Step 1
Check who you're hiring
We work out if your person is truly an employee, so you start on the right footing.
Status advisor
Is this an employee?
Set hours & a fixed rateEmployee
Works only for you
Sends their own invoices
For your first hire
Hire your first employee. Legally. Without a £2,000 accountant bill.
One guided path through all eight legal duties — employment status, PAYE registration, a written contract, right-to-work checks, workplace pension, employer's liability insurance, payslips and record-keeping — for £14.99 a month.
No card requiredBuilt for UK sole tradersCancel any time
Compliance dashboard
Everything the law asks of you, in one place.
8
of 8 met
Registered with HMRCDone
Contract issued & verifiedDone
Pension set upDone
Already employing people?
FirstEmployer checks what you've got, finds the gaps, and keeps you compliant.
The stakes
Getting it wrong is expensive. Getting it right is £14.99.
£45,000
Maximum civil penalty per illegal worker.
Home Office, 2024
£2,500/day
Fine for trading without employer's liability insurance.
Health & Safety Executive
2,438
Illegal-working penalties issued to employers in 2025.
Home Office, 2025
£130m+
Total penalties issued to UK employers over the period.
Home Office, 2025
How it works
Eight legal duties. Six guided steps. One clear path.
You answer plain questions. We do the legal work, generate the documents, and keep watch after your first hire starts.
Step 2
Set yourself up as an employer
Register for PAYE with HMRC, sort payroll and a pension — one task at a time.
Your setup
5 of 7 done
Register with HMRCDone
Set up the pensionNext
Step 3
Generate a verified contract
One AI writes the contract; a second, independent AI checks it against the law.
Document
Contract of employment
Passed all 13 checksVerified
Ready to sign & send
Step 4
Check their right to work
We guide the check in minutes and store the proof that gives you a legal defence.
Right to work
Who can work for you
Aisha — checked & storedValid
Follow-up due 30 Sep 2026Reminder set
Step 5
See everything in one place
Your live dashboard shows every duty at a glance — and turns green when you're compliant.
Compliance dashboard
8 of 8 met
All duties compliantAll green
Step 6
Ask anything, any time
The assistant answers in plain English, grounded in official guidance — and knows its limits.
Assistant · grounded in official guidance
Can I just sack someone in probation?
Letting someone go is a legal decision, even in probation. Here's the safe next move…
Why you can trust the documents
One AI writes it. A second, independent AI checks it.
Your contract is checked against 13 separate legal requirements before it ever reaches you. If it fails a single one, it goes back — you only ever see documents that passed.
Read how the Examiner worksContract of employment
DO Plumbing & Heating Ltd · 14 Mar 2026Written statement of particulars
Employment Rights Act 1996, section 1
Your employee must be given a written statement of their main terms — pay, hours, holiday — on or before their first day.
Read the official guidanceLawful notice periods
Employment Rights Act 1996, section 86
There's a legal minimum amount of notice you must give an employee, which grows with their length of service.
Read the official guidanceAt least the National Minimum Wage
National Minimum Wage Act 1998
You must pay at least the legal minimum for your employee's age. We check the rate against the current bands for you.
Read the official guidanceWho it's for
Real first hires, handled properly.
Three common situations we see every week. Names are illustrative — the duties are exactly the same.
Photo — Dave in his van
DavePlumber · Walsall
Dave is taking on his first apprentice. He's never run payroll and doesn't know if he needs a pension. FirstEmployer walks him through HMRC registration, writes the apprentice's contract, and sets a reminder for the pension.
All 8 duties met in a weekendPhoto — Amara at her salon
AmaraSalon owner · Leicester
Amara is hiring a stylist and worried about getting the right-to-work check wrong. She does the guided check in minutes, stores the proof, and gets a follow-up reminder before the visa expires — a legal defence, kept safe.
Right-to-work proof, storedPhoto — Yusuf at his counter
YusufTakeaway owner · Bradford
Yusuf has two staff on cash-in-hand and knows it's a risk. He moves them onto proper contracts with payslips and insurance, and now sees every duty on one dashboard — green, and monitored as the law changes.
From at-risk to all greenAn honest comparison
Do it yourself, pay an accountant, or use us.
We're not right for every business. Here's the honest picture, so you can decide.
Do it yourself
High-street accountant
FirstEmployer
Upfront cost
£0
£500–£2,000
£14.99/mo
Ongoing monitoring
You remember it all
Only when you ask
Live dashboard
Documents legally checked
Up to you
By one person
13-point Examiner
Updated when the law changes
No
At their pace
Automatically
Pricing
One price. No accountant's invoice.
Start free. Move up only when you're ready to hire. Cancel any time.
Check
See where you stand
Free
No card required
- 2-minute readiness check
- Your eight duties, explained
- Employment status advisor
Most popular
Launch
Everything to hire your first employee
£14.99/month
Billed monthly · cancel any time
- Everything in Check
- Verified contracts & documents
- Right-to-work checks & storage
- Live compliance dashboard
- AI assistant, grounded in guidance
Grow
For a small, growing team
£24.99/month
Billed monthly · cancel any time
- Everything in Launch
- Up to 10 employees
- Multiple contract templates
- Priority support
Questions
The things first-time employers ask us.
Straight answers. If yours isn't here, the assistant can help.
Yes. By law you must give every employee a written statement of their main employment terms — including pay, hours and holiday — on or before their first day of work. This is required under the Employment Rights Act 1996. FirstEmployer generates a compliant written contract that includes every particular the law requires.
It might be, but you have no way to know. A general chatbot won't reliably include every legal particular, and it can invent clauses that don't apply in the UK. Every FirstEmployer contract is checked by a second, independent AI against 13 separate legal requirements before you see it — so you never rely on an unchecked document.
They are: confirming employment status, registering as an employer for PAYE with HMRC, issuing a written contract, checking the person's right to work, enrolling them in a workplace pension, taking out employer's liability insurance, running payroll with payslips, and keeping proper records. FirstEmployer guides you through all eight in one place.
A high-street accountant typically charges between £500 and £2,000 to set you up as an employer, plus ongoing monthly fees for payroll. FirstEmployer covers the same setup and keeps monitoring your compliance for £14.99 a month, with no large upfront bill and the freedom to cancel whenever you choose.
Before anyone starts, you must confirm they are legally allowed to work in the UK and keep proof. Done correctly, this gives you a statutory defence against a penalty of up to £45,000 per illegal worker. FirstEmployer guides the check step by step and stores the evidence securely, with reminders before any visa expires.
Usually, yes. Under auto-enrolment rules, most employees aged 22 or over earning above the threshold must be enrolled in a workplace pension, even if you employ only one person. FirstEmployer checks whether your employee qualifies and walks you through setting up a compliant scheme and your contributions.
No. FirstEmployer provides guidance and generates documents based on current UK employment law — it is not a substitute for a solicitor's advice on your specific situation. For genuinely contentious matters, such as a dismissal that could reach a tribunal, we tell you plainly and point you to professional help.
Your compliance is monitored on a live dashboard, and when the law changes we update the affected duties and flag anything you need to act on. You don't have to track legislation yourself. This ongoing monitoring is included in your subscription at no extra cost, so a duty that's green today stays reliably green.
Find out if you're ready to hire.
A free, two-minute check tells you exactly where you stand across all eight legal duties. No card, no jargon.
Trusted by first-time employers across the UK · £14.99/month · cancel any time