How do you hire a UK employee in 2026?
Five operational steps from accepted offer to first payslip. Teamed compresses them to 48 hours for British, Irish, and settled-status hires. Sponsored visa hires need your own entity.
· United Kingdom guide
The UK hire process takes 48 hours through Teamed from accepted offer to start-able employee. The five operational steps: offer letter, right-to-work check, Section 1 statement, onboarding admin, first payday. Right-to-work checks resolve via the Home Office online service for most categories, including British and Irish citizens, settled/pre-settled-status holders, and existing Skilled Worker visa holders moving between employers.
What does the end-to-end UK hire process look like?
Five operational steps from accepted offer to first payslip: offer letter, right-to-work check, Section 1 statement of terms, onboarding admin (PAYE, pension, benefits), first payday. Total elapsed time through Teamed: 48 hours from offer acceptance for the majority of UK hires.
| Step | What happens | Owner | Timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Offer letter | Written offer with role, salary, start date, key terms | Client / Teamed drafts | Same day after verbal accept |
| 2. Right-to-work check | Online or document-based RTW check before start | Teamed | Within 24 hours of offer accept |
| 3. Section 1 statement | Statutory written particulars of employment | Teamed (legal employer) | On or before day one |
| 4. Onboarding admin | PAYE registration, pension enrolment, benefits setup, P45 / starter checklist | Teamed | Days 1–7 |
| 5. First payday | First payslip issued, RTI filed | Teamed | End of first month (or pro-rata) |
What must a UK offer letter include?
An offer letter isn’t the same as the statutory Section 1 statement, but it’s the document the candidate makes the decision against, so accuracy matters. Standard inclusions: role title, line manager, start date, salary, working pattern, location, notice period, probation period, benefits summary, conditions (RTW, references, medical if applicable).
Three traps to avoid in offer letters:
- Overstating discretionary benefits, “our bonus typically pays out 100% of target” can become a contractual entitlement if the candidate relies on it
- Inconsistent dates, offer letter says one start date, contract says another. Tribunal-bait.
- Promising things outside your authority, “we’ll review after 6 months for promotion” without manager sign-off creates a constructive-dismissal angle if not honoured
Teamed’s standard UK offer letter template covers all statutory ground without overcommitting. Clients can customise commercial elements.
Right to work checks, the day-zero compliance
Before an employee starts work, employers must complete a right-to-work (RTW) check. Failure = up to £45,000 civil penalty per employee for first offence, up to £60,000 for repeat offences (post-2024 increases). Two routes: online check (most employees can use), or manual check with original documents.
Online RTW check
Most employees can prove right to work via the Home Office’s online checking service. The employee generates a share code (free) that the employer enters along with the employee’s date of birth. The system returns a statutory excuse certificate the employer prints/saves.
Online check works for:
- British citizens with a current passport (via Identity Document Validation Technology / IDVT)
- EU/EEA citizens with pre-settled or settled status
- Holders of Biometric Residence Permits (BRP) or Biometric Residence Cards (BRC)
- Skilled Worker visa holders
Manual RTW check
Where online doesn’t apply: original physical documents must be seen, copied, and date-stamped. List A documents establish permanent right to work; List B documents establish time-limited right to work (with follow-up check required).
Follow-up checks for time-limited right to work
For employees whose right to work has an expiry (pre-settled status, time-limited visas), employers must run a follow-up check before the original right expires. Teamed’s UK People Ops calendars the follow-up automatically and prompts the employee with notice ahead of the deadline.
The Section 1 statement, written particulars
Under the Employment Rights Act 1996, every employee and worker must receive written particulars of employment on or before day one of work. This is the legally-binding contract; the offer letter isn’t. Must contain specific information set out in s.1 of the Act.
What the Section 1 statement must include:
- Names of employer and employee
- Date employment began and date continuous employment began
- Scale or rate of pay, payment intervals
- Hours of work and any normal working hours
- Entitlement to holidays, including public holidays and holiday pay calculation
- Sickness, injury, and sick pay terms
- Pension scheme details
- Notice required by employer and employee
- Job title or brief job description
- Period of employment if not permanent
- Place of work and any required mobility
- Any collective agreements that apply
- Probationary period terms (if any)
- Any training the employer requires the employee to complete
- Any benefits provided
- Disciplinary and grievance procedures
The Section 1 obligation extended to workers (not just employees) in April 2020, so anyone in a working relationship with Teamed Ltd gets the statement, including casual workers and zero-hour workers.
Teamed’s standard UK contract is a full Section 1 statement with all statutory particulars, audited annually against the latest legislation. Clients choose commercial elements (salary, notice extensions, bonus, restrictive covenants); Teamed signs as the legal employer.
Onboarding admin in the first week
Days 1–7: PAYE registration, pension enrolment, benefits setup, P45 transfer or starter checklist, ID and bank details, equipment and access provisioning, manager intro and first-week plan. Teamed handles the payroll-side; the client handles the cultural side.
| Onboarding task | Who does it | Day |
|---|---|---|
| Section 1 statement signed | Employee + Teamed | Day 0 / 1 |
| RTW check completed | Teamed | Day 0 |
| P45 from previous employer or new starter checklist | Employee submits to Teamed | Day 1 |
| PAYE registration with HMRC (employee on payroll) | Teamed | Day 1–3 |
| Pension auto-enrolment | Teamed | Day 1 of eligibility |
| Private medical / benefits enrolment | Teamed (admin) + Client (decision) | Day 1–7 |
| Bank details collected (BACS payment setup) | Teamed | Day 1–7 |
| Equipment / system access | Client | Day 0–1 |
| Manager intro, first-week plan | Client | Day 0–7 |
| 30-60-90 day plan documented | Client (manager) | Day 1–14 |
How Teamed gets to a 48-hour onboarding
Teamed’s standard UK onboarding runs 48 hours from accepted offer to start-able employee. The mechanic: pre-built UK contract templates, online RTW check, automated PAYE/pension enrolment, and a dedicated UK People Ops specialist per client account.
The bottlenecks Teamed has engineered out:
- Contract templates pre-approved by legal, no waiting for a lawyer to draft from scratch
- Online RTW check by default, share-code submission, IDVT, no in-person original-document verification
- PAYE scheme already established, Teamed Ltd’s PAYE scheme covers all client employees; no per-client HMRC registration
- Qualifying pension scheme ready, Teamed’s qualifying scheme is operational on day one
- Dedicated UK specialist per client, single contact, knows the account, no internal handoffs
The bottlenecks that remain unavoidable:
- Senior hires with custom commercial terms, bespoke negotiation, not standard template
- P45 issues with previous employer (incorrect tax code, delayed issuance), outside Teamed’s control
- Bank-account setup for the employee’s salary payment, usually fine for existing UK residents, slower for new arrivals
The 48-hour onboarding works because we’ve removed every step that has to wait on another step. Right-to-work, payroll setup, pension, contract, all run in parallel from the moment the offer’s accepted. The new starter spends day one doing the job, not filling forms.Teamed Pod, May 2026
Hiring should be the easy part. By the time the candidate has said yes, you’ve done the hard work.
Anything that adds friction between “yes” and “day one” is friction the candidate remembers.
We measure ourselves on the time between accept and first standup. 48 hours is the standard, not the aspiration.
