UK HR software for small business

The record that is also your defence

Most of what a UK employer writes down is there to get a number right: a holiday balance, a sick pay week, a pension deduction. If the note goes missing, you redo the sum. The right to work file is different, because the note is the proof. gov.uk warns that you could face a civil penalty if you employ an illegal worker and have not carried out a correct right to work check, and it puts the penalty at up to £60,000 for each illegal worker. Penalty rules do change, so check the figure on gov.uk before you rely on it.

The timing rule on gov.uk is plain: you must check that a job applicant is allowed to work for you in the UK before you employ them. It does not give a number of days, so the safe habit is to finish the check before the start date, not on the first morning.

How long the copy has to exist

gov.uk says to keep copies during the applicant's employment and for 2 years after they stop working for you. That is the clock to remember, because it starts on the leaving date, not the starting date. A person who joined in 2026 and leaves in 2031 needs a file that survives until 2033.

What the file holds

• A copy of the evidence you checked, or the result of the online check.
• The date you did the check and the name of the person who did it.
• The date employment ended, once it has, so the 2 year clock has a start.

Online, paper and the awkward case

Online, the check is done with a share code or through an identity service provider using identity document validation technology (IDVT). One practical trap: British and Irish citizens cannot get an online share code, so they need a different route. The paper route and the finer rules sit in the Home Office employer guide. Use it for anything unusual, such as a worker with a time limited visa.

For a small business the lesson is about where the copy lives. A scan in someone's downloads folder, or an email that gets archived, is a file nobody will find in year three. One named place, with the check date and a leaving date field, is what turns a check you did into a check you can show.

The four smaller records

Statutory sick pay

gov.uk says an employee can get up to £123.25 a week of Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), paid by the employer for up to 28 weeks. ACAS puts the amount as £123.25 a week or 80% of the worker's average weekly earnings, whichever is lower, with average earnings taken from the 8 weeks before the absence. ACAS also says that since 6 April 2026 SSP is paid from the first day of sickness absence instead of the fourth, so the old waiting days are gone.

What to keep: the first and last day of each absence so the 28 weeks can be counted, the date the employee told you, any fit note, and enough pay history for the 8 week average. For how long to keep SSP and payroll records, ask HMRC or your payroll provider, because this page does not state a period.

Holiday

The statutory minimum is 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year, which is 28 days for someone working five days a week and is the cap. gov.uk's own part-time example is three days a week, which gives 16.8 days (3 x 5.6). Bank or public holidays may be included as part of the statutory leave, so "28 days including bank holidays" is a lawful way to write a contract, as long as the total reaches the minimum.

Small teams slip on three things: giving part-timers a flat 25 days instead of a pro rata figure, mid-year starters and leavers without a written rounding policy, and irregular hours, where entitlement accrues from hours worked. Our UK holiday entitlement calculator does the part-time sum in one step.

Workplace pension

gov.uk says automatic enrolment applies to workers aged between 22 and State Pension age who earn at least £10,000 a year. The minimum total contribution is 8%, with the employer paying at least 3%, on earnings between £6,240 and £50,270 a year. Confirm the band for the current tax year on gov.uk.

The Pensions Regulator says most records are kept for six years and opt-out notices for four. Opt-in, joining and opt-out notices must be kept in the original format as proof of a person exercising a right, though copies or electronically stored versions are acceptable if they stay legible.

Working time

gov.uk says you cannot work more than 48 hours a week on average, normally averaged over 17 weeks, and some workers can opt out. ACAS says an employer does not need to record every daily hour, but must keep records that prove workers are not working more than the weekly maximum, for 2 years from the date they were made. For a small business, a weekly timesheet or clock-in record for the people who might approach 48 hours is the usual answer.

The formulas behind the calculators

Written out so you can check them by hand, or test them.

holiday_days = min(28, 5.6 x days_worked_per_week)
weekly_ssp   = min(123.25, 0.80 x average_weekly_earnings)
qualifying   = max(0, min(earnings, upper_limit) - lower_limit)
employer_min = 0.03 x qualifying
total_min    = 0.08 x qualifying

Worked examples: five days a week gives 5.6 x 5 = 28 days. Three days gives 5.6 x 3 = 16.8 days, the same example gov.uk uses. Four days gives 22.4. Six days gives 33.6, which is capped to 28. For sick pay, average weekly earnings of £100 give 0.8 x 100 = £80.00 a week, below the flat rate. Earnings of £200 give £160, so the £123.25 flat rate applies. For a salary of £30,000, qualifying earnings are 30,000 minus 6,240 = £23,760, and the employer minimum of 3% is £712.80 a year.

When the real answer differs

• Contract. Your contract can give more than the statutory minimum for holiday or sick pay. The calculators show the floor.
• Irregular hours or part-year workers. Holiday accrues from hours actually worked, and gov.uk has its own calculator for that. Rounding to the nearest half day is an employer policy choice.
• Average weekly earnings. ACAS says they are worked out from the 8 weeks before the absence. What counts as earnings is for your payroll software to confirm.
• Pension definitions. Which pay counts, and the exact band for the tax year, are for your payroll software and provider to confirm.

Where HR FLARE fits, and where it stops

HR FLARE is an HR record keeper, not a payroll or compliance service. Used well, it gives the records above one home.

• The right to work file. Documents hold the copy and the check date. A leaving date on the employee record gives you the point from which the 2 years run. It does not carry out the check, and it will not remind you of a visa expiry unless you set one up yourself.
• Leave and hours. Requests, approvals, balances, carry-over and public holidays, plus clock in and out and timesheets with approval. You enter the entitlement yourself, so you type in your statutory floor or contract figure. Employees give a free-text reason when they ask for leave.
• Signed paperwork. Contracts and notices you hold can be signed by two parties and stored. The team week is planned by each person for themselves, with approved leave shown on top. There is no manager rota.
• Payroll records. Payslips with gross, deductions and net, as records.

What it does not do: it does not verify right to work, calculate PAYE, National Insurance, SSP or pension contributions, file anything with HMRC, or send data to a pension provider. gov.uk describes employers reporting pay and deductions in a Full Payment Submission using payroll software, and that is a separate tool. Your payroll software owns the money, your pension provider owns the scheme, and the monthly hand-off between them is a list of absences and hours.

Cost: free to get started for up to 5 employees, then flat monthly prices in US dollars on the pricing page, starting at $29 for up to 10 employees. For a wider comparison see free HR software or the general small business guide.

Build the right to work file first

• Gather. List everyone currently employed and find where each person's check evidence is today.
• Scan. Put each copy in one place, named by person, with the check date.
• Gaps. Mark anyone with no copy and no date. Those are the people to talk to your adviser about, not to guess at.
• Leavers. Record the leaving date on each leaver so you know when the 2 years end.
• Starters. Add the check to your offer process, so it is done before the start date.
• Then the rest. Set holiday entitlements, switch on hours for the people you must evidence, and write down who owns the monthly hand-off to payroll.

Sources

Sources checked on 6 October 2026. Rules and rates change, so check the page itself before you act. This page is general information, not legal advice.

• gov.uk: Check a job applicant's right to work
• gov.uk: Penalties for employing illegal workers
• gov.uk: SSP, how much you'll get
• gov.uk: SSP eligibility
• ACAS: Statutory sick pay
• gov.uk: Holiday entitlement
• gov.uk: Joining a workplace pension
• gov.uk: What you, your employer and the government pay
• The Pensions Regulator: Keeping records
• gov.uk: Maximum weekly working hours
• ACAS: Working time rules
• gov.uk: Running payroll
• HR FLARE pricing