Overseas Employers
We have a wealth of experience of working with organisations based abroad, providing HR, employment law and immigration support in relation to their employees here in the UK.
Engaging staff, contracts & HR policies
When you choose to take on staff in the UK you will need to decide whether they will be employees, workers or self-employed. This will affect their employment rights, your obligations as employer and the way they treated for tax purposes.
Note too that whilst we talk about ‘UK’ law there are differences in the laws in England & Wales and those in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
We can help you determine the most appropriate way to engage the staff you intend to have working for you in the UK and then to understand your minimum statutory obligations as an organisation.
Both employees and workers are now entitled to a written statement of their terms and conditions before they start work. The law sets out the minimum information that must be provided, such as job title or description; place of work; pay; benefits; hours; holiday; notice periods, training entitlements and requirements. They must also receive details of where to access information such as disciplinary and grievance procedures, pensions and any sick pay arrangements. We can help you understand your minimum statutory obligations and share our knowledge of current best practice.
Once you have decided on the terms of your offer of employment we can provide you with a suitable UK compliant contract and the HR policies and procedures you require as well as those that may be also desirable given the nature of your business.
Pensions and employee benefits
If you are engaging an employee in the UK for the first time you will need help understanding your obligations under the current auto enrolment pension rules. We can put you in touch with our partners who can advise you on your legal obligations and help set up a suitable pension scheme for your employees.
Similarly, we work with partners who can advise on the options available to you in terms of employee benefits, including private medical insurance, income protection, life assurance and critical illness insurance and also the relevant tax implications.
You will also want to consider putting in place employers’ liability insurance which is designed to protect employers from compensation costs for illness or injury arising from the work your employees do for you. There is a legal requirement if your business employs one or more people and you can be fined for failing to comply. We can also refer you on for advice on the best policy for your business.
Managing the employment relationship
Whether it is help inducting a new employee, appraising your existing staff, dealing with a disciplinary or grievance matter, planning and bringing about a business reorganisation, making redundancies or dealing with any other day to day HR and employment matter, we can help guide you through the process so that you can ensure that you remain compliant with the relevant UK employment laws.
If you need additional personnel on the ground here in the UK, whether it’s conducting a difficult meeting or hearing a disciplinary or grievance appeal, for example, we can help or refer you to one of our well regarded and experienced HR professionals to assist you whilst we remain your legal advisers, ensuring therefore that you are fully supported throughout the matter.
Our team of lawyers are all highly experienced in advising on the wide range of employment matters. Please refer to our HR and Employment Law page for more information.
Immigration support
The UK has rules in place to prevent businesses from employing illegal workers. It is a criminal offence if you know or have reasonable cause to know that you have employed an illegal worker and you may be fined or face imprisonment. It is essential therefore that you carry out right to work checks on all staff you are employing in the UK, even if you believe they are UK citizens.
We can help you understand your obligations under the current immigration laws and support you through any immigration process you may need to engage in. Please refer to our Immigration Services page for more information.
Contact Us
Do get in touch if you would like to discuss an HR or employment law enquiry
Joanna Atkinson
Practice Director
Feedback from our clients
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We’ve been working with JMA HR & Legal Limited for a couple of years now, and we’ve always been very satisfied with the services they provide.
Thank you… you’ve worked like a demon and with good results!
Joanna provided first class service to me during a very difficult time both professionally and personally. She is one of those rare individuals who follows through on commitments, she calls when she says she will, she provides accurate documents on time and ensures that the transactions are completed in a professional and timely manner thus reducing your stress at what can be a difficult time. I highly recommend Joanna’s work.
Thank you very much for your prompt and efficient work on this negotiation but most of all for communicating the various issues to me in such an understandable and most of all friendly way.
I have worked with Joanna for a number of years… I have always received extremely clear, concise and pragmatic legal advice. Joanna is professional and creative with a great sensitivity to the situation and cultural context. Her guidance and direction is second to none.
Thank you for the professional, careful & efficient service!
I can’t recommend Joanna highly enough, she helped me to resolve a difficult situation, she was professional, supportive and gave thorough, clear and excellent advice. Joanna made a difficult situation seem stress free. Thank-you.
Joanna has an eye for detail but remains pragmatic. She wants the best for her clients and ensures that the advice she gives is useful and actionable. I have worked with Joanna on more than one occasion and every time she has made me feel like I’m her only client.
Joanna: good listener, provides specific & personalised advice, is to the point, flexible and dedicated to deliver results.
Happy Customer!
Being an overseas company we’re not that familiar with the particularities of the UK social legislation and it’s very comforting to know that we can count on Joanna’s expertise.
I was extremely impressed by Joanna, she quickly understood what I needed assistance with. Her advice was clear, and gave me the confidence to quickly resolve a situation. I would have no hesitation in recommending Joanna to anyone needing legal, business advice.
We are a relatively small charity where sound external HR advice is needed. My experience of JMA HR and Legal is that they provided the appropriate level advice and service that we needed. In dealing with difficult issues, they showed an understanding and sensitivity, which gave us a path through it. All communication was clear and practical. Creating and advising on contracts and legal frameworks helped our charity run more efficiently.
It’s been an extremely upsetting time for me. Verity, thank you so much for your professionalism and pragmatism. For fighting my corner when I felt defeated; and for steering a calm path when I was finding it hard to regulate my feelings. I’m in a position to reset and re-evaluate in my own time thanks to you. Its all very much appreciated.
Verity really helped me navigate a very unsettling time. I can’t recommend her/them enough. She was sympathetic, knowledgeable, timely and a great ear. I felt with her help that I was able to navigate and be well prepared for the inevitable internal meetings which were very unnerving. With her great advice, I felt less alone, able to defend myself but also stay true to my own core values through the process. Good realistic advice about what you can achieve and how you can achieve it at this time is actually priceless. A great firm which I will now return to at the start of my new roles (new employment contracts) but hopefully not need them again at the end!
Verity provided the best service I could have possibly asked for in what was a very difficult situation both professionally and personally. Verity walked through everything in a clear and calm manner which really put me at ease. She was there for support and questions at all hours which I can not thank her for enough. I would not think twice about recommending Verity and the team to anyone who requires HR legal advice.
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