When an organisation becomes an employer, ie. pays a regular wage or salary no matter what the size, then it must register with the local Inland Revenue office for PAYE purposes.  This does not necessarily mean that the group will have to run its own payroll, although it may well wish to do so.

Using an internal system means a decision on whether to use a manual system or a computerised package.  An external option might be to use an Agency Payroll Service.  (For advice contact the Community Accountancy Unit at Voluntary Action Luton 01582 706633.)

Employers must display the Certificate of Employer Liability insurance at the place of work.  (See section 7 for more detail)

• Employers must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of their employees and must display the Health & Safety Executive poster at the place of work.  (See section 9 for more information)
  
• Employers must provide a Contract of Employment within two months of the employee starting work.  Standard documents may be obtained from Voluntary Action Luton and adjusted appropriately to meet the needs of individual organisations.  Often where a group is affiliated to a national body, eg. MIND for mental health charities, a set of employment documents form part of the national provision.

Similarly, Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures are documents which can be adjusted to the needs of each organisation and can be obtained through agencies such as Voluntary Action Luton.

Tips for the New Employer

• Allow sufficient time for the development of job descriptions, recruitment processes (advertising and interviewing) to take place and the potential working notice of the selected candidate when planning a start date.
• Take up  references
• Prepare the Terms and Conditions (Salary, salary scale, pension, hours of work, holidays, etc.) and a clear Job Description.
• If the organisation has an Equal Opportunities Policy, ensure that the recruitment documentation reflects this.
• Prepare Contracts of Employment documentation.
• Prepare Disciplinary and Grievance Procedure documentation.
• Organise the PAYE systems if this is not already in place.
• Ensure appropriate insurance is in place – see section 7.
• Prepare an induction schedule so that the new employee can learn not only what is expected from the job, but also how and where to find things.
• Decide a clear line management system with a single line manager.  Avoid the confusion of management by committee, or where more than one line manager is used, and lead to varied interpretations of the aims of the job.
• Provide reporting structures/support.
• Outline a work programme, preferably for a minimum of the first year.
• Set a number of targets.  Be realistic and not over ambitious, particularly where a new post has to establish itself.
• Use a regular appraisal system to support the worker and to provide an early warning of problems.  Use this system to check that the activities being undertaken are meeting the targets.  This element might also identify where adjustments are needed to the work programme, if appropriate.  Care should be taken to ensure that the organisations’ overall aims are being met.
• Identify where training will enhance the work.
• Require period reports in writing from the worker or his/her superior which show the progress and activity in each discrete area of interest.   A prof orma could be used to encourage this to happen in a useful format that might later provide information to a funder. 
• Funders often require reports which specify what targets are to be met and how this is to be achieved, therefore a mixture of data collection and interpretation is needed.  This sounds onerous but is not, if the data collection begins at the very start of the project.
• Employers must make sure that sufficient funds are available in the organisation accounts to deal with payroll commitments and ensure that reserves can accommodate costs of redundancy should this become necessary.  In the early years this might be very low but could grow.  Managing redundancy situations can be very stressful but further advice can be sought from organisations such as Voluntary Action Luton or Luton Law Centre.

The Department of Trade and Industry leaflet Redundancy Payments PL808 provides further details.

Documents to be aware of:

• Employment Rights Act 1996

• Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992

• Disability Discrimination Act 1995