What legal documents are required for new employees in the UK?

Hiring someone new feels exciting until the paperwork starts.

Getting a new employee started correctly means more than asking them to sign a contract and showing them where the coffee is. There are documents that are legally required before day one, documents that must land in someone's hands on their first morning, and documents that govern what happens with their data from the moment they apply.

Miss them, and you are not just disorganised. You may be in breach of employment law.

This guide covers every essential document and what you need to get right with each one. It reflects the law as of June 2026, including changes introduced by the Employment Rights Act 2025.

The Core List

Before a new employee starts: complete your right-to-work check.

On day one: give them a written statement of employment particulars.

By their first payslip: sort the tax and payroll paperwork.

The full list:

• Written Statement of Employment Particulars (day one)

• Right to Work verification (before employment starts)

• UK GDPR Privacy Notice

• Tax and payroll documents (P45 or Starter Checklist)

• Auto-enrolment into a qualifying workplace pension scheme

Simple enough in theory. Here is what actually catches people out.

Right to Work Checks

You must verify every employee's right to work in the UK before they start. A failed check after the fact does not protect you — the check must happen first.

The framework changed significantly in 2024 and 2025. There are now three prescribed routes to establish a statutory excuse:

1. British and Irish nationals: Manual check of an original valid UK or Irish passport (or Irish passport card). You can also use a certified Digital Verification Service (DVS) provider for those with a valid passport.

2. Non-British/non-Irish nationals (eVisa holders and most overseas nationals): Home Office online check, using a share code the worker generates from their UKVI account. This is now the required route for most overseas nationals as physical immigration documents are phased out.

3. Short-validity vignettes (during transition): A manual check is permitted, but as these expire within 90 days, you must follow up with an online check before expiry to keep your statutory excuse.

One thing worth saying plainly: BRPs are no longer valid for manual right-to-work checks.

For most non-British workers, the Home Office online check via share code is the correct and only route that provides a statutory excuse. If you are still accepting BRPs, stop.

Civil penalties for employing someone without the right to work are up to £45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach and up to £60,000 for a repeat breach. Keep a dated record of every check: what you checked, how and when.

Written Statement of Employment Particulars

Every employee and worker is entitled to a written statement of employment particulars. It has been a day-one right since April 2020, which means if you are still "sending it over in the next few weeks," you are already in breach.

The written statement has two parts.

The principal statement — required on day one

A single document, given on or before the employee's first day. It must include:

• Employer's name

• Employee's name, job title or description of work, and start date

• For employees: the date a previous job started if it counts towards continuous employment

• Pay — the rate or method of calculation, and how often it is paid

• Hours and days of work, whether and how they may vary (including any requirement to work Sundays, nights or overtime)

• Holiday entitlement, including whether it covers public holidays, and the right to accrued holiday pay on termination

• Place of work; whether relocation may be required; if working across multiple locations, all those locations and the employer's address

• Whether employment is permanent or fixed term (with an end date if fixed term)

• Probationary period — duration and conditions

• Any other benefits (childcare vouchers, meal allowance, gym membership and so on)

• Obligatory training — and whether the employer pays for it

Also required on day one, but can sit in a separate accessible document (such as your handbook or intranet, rather than the principal statement itself):

• Sick pay and sickness procedures

• Other paid leave (maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave)

• Notice periods

  
  

The wider written statement — within two months

This can follow within two months of the start date. It must include:

• Pension scheme terms and conditions

• Details of any collective agreements affecting terms and conditions

• Any non-compulsory training entitlements provided by the employer

• Disciplinary and grievance procedures (or a reference to a reasonably accessible document)

Working outside the UK: If an employee must work outside the UK for more than one month, the principal statement must also cover the duration, currency for pay, any additional pay or benefits and terms governing their return.

Coming October 2026 (Employment Rights Act 2025): Employers will be required to give each employee a written notice of their right to join a trade union, alongside the written statement. One more thing to add to the template.

Employment Contracts

An employment contract is not separately required by law, in practice, the written statement usually forms or accompanies a fuller contract.

A well-drafted contract covers:

• Job title and description

• Salary and benefits

• Notice periods

• Termination conditions

• Probationary period (duration and review process)

• Confidentiality and any post-termination restrictions

A contract cannot be varied unilaterally. If you want to change the terms later, you need the employee's agreement.

"We have decided to change this" is not a legal process.

Something to pay attention to now: From 1 January 2027, the qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal reduces from two years to six months under the Employment Rights Act 2025. Employees hired from around July 2026 onwards will gain unfair dismissal protection from January 2027, regardless of whether their probation has formally concluded. A properly structured probationary period, with documented reviews, matters more than it used to.

Payroll and Tax Documents: P45, P60 and Starter Checklist

Ask new starters to bring their P45 from their previous employer. It tells you their tax code and earnings to date so you can apply the right deductions from the start.

No P45?

They complete a Starter Checklist, giving HMRC what it needs to assign the correct tax code.

Employees receive a P60 at the end of each tax year summarising total pay and deductions. Issue P60s by 31 May.

SSP changed significantly from 6 April 2026, under the Employment Rights Act 2025:

• SSP is now payable from day one of sickness — the three waiting days have been removed

• The lower earnings limit has been abolished — all employees qualify regardless of earnings

• The rate is 80% of average weekly earnings, up to £123.25 per week (2026/27 rate), whichever is lower

If your payroll system, sickness policies and employee communications have not been updated to reflect this, they need to be.

