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Hiring staff: a step-by-step restaurant checklist ​

Taking someone on at a restaurant, café, pub or takeaway brings duties that start before the job advert and carry on for months after the first shift. Most of them are simple, but they come from different places: HMRC, the Home Office, employment law, food safety and pensions. This checklist puts them in the order you meet them, with a link to the guide that covers each step in full. It is written for owners and managers; the section near the end is for the new starter.

1. Before you take anyone on ​

  • Work out their employment status. Employee, worker or self-employed decides their rights and how you pay tax on what you pay them, and it is how the arrangement works in practice that counts, not what you call it.
  • Get employers’ liability insurance from the day you become an employer: at least £5 million of cover from an authorised insurer, with the certificate on display (it can be shown electronically). Going without can cost up to £2,500 for every day.
  • Register as an employer with HMRC before your first payday, and no more than two months before it. You will then run payroll and report pay to HMRC on or before each payday.

Full guide: before you hire staff.

2. Advertising, interviews and the offer ​

  • Advertise and interview fairly. Do not word an advert or ask questions in a way that rules people out because of a protected characteristic, such as age, sex, race, religion or disability. Ask for a date of birth only if the job needs a minimum age, for example selling alcohol.
  • Leave health questions until after the offer, apart from the narrow exceptions the Equality Act allows, such as whether someone needs an adjustment for the interview.
  • Make the offer in writing and say what it depends on, such as references and a right to work check.

Full guide: before you hire staff.

3. Before the first shift ​

  • Check the right to work of every new starter, British citizens included, the same way for everyone, before they start. Keep a copy that cannot be altered and the date of the check. A correct check protects you from a civil penalty of up to £45,000 per illegal worker.
  • Under 18? School-age children can usually work part-time only from 14 (13 in some council areas), within strict hours, and most councils want a work permit. Young workers aged 16 and 17 can work no more than 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week. Assess the risks for young people before they start.

Full guides: right to work checks and employing under-18s.

4. On the first day ​

  • Give the written statement of employment particulars, on or before the first day, to employees and workers alike. Some details can follow within two months.
  • Set them up on payroll: ask for their P45, or for the starter checklist information if they have no P45, and their National Insurance number. Report them to HMRC on or before their first payday.
  • Train them before they work alone: food hygiene supervision and instruction for anyone handling food, allergens, health and safety, and what to do in a fire. A food hygiene certificate is not a legal requirement, but keep a record of the training you give.
  • Show them the tipping policy if your business takes tips.

Full guide: a new starter’s contract, payroll and first day.

5. Pay, hours and holiday from the first week ​

  • Pay at least the minimum wage for their age, for every hour they work. Tips and service charges do not count towards it.
  • Holiday: 5.6 weeks a year, capped at 28 days. For staff with irregular hours, holiday can build up at 12.07% of the hours they work.
  • Working time: no more than 48 hours a week on average unless they opt out in writing, a 20-minute break when they work more than 6 hours, and 11 hours’ rest between working days.
  • Payslips on or before every payday, showing the hours when pay varies with the time worked.
  • Sick pay: Statutory Sick Pay is paid from the first day of sickness for those who qualify, new starters included.
  • Records: keep holiday records for 6 years and working time records for 2.

Full guides: the minimum wage and holiday, working hours and breaks.

6. In the first weeks and months ​

  • Workplace pension: assess each new starter from their first day, write to them within six weeks, and enrol everyone who qualifies.
  • Tips: pass on tips in full, by the end of the following month, under a written policy every member of staff can see.
  • Probation: not required by law and can be any length; day-one rights apply during it.

Full guides: workplace pensions and the tipping law.

For the new starter ​

Bring: proof of your right to work (or a share code), your National Insurance number, your P45 or the details for the starter checklist, your bank details, and an emergency contact if asked.

You should get: a written statement on your first day, a payslip every payday, at least the minimum wage for your age, paid holiday, rest breaks, training before you work alone, the tipping policy and a letter about the workplace pension. More in a new starter’s contract, payroll and first day.

What changes next ​

Under the Employment Rights Act 2025, the qualifying period for protection from unfair dismissal falls from two years to six months for dismissals that take effect on or after 1 January 2027. Several other changes in the Act had not been given a start date when this guide was checked.

How this works in Yumee ​

Yumee’s staff time app keeps each team member’s record in one place, including their date of birth, National Insurance number, contract type and start date. Staff clock in and out with their own PIN on the till or a clock-in tablet, record their breaks at clock-out, and their hours flow into timesheets and payroll exports. Holiday can build up at 12.07% of the hours worked or come from a fixed yearly allowance, with a balance for every person. The app keeps your written tipping policy, and if you switch on its working-time checks it flags anyone averaging more than 48 hours a week or missing their rest or breaks, based on their actual clock-ins. The checks in this guide remain yours to carry out.

Sources ​

This guide is general information, not legal advice. For your own business, ask an employment adviser, Acas or a solicitor.