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The employment contract and written statement of employment particulars – what to include.

Posted by: Marcin Durlak
Posted in: Employment
Date published: 08/06/2020

As an employer you always have a contract with your employee even if you have provided nothing in writing. This is because the employment offer has been accepted by your employee and he is now obliged to perform his duties for a consideration, which is a payment.  This suffice in the UK to establish contract between the parties.

Now, some of the terms of the employment contract are expressed (so agreed between you and your employee) and some are implied by law even if the contract does not mention them. You may not be even aware that there is an imposed term you have to follow.

Please bear in mind that even if your contract with employee is verbal only, you should still provide him with so called, written statement of employment particulars no later than on the first day of employment. Moreover, not only employees, but also workers are entitled to have this document from you. This written statement is not a contract itself but it reflects the absolutely minimum that has to be agreed between the parties.

Essential elements of the written statement of employment particulars

There are several points that have to addressed in the written statement, namely:

• The employer’s name
• The employee or worker’s name
• The day the employee or worker starts his work
• The date that ‘continuous employment’ started for an employee
• Job title, or a brief description of the job,
• The employer’s address
• The places or addresses where the employee or worker will work
• Pay with indication when or how often will be paid,
• Working hours,
• Holiday and holiday pay,
• How the holiday pay is calculated if the employee or worker leaves
• The amount of sick leave and sick pay
• Any other paid leave
• Any other benefits
• The notice period for both sides
• How long the job is expected to last,
• Any probation period or lack thereof,
• If the employee will work abroad,
• The training that must be completed by the employee or worker.

The above should be made known to the employee on his first day of employment at the latest, some of the terms may be agreed within next two months, namely:

• Pension arrangements,
• Collective agreements,
• Details of any training provided by the employer that is not compulsory,
• Disciplinary rules, disciplinary and grievance procedures.

The list  is  provided by ACAS on which website you can also find  written terms templates to download (here is the link:  https://www.acas.org.uk/what-must-be-written-in-an-employment-contract/what-the-written-terms-must-include).

What should be included in an employment contract.

The above is what the employee should have in writing in the absence of written employment contract. The same provisions should be adapted to written contract as a bare-minimum, but the main difference between the contract and written statement is that the contract will be signed by both parties.

The contract will indicate rights and responsibilities of each party and in general will be broader than the written statement. It can be accompanied by a staff handbook, being kind of a non-contractual manual for employees, workers and contractors where all the policies to which the contract refers to can be found, for instance, booking holiday policy, expenses policy, dress code policy, disciplinary and grievance policy, maternity policy etc. The handbook can be amended at any time without the necessity of changing the employment contract.

So, what are the provisions that can be included in the contract (save to what has been already mentioned above)?

• Interpretation clause to define certain key words in the contract
• Expenses and reimbursement
• Entitlement to Time off in Lieu
• Employer’s Confidential Information and a way how the employee should deal with it
• Further provision on notice of termination (obligations on termination)
• Governing law and jurisdiction.

The written employment contract is regarded as a better solution from both employer’s and employee’s perspective just for the sake of clarity and also to avoid or minimise risk of long trials when dispute emerged and interpretations of terms of employment vary.

It is simply better to have as much as possible agreed and in writing, so the intent of the parties when concluding the contract is unambiguous.

If you have any questions or need any further assistance, please contact one of the lawyers in our business team on 0330 107 0106 or email business@imd.co.uk.

This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal or professional advice. Please note that the law may have changed since this article was published.