Good Practice Guide for Private Household Employers

Advice for employing a student in your own home.

We value the work opportunities that you can offer our students. We have worked with many householders over a number of years assisting them to recruit our students into a variety of roles, from tutoring to gardening. To help you feel supported and confident in offering our students work, we have provided this short guide outlining the basic requirements of recruitment. Please note the University does not pre-select or ‘vet’ students in any way.

Advertising your job

  1. Read through our terms and conditions
  2. Read our guide - How to write a great job advert
  3. Register on MyCareerHub and upload your job advert

Making a job offer

You must provide your employee with a written statement of duties, responsibilities, rate of pay, hours of work and notice period. This can simply be stated in an email or letter. This means that there is clarity between the employer and employee and what is expected of both parties. Ensure that you have full contact details for the student you are employing.

Consider applying for Disclosure Scotland on behalf of the student, or asking them to join the PVG scheme, particularly when employing in care roles (International students can request a ‘certificate of good conduct’, a Police Report from their own country).

Before employing international students ensure that they are eligible to work. Links to advice on eligibility can be found on our website. Most importantly, international students are not able to register as self-employed; you will need to employ the student directly.

Check with your home contents/building insurers that you are covered for accidental damage. Use the links below to ensure you are keeping within the law with regard to insurance, tax and liability cover.

Links to essential information

Any questions?

The Employer Team are always available to answer any questions you may have about employing students. Please don’t hesitate to contact us