Business setup staff

Business set-up: 4. Staff

If you are purchasing the business as a going concern all the existing staff are covered by The Contract of Undertaking Legislation. This, in its simplest explanation, means that you have to take on all the staff under their existing terms and conditions.

You are advised to take professional advice before you alter any of their hours, rates of pay or other terms e.g. holiday pay.

This advice may be available through ACAS, the Citizens Advice Bureau or your solicitor.

Task	Comments
Obtain existing staff rota and all personal records of existing staff	If you intend to do PAYE yourself but have not yet received the information you may need to temporarily use your accountant. If you are using your accountant anyway you need to supply him with the staff information, including rates of pay.
Complete your own staff rota	You may be bringing staff with you and / or you and your partner may expect to work. You will have forecast staff hours and costs in your business plan. You may find initially that your staff rota is top heavy if you inherit a lot of staff. Again, you will need to take professional advice as how to deal with this.
Ascertain staff training records	Have they undergone any formal training? What experience do they have?
Recruit staff	If this is necessary then you will need to start this process at least 4 weeks prior to the day of change. This may need to be even earlier if your require specialist chefs or cooks.
Provide employment contracts	You are legally obliged to provide all staff with an employment contract. These are fairly standard and can be obtained from a business stationery supplier.

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