Contract types and employer responsibilities

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Employing family, young people and volunteers

Family

If you hire family members you must:

  • avoid special treatment in terms of pay, promotion and working conditions
  • make sure tax and National Insurance contributions are still paid
  • follow working time regulations for younger family members
  • have employer’s liability insurance that covers any young family members
  • check if you need to provide them with a workplace pension scheme

Volunteers and voluntary staff

When taking on volunteers or voluntary staff you:

  • are responsible for their health and safety
  • must give inductions and training in the tasks they’re going to do

Young people

You can employ young people if they are 13 or over but there are special rules about how long they can work and what jobs they can do. Once someone is 18 they’re classed as an ‘adult worker’ and different rules apply.

As well as following these rules you must do a risk assessment before taking on young workers.

Young people may also have certain employment rights like:

  • statutory maternity pay and ordinary statutory paternity pay if they qualify as a result of their continuous employment
  • paid time off for study and training
  • redundancy pay

Young workers and apprentices have different rates from adult workers for the National Minimum Wage.

View a printable version of the whole guide

Part of Get your business ready to employ staff: step by step

  1. Step 1 Decide what type of employee you need

    1. Check whether you need full time or part time staff
    2. Check the different types of employment status

  2. and Check you can afford to take on employees

    1. Check how much the National Minimum Wage is
    2. Find out how much National Insurance you need to pay for your employees
    3. Check how much sick pay your employees are eligible for
    4. Check how much you need to pay towards your employee's pension
    5. Check how much Maternity Leave you need to pay your employees
    6. Check how much Paternity Leave you need to pay your employees

  3. Step 2 Make your workplace safe and accessible for employees

    1. Prevent discrimination
    2. Make your workplace accessible for employees with disabilities or health conditions
    3. Keep employee information and data safe
    4. Fire safety
    5. Health and safety

    You also need to make checks when you recruit and employ someone.

    1. Find out what you need to check when you employ someone

  4. Step 3 Register as an employer and set up PAYE

    You need to register with HMRC so you can pay tax and national insurance for your employees.

    1. Register as an employer and set up PAYE
    2. Choose how to run payroll
    3. If you decide to run payroll yourself, choose payroll software

  5. Step 4 Check your responsibilities around workplace pensions

    1. Understand your pension responsibilities as an employer

  6. Step 5 Get Employers' Liability insurance

    1. Find out about Employers' Liability insurance

  7. Step 6 Recruit and employ staff

    1. Employ someone