Setting up in the UK: Employment concerns

A favourable business regime and a long-standing relationship with India make the UK an attractive option for Indian companies. To run the operation, many Indian companies setting up in the UK mix secondees from India with UK nationals directly employed by the UK subsidiary. However, the employment relationship in the UK is heavily regulated and there are some significant employment rights to be aware of.

Any secondee from India will have the benefit of many of the same UK statutory employment rights as their UK colleagues. This is because under EU law, mandatory rules of the country in which an employee works apply automatically. UK statutory employment rights may therefore apply to Indian workers seconded to the UK, even if their contracts state that the terms of their contracts are governed by the laws of India.

Key rights

Employees in the UK are entitled to a written statement of terms and conditions that clearly sets out key elements of the employment relationship, e.g. pay, holiday entitlement, pension, notice of termination. There are laws on maximum working hours (with limited provisions for employees to contract out) and minimum annual holiday entitlement and minimum rates of pay.

Graham Shaw is a partner and Harry Parker is an associate at TLT LLP.