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Stuart Gentle Publisher at Onrec

The main regulations related to recruitment in the UK

The relationship between an employer and his/her employees is controlled by the Employment Law in UK which comprises complete information about the rights and responsibilities of both parts.

The working hours, holiday breaks, data privacy, safety regulations, salaries, discipline, maternity rights and many more can be found in the above mentioned law. Recruiting staff in a company is in many cases subject to a series of considerations an employer must bear in mind in order to avoid the situations of hiring the wrong persons for the existing job offers.

What to consider when recruiting staff

Firms in UK have a wide range of possibilities when deciding for hiring staff as the workforce in this country is not only diversified, but also skilled and well trained. Even though hiring people for a company might be challenging and time-consuming, the employers need to conduct several verifications, in accordance with the law, before deciding on the right employer. For instance, due diligence can reveal the employment part of a potential candidate for a specific job in a company. At this moment, the factsheet which is an important document with complete information about an employee and his/her previous jobs will play a significant role as it can reveal all sorts of details. A factsheet will comprise details about an employee and if he/she has a criminal background or not, if there were cases involving amendments or penalties at work in the past etc. This step is also known as a pre-employment checkup which is adopted by most of the companies in UK, whether they are looking to hire local staff or from abroad.

Details about the employment contract

The employment contract is drafted and then signed by both parts as soon as the employee and the employer have agreed on the working conditions (domain, workflow, salary, work conditions etc.) in the company. Such a contract is a binding agreement and it represents the legal way of working in UK, in respect to the applicable legislation regarding the rights of employers and employees. An employment contract comprises information about the type of work, whether it is for a long or a short-term, if it is about hiring a freelancer, the working hours, salary, payment date, internal rules, holiday breaks, the environment in which the employee will work and the equipment he/she will use. It is good to know that the private information of an employee will remain confidential in the company and we remind that the recent GDPR improvements are protecting anyone who offers his/her private info under certain circumstances.

There are also zero-hour contracts that are considered casual contracts which address to those employees looking for seasonal work or projects. Such type of contract offers flexibility as such workers can be called at the time a company or an entrepreneur need them. The advantage of such a contract is that a worker can accept other employment opportunities too, without having to consider any bans in this matter. It is good to know that a company that breaks the local laws related to employment may need a criminal defence solicitor in London to represent it in front of the court.

The legal requirements in a recruitment case in UK

Each employer will act in agreement with the established terms and conditions by the law in UK. This means that the company must offer comprehensive information about the working hours, the rights for overtime work, holiday entitlement, rest breaks, Sunday working, workplace and the rights in cases of discrimination at work.

Recruitment agencies

In most cases, large companies in UK are very much interested in the services of a recruitment company which acts in respect to the requirements of its clients. Depending on the job offers on the market, the recruitment agencies will have to propose the suitable candidates in complete focus on their skills and competencies.