they delivered?

By email, as Word and PDF files, personalised with your company details.

Sources

Built from published UK primary sources only: ACAS Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures, GOV.UK, employment contracts and written statements, Home Office, employer's guide to right to work checks. No secondary or aggregator sources are used.

Order the employment essentials pack

Checkout is handled by Stripe. You give your company name and sector there, we merge them into all 14 documents, and the pack is emailed to you.

Buy with 12 months of updates · £249 Documents only, no updates · £149

Templates, not legal advice, licensed for one business. Card payment in pounds. If you would rather pay on invoice, or you are buying for an association, use the form below.

Pay on invoice, or ask about an association licence

Questions before you buy? Write to us and we will answer the same day.

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Other packs in the library

Employment essentials packUK employers must give every employee a written statement of particulars on or before their first day, keep a right to work check on file before employment starts, and follow the ACAS Code before dismissing anyone. A tribunal can add up to 25% to an award where the Code is not followed. HR compliance packSince October 2024 UK employers have a positive duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment at work, and a tribunal can uplift compensation by up to 25% where they have not. Written policies, a reporting route and a training record are the evidence that the duty was met. Data and privacy packUnder UK GDPR a personal data breach likely to risk people's rights must be reported to the ICO within 72 hours, and a subject access request answered within one month. Both deadlines are missed most often by businesses with no written procedure to follow on the day. Health and safety packEvery UK employer must manage health and safety risks, and any employer with five or more staff must have the policy in writing. Certain injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences must be reported to the HSE under RIDDOR, with fatal and specified injuries reported without delay. Commercial contracts packUK businesses can charge statutory interest on late commercial payments at 8% above the Bank of England base rate, plus a fixed sum of £40 to £100 per invoice, without agreeing it in advance. Most never claim it because the contract and the letter chain are not in place. Finance and tax admin packMaking Tax Digital for Income Tax starts from April 2026 for sole traders and landlords with qualifying income above £50,000, dropping to £30,000 from April 2027. Quarterly updates replace the single annual return, and records must be kept digitally. Business operations packBusinesses with turnover above £36 million must publish a modern slavery statement, and any organisation using AI on personal data must be able to explain the processing under UK GDPR. Most smaller firms are asked for both by corporate customers long before the law requires them. New business starter packA new UK employer must register as an employer with HMRC before the first payday, hold employers liability insurance of at least £5 million, and complete a right to work check before the first day. Missing employers liability cover alone can cost £2,500 for every day uninsured. Letting and estate agency packLetting agents in England must belong to a government approved redress scheme, hold client money protection, and complete a right to rent check on every adult occupier before a tenancy starts. Renting to someone without the right to rent can cost up to £20,000 per tenant. Care providers packA care provider holding a sponsor licence must keep a right to work file, absence records and up to date contact details for every sponsored worker, and report most changes to the Home Office within ten working days. Licence revocation stops international recruitment immediately. Hospitality and food packEvery UK food business must have a documented food safety management system based on HACCP principles, and since October 2024 all qualifying tips must be passed to workers in full with a written policy available to staff. Food hygiene ratings are published, so the paperwork is public facing. Construction and subcontractors packUnder CDM 2015 every construction project has duty holders, and any project lasting more than thirty working days with more than twenty workers at once must be notified to the HSE. Contractors in CIS must verify every subcontractor with HMRC before the first payment. Plumbing, heating and trades packAnyone working on gas appliances in the UK must be on the Gas Safe Register, and landlords must hold an annual gas safety record for every appliance. Consumer contracts agreed in a customer's home carry a fourteen day cancellation right that most trades never mention in writing. Retail and ecommerce packOnline sellers must give consumers a fourteen day cancellation right and prescribed pre-contract information, and refund within fourteen days of goods being returned. Faulty goods carry a thirty day short term right to reject that cannot be excluded by a returns policy. Transport, courier and logistics packOperators of goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes need an O licence and must keep maintenance records for fifteen months, with drivers hours and tachograph records kept for at least a year. Traffic commissioners act on record failures as readily as on roadworthiness. Beauty and personal care packTreatment records including health information are special category data under UK GDPR, so they need a lawful basis, a retention period and secure storage. Insurers also require a signed consultation and, for many treatments, a patch test recorded before the appointment. Cleaning services packCleaning products are covered by COSHH, so employers must assess exposure and keep safety data sheets available to staff. Cleaners frequently work alone and out of hours, which is the risk most commonly missing from a small contractor's paperwork. Childcare and nurseries packThe EYFS statutory framework sets minimum staff to child ratios of one to three for under twos, one to four for two year olds and one to thirteen for three year olds and over with a qualified teacher. Every setting must have a designated safeguarding lead and written safeguarding procedures. Professional services packAccountancy and bookkeeping businesses must be supervised for anti money laundering, either by a professional body or by HMRC, and must carry out client due diligence before acting. An engagement letter defining scope is the single document that prevents most fee and liability disputes. Right to work and right to rent audit packIllegal working civil penalties in the UK now reach £45,000 per worker for a first breach and £60,000 for repeat breaches, with right to rent penalties up to £20,000 per tenant. A correctly completed and retained check is the only statutory excuse. Redundancy and restructure packProposing twenty or more redundancies at one establishment within ninety days triggers collective consultation, with a minimum of thirty days before the first dismissal, rising to forty five days at one hundred or more. Failure can cost a protective award of up to ninety days pay per employee. First employee packBefore a first employee starts, a UK business must register as an employer with HMRC, hold employers liability insurance of at least £5 million, complete a right to work check and issue written terms on or before day one. The uninsured penalty alone is up to £2,500 per day. Moving to the UK with family packMost people applying to settle in the UK must show no more than 180 days outside the UK in any twelve month period across the qualifying years, and school places in England must be applied for through the local council rather than the school. Both catch new arrivals out in the first year.

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Templates, not advice

These documents are drafted from published UK primary sources and are a starting point you adapt to your own circumstances. They are not legal, tax or immigration advice, and documents you edit become your responsibility.

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