UK GDPR and Data Protection: Privacy Notices

Under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, employees have the right to know how their personal data is used. A privacy notice must be provided at or before the point of data collection, not weeks later, not buried in a handbook no one has read.

It should cover:

• What data you collect and why

• The lawful basis for processing it

• How long you will keep it

• Who you share it with

• Employees' rights (right of access, rectification and erasure)

One point that trips people up: "consent" is rarely the correct lawful basis for processing employee data.

Processing is more typically justified on the grounds of contract (necessary to perform the employment relationship) or legal obligation (for example, HMRC reporting). Take proper advice if you are unsure which basis applies.

Employee Handbook and Company Policies

A handbook is not a legal requirement, but some of its contents are.

Disciplinary and grievance procedures should be in writing, and following the Acas Code of Practice is expected if proceedings reach an employment tribunal.

A quick note if you have a culture book or playbook: those are genuinely great tools, and if the elements below are woven into them, that works just as well. This article focuses on the essential documentation specifically, culture books and playbooks serve a different purpose, but there is no reason the two cannot coexist.

A useful handbook covers:

• Disciplinary and grievance procedures

• Sickness and absence policies

• Holiday and leave policies (including statutory entitlements)

• Equal opportunities and anti-harassment policies

• Data protection policy

• Flexible working arrangements

Keep it current.

An outdated handbook that contradicts your legal obligations can be used against you in a tribunal.

"We haven't updated it since 2019" is not a defence.

Health and Safety Information

Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, you must inform employees of workplace risks and the measures in place to control them.

New employees need:

• The relevant parts of your workplace risk assessment

• Emergency procedures and fire evacuation information

• First aid arrangements and who to contact

If an employee is injured in their first week and there is no evidence they received appropriate information, your exposure is significant.

Pension Auto-Enrolment

If your employee is aged 22 to state pension age and earns over £10,000 a year, you must automatically enrol them into a qualifying workplace pension scheme.

This includes casual and variable-hours workers, eligibility is assessed every pay reference period, not annually.

If a worker earns above the pro-rated threshold in that period (£833 in a monthly pay period or £192 in a weekly pay period), they must be enrolled in that pay period, even if their usual earnings would not normally reach the annual threshold.

This is not a matter of making access available.

Eligible workers must be actively enrolled, and you must make employer contributions from day one of eligibility.

Employees may opt out after enrolment.

You cannot encourage or induce opt-out before it happens. Doing so is unlawful and enforceable by The Pensions Regulator.

Workers below the auto-enrolment thresholds still have the right to request enrolment and receive employer contributions if they earn above the lower earnings limit for pension purposes.

Other statutory benefits to communicate from day one:

• Statutory Sick Pay — now payable from day one, to all employees (see above)

• Statutory Maternity, Paternity, Adoption and Shared Parental Pay — note: paternity leave (not pay) became a day-one right from 6 April 2026; statutory paternity pay still requires 26 weeks' service

• Statutory redundancy rights (after two years' service — qualifying period reduces to six months from January 2027)

Additional Documents

Beyond the legally required documents, most employers collect:

• Emergency contact details

• Bank details for payroll

• Confidentiality agreements or NDAs (where relevant)

• Declarations of interest (in regulated sectors)

Sector-specific documents, like DBS checks, professional licence verifications and regulated sector declarations, depend on your industry.

Onboarding in Practice

Space out what happens and when:

• right-to-work check before day one;

• written statement and privacy notice on day one;

• supplementary particulars and

• pension communication in the first couple of weeks.

Asking someone to sign forty documents in a rush on day one creates neither genuine engagement nor legal protection. It creates a stack of PDFs no one has read and a new starter who feels like they have just signed their life away.

Review your process when the law changes.

The Employment Rights Act 2025 introduced changes in force from April 2026, with further changes in October 2026 and January 2027. See our detailed guide on what to expect

Build in a review, it does not have to be complicated, but it has to happen.

Record Keeping and Document Storage

From April 2026, employers must keep annual leave and holiday pay records for at least six years (Employment Rights Act 2025).

Failure to maintain adequate records is a criminal offence punishable by an unlimited fine — not merely a civil liability.

HMRC payroll records should be kept for at least three years after the end of the relevant tax year. Personal data retention should be governed by your privacy notice.

A secure, accessible document management system is worth the investment. Tribunal claims can require records at short notice, and "I think we have it somewhere" is not a useful answer.

Want to know more about the retention periods? See our guide here.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a written statement of employment particulars? A written document covering the core terms of employment: job title, pay, hours, holiday, place of work and probationary period. Legally required from day one. This has been the rule since April 2020.

What is a P45 form? A document from a previous employer detailing an employee's tax situation: taxes paid and taxable pay to date. New starters hand it over so you can apply the correct tax code. No P45? They complete a Starter Checklist instead.

How do I verify the right to work in the UK? For British/Irish nationals: manual check of a valid passport, or a certified Digital Verification Service. For non-British/non-Irish nationals: Home Office online check via a share code from the worker's UKVI account. Record what you checked, how and when.

What other documents are needed for onboarding? UK GDPR privacy notice, payroll documents (P45 or Starter Checklist), pension auto-enrolment communications, an employee handbook including disciplinary and grievance procedures, and health and safety information relevant to the role.

This article reflects the law as of 2 June 2026, including Employment Rights Act 2025 changes in force from 6 April 2026. Employment law changes regularly. This is general information, not legal advice. For specific situations, speak to us directly: hello@whatifhr.co.uk

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General information only, not legal advice. | Updated June 2026