Collective agreements

An employer may have an agreement with employees’ representatives (from trade unions or staff associations) that allows negotiations of terms and conditions like pay or working hours. This is called a collective agreement.

The terms of the agreement could include:

  • how negotiations will be organised
  • who will represent employees
  • which employees are covered by the agreement
  • which terms and conditions the agreement will cover
  1. Step 1 Check this process is right for you

    Follow these steps if you're taking on someone with the employment status of 'employee'.

    1. Check who counts as an employee

    There are other steps you may need to take first if you have not employed someone before.

    1. Get ready to employ someone for the first time

    The rules are different if you want to take on someone with another type of employment status, such as agency staff, freelancers, consultants and contractors.

    1. Check your responsibilities when you take on someone with a different employment status and contract type
  2. Step 2 Recruit someone

    You need to advertise the role and interview candidates. You can use a recruitment agency to do this or do it yourself.

    1. Find out about recruiting someone yourself on Acas

    As an employer you must make sure you recruit employees fairly.

    1. Avoid discrimination during recruitment
    2. Make your application process accessible for employees with disabilities or health conditions
  3. and Check they have the right to work in the UK

  4. and Find out which DBS check is right for your employee

    You may need to check if someone has a criminal record, for example, if they'll be working in healthcare or with children. This is known as a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

    1. Find out which DBS check is right for your employee
    2. How to do a DBS check
  5. Step 3 Check if they need to be put into a workplace pension

  6. Step 4 Agree a contract and salary

  7. Step 5 Tell HMRC about your new employee