Finding jobs in the UK
After you have had some time to settle into your life in the UK, you will most likely want to start looking for work in your area. We have made this simple resource to help guide you through the process of finding and applying for jobs in the UK.
How to find work in the UK
Once you have applied and received your National Insurance number, you will be able to work in the UK. It is important that you know your rights as a worker, and make sure that you are being treated fairly with your employer.
There are many ways that you can find jobs in the UK. For most jobs, you will need to have a CV. You can find tips and guidance on how to write a CV here.
The most common way to find jobs is through the internet, but you may also be able to find notices for jobs in restaurants, bars, and pubs around town too.
You can look through the below websites, which are trusted sites to find jobs in the UK.
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Indeed.co.ukIndeed.co.uk
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Monster.co.ukMonster.co.uk
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Glassdoor.co.ukGlassdoor.co.uk
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Reed.co.ukReed.co.uk
What to be aware of
Working and Benefits
If you are getting Universal Credit you will need to let the Jobcentre know as soon as you have found a job. Universal Credit will not stop immediately after you have found a job, instead the Jobcentre is going to reduce the amount you receive depending on how much your salary is going to be. There are benefit calculators you can use to understand how working will affect your benefits. We recommend using the one developed by Policy in Practice. It is best to check the impact your job will have on benefits before you accept the job offer, simply to avoid any unpleasant surprises.
Once you have found a job it may be worth asking the Jobcentre if they have any additional support available for those starting to work after a period of unemployment. At times Jobcentres may be able to help by, for example, funding a bus pass for the first month or contributing towards a cost of work clothes.
Work and taxes
When working in the UK you will not pay tax or National Insurance contribution if you earn less than £12,500 per year. For anything you earn over £12,500 a year you will pay 20% of tax and 13.25% of National Insurance contributions. For earnings above £50,270, you will pay 40% of tax and for earnings above £150,000, it is 45% of tax.
When you start a new employment, or when you have more than one job, then you may at times have the emergency tax rate applied to you (marked BR on your payslip). This means that the UK Tax Office (HMRC) is not sure exactly how much tax you should pay. A 20% rate of tax will be applied to all of your income as they establish exactly how much you should pay. Whenever that happens you can ask for a refund of any taxes you have overpaid. You can learn more about emergency rate of tax here.
If you are employed then you will not have to submit a tax return at the end of the year, as your taxes will automatically be processed and calculated by your employer and HMRC.
