Hiring, Payroll & Employment
in the United Kingdom

英国的工资和报酬受各种法律法规的约束：

• Minimum Wage: The National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates vary by age and are reviewed annually. 
• 加班工资：加班工资没有法定要求，但雇主必须确保总工作时间的平均工资不低于国家最低工资标准。加班工资标准通常在雇佣合同中明确规定。

英国有多个公共假日，也称为银行假日。其中包括

• 元旦
• 耶稣受难日
• 复活节星期一
• 五月初银行假日
• 春季银行假日
• 夏季银行假日
• 圣诞节
• 节礼日

除此以外，英国的每个国家（英格兰、苏格兰、威尔士和北爱尔兰）都可能有本地区特有的额外公共假日。

英国雇员有权享受各种类型的假期，包括

• 年假：1998 年工作时间条例》规定，工人有权每年休 5.6 周带薪假，其中可包括公共节假日。
• 病假：如果员工因病无法工作，则有权享受长达 28 周的法定病假工资 (SSP)。
• 产假：最长 52 周，带薪假最长 39 周。
• 陪产假：两周带薪休假。
• 共同育儿假：最多 50 周，带薪最多 37 周。
• 育儿假：每个孩子最多 18 周的无薪假期。
• 父母丧假：两周带薪假期。
• 家属假：合理的无薪假期，用于处理涉及受抚养人的紧急情况。
• 陪审员服务：陪审员服务期间的无薪假期。

在英国，终止雇佣关系可能发生在几种情况下：

• 能力：能力： 与员工的工作能力有关。
• 行为：与雇员的行为有关。
• 裁员：当工作不再需要时。
• 非法或违法：如果继续雇用将违反法律。
• 其他实质性原因：证明终止合同是合理的。

雇主必须根据服务年限提供适当的通知期，从一周到 12 周不等。在严重不当行为的情况下，可以不经通知立即解雇。

英国的雇主必须提供某些类型的保险：

• 雇主责任保险：该保险承保雇员因工作受伤或患病而提出的索赔。
• Pension Contributions: Although not a form of insurance, employers must automatically enroll eligible employees into a qualifying workplace pension scheme and make contributions.

You can employ someone in the UK without establishing your own local company by using an Employer of Record, or EOR. The EOR becomes the worker’s legal employer while your organisation manages their day-to-day role.

A UK EOR arrangement can support employment contracts, payroll, tax deductions, statutory benefits and ongoing employment administration. Before the arrangement begins, the proposed role, working practices, right-to-work position and employment status should be reviewed.

Need to employ someone in the UK? Discuss your EOR requirement with us.

The total cost of employing someone in the UK includes more than salary. Depending on the employee and arrangement, it may include employer taxes and National Insurance, workplace pension contributions, paid holiday, statutory payments, benefits and employment administration.

The cost should be calculated using the employee’s salary, working hours, benefits, pension position, employment terms and any immigration requirements. Current tax rates, statutory thresholds and employee entitlements should be applied when the estimate is prepared.

Get a UK employment cost estimate.

A standard EOR cannot sponsor a worker who is supplied to and managed by a client. Home Office guidance does not permit an employment agency, employment business or intermediary to sponsor a worker and then supply that person as labour to another organisation.

The client may be able to hold the sponsor licence and sponsor the worker where it has genuine responsibility for the person’s duties, functions and outputs. Project Global can potentially provide legal employment or payroll administration alongside the client’s sponsorship, but the structure must be reviewed carefully and must comply with National Minimum Wage and Working Time requirements.

Discuss a UK employment and sponsorship structure

Employers must be satisfied that each person they employ has the right to perform the proposed work in the UK. The prescribed check should be completed before employment starts, with a follow-up check where the person has time-limited permission to work.

Depending on the person’s status and documents, the check may be completed using an appropriate manual document check, a digital verification service or the Home Office online checking service. The Employer Checking Service can be used in certain circumstances where the person’s status requires confirmation from the Home Office.

Checks should be applied consistently. Employers should not make assumptions about someone’s right to work based on nationality, name, accent, ethnicity or appearance.

Check the onboarding requirements for your proposed UK worker.

You can engage a genuinely self-employed contractor in the UK, but the arrangement must reflect how the person will work in practice. Using a contractor agreement or requiring the person to work through a limited company does not, by itself, establish self-employed status.

Relevant considerations include whether personal service is required, who controls what work is done and how it is performed, whether there is an obligation to offer and accept work, and whether the individual is genuinely operating an independent business. HMRC’s Check Employment Status for Tax tool can support the tax-status assessment.

IR35 is the common name for the UK’s off-payroll working rules. The rules are intended to ensure that a contractor who provides services through an intermediary, but would have been an employee if engaged directly, pays broadly the same Income Tax and National Insurance as an employee.

IR35 can still be relevant when the contractor provides services through their own limited company. The appropriate assessment depends on the contractual terms and the actual working arrangements, including personal service, control and the parties’ ongoing obligations.

Check whether the proposed engagement may fall within IR35.

The relevant question is not simply where the client is incorporated. The off-payroll position depends on the parties involved, the contractor’s intermediary, the working arrangement and the statutory rules that apply to that engagement.

A cross-border client should not assume that using an overseas company, foreign contract or UK limited-company contractor automatically removes UK tax and classification considerations. The engagement should be reviewed before work begins to establish which party has responsibility for determining status and operating any required deductions.

Request a review of your cross-border contractor arrangement.

A contractor who is treated as self-employed may have to be treated differently for tax or employment-rights purposes if the actual relationship points towards worker or employee status. Potential consequences can include unpaid tax and National Insurance, statutory employment rights, holiday-pay exposure and disputes over responsibility between the parties.

The employment-status label used in the contract is not always decisive. The courts and authorities may consider how the arrangement operates in practice and may disregard written terms that do not reflect the true relationship.
A classification assessment should therefore address both tax status and employment rights rather than treating IR35 as the only relevant risk.

Request a UK worker-classification assessment