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’ve 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 for and received your National Insurance Number, you will be able to work in the UK. It’s important that you know your rights as a worker in the UK, 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’ll 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 these websites, which are trusted sites to find jobs in the UK;
-
Indeed.co.ukIndeed.co.uk
-
Monster.co.ukMonster.co.uk
-
Glassdoor.co.ukGlassdoor.co.uk
-
Reed.co.ukReed.co.uk
Other important information
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 automatically as soon as you 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 find out 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 to avoid any unpleasant surprises.
Once you found a job it may also be worth asking 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 funding a bus pass for the first month or contributing towards a cost of work cloths.
Work and taxes
When working in the UK you will pay no 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’ll pay 40% of tax and for earnings above £150,000 – 45% of tax.
When you start a new employment, or when you have more than one job at times you will put on emergency tax rate (marked BR on your payslip). This means that the UK Tax Office (HMRC) isn’t 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 always ask for a refund of the taxes you overpaid. You can learn more about emergency rate of tax here.
If you are employed you will not have to submit a tax return at the end of the year, your taxes are entirely processed and calculated by your employer and HMRC.
