Issuing employment contracts
Written Statement of Employment Particulars and Employment Contract
A job offer letter is not necessarily a substitute for an employment contract or the employee’s written statement of employment particulars.
Employers must give employees and workers a principal written statement on or before their first day of work. Certain additional information, known as the wider written statement, must be provided within two months of employment starting. The written statement summarises the main conditions of employment, but it is not the entire employment contract.
The principal written statement should include:
- The employer’s full name
- The employee’s or worker’s full name
- The job title or a description of the work
- The employment start date
- The date continuous employment began, where applicable
- Salary and how frequently it will be paid
- Expected working hours and days
- Working hours or days and if they may vary and, if so, how
- Any requirement to work additional hour
- Holiday entitlement, including whether this includes public holidays
- The normal place of work and details of any requirement to work at other location
- The expected duration and end date if the role is fixed ter;
- The length and conditions of any probationary period
- Details of any benefits
- Details of compulsory training and whether the employer will pay for it
- Sick pay and sickness reporting procedures
- Information about other paid leave
- Notice periods the employer and employee must give.
Information about pension arrangements, collective agreements, non-compulsory training and disciplinary and grievance procedures must also be provided as part of the wider written statement within two months of the start date.
Further information and resources for employers are available from ACAS.
Employers may also include other appropriate contractual provisions, such as confidentiality, data protection, safeguarding expectations, use of the organisation property, and carefully