HR and employment support for the UK team

An employee working in the UK is covered by UK employment law regardless of what their contract says or which country's entity signs it. Groups arriving from the United States in particular find this the largest single adjustment, because there is no at-will employment: ending someone's employment requires a fair reason and a fair process, and getting either wrong is a claim.

What the law requires from day one

• A written statement of the main terms of employment, on or before the first day. Not within two months, on the first day.
• A right-to-work check completed and recorded before the employee starts. The penalty for employing someone without permission is severe and falls on the company.
• 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year, which includes bank holidays unless the contract says otherwise.
• Statutory sick pay from the fourth day of absence, and statutory maternity, paternity and shared parental pay.
• Auto-enrolment into a workplace pension with a minimum employer contribution.
• Employers' liability insurance of at least £5 million from the day of the first hire.

What we provide

Buzz delivers the HR layer with two named partners: an HR consultancy for documents, day-to-day advice and casework, and an employment solicitor for escalation and tribunal work. Employment law changes constantly and a general practice that covers it in-house is a risk to the client.

• Contracts and handbook. A UK contract for each role and a handbook covering the policies UK law expects: disciplinary, grievance, absence, holiday, family leave, equality, data protection and IT. Quoted as one job.
• Day-to-day advice. A named HR adviser for the questions that come up weekly once you have staff, from probation to flexible working requests.
• Casework and escalation. Disciplinary, grievance, performance, sickness and redundancy, run correctly, with an employment solicitor available where it becomes legal rather than procedural.
• The payroll side is run by Buzz directly and is covered on the payroll page.

Two limits

Immigration advice is a regulated activity in the UK and Buzz does not provide it. Where the company needs a sponsor licence or a visa for a hire, we introduce an immigration adviser and make sure the payroll and company records support the sponsor duties. And our HR delivery covers England, Wales and Scotland; Northern Ireland employment law differs in several respects and we will say so rather than apply the wrong rules.