Opening a Bank account in the UK.

First you need to hace a current account. Why?
Because it is the best way to get your salary paid in,
you can only do direct debit from current accounts,
in case you need an overdraft to pay for something necesary,
create credit history.
You may be thinking eew, I do not want to pay a bank fee, but NOT all current accounts have maintenance fees, many good ones are free. If you want to save some money it is OK because some pay interest up to a maximum and some can have a 0% overdraft interest IF you have arranged this overdraft with them.
So it pays off to be organized.
How can I open a bank account? first you must be legaly in the uk (you can be on a student visa or residency visa) Take your passport and visa stamp on it.
Then you need council tax and utility bill with your name and address on it. You need to call your local council (if you are unsure look at your bin trucks and check the name on the side) and arrange to pay council tax (if you are a student you need to call but you may not have to pay) For the utilities bill you need to find out in whose name the utility bill is under (energy company or water or gas company) and get them to add you and wait for paper proof that this has taken place.
then save these bills and put them together with your passport and national insurance and medical card. safe.
then look online for the best current accounts in the market at that time and pick a bank, if it is your first try to make sure it is a big bank or a known bank.
then go to their offices in your city/town to open an account. If you already have a job take details of employment as it will be useful. you need to provide addresses for the last 5 years which may include the ones from your life abroad.

Then what happens?

I received after a couple of weeks my national insurance card attached to a letter, I kept the letter because it is an official document with my name and address on it and later prove to be very useful when i needed to prove my address when i had nothing else to show. You must keep the card safe for the rest of your life.
When do you need your national insurance number?
Anything to do with taxes, starting a new job, when you registrer with the NHS.
So it is important not to loose it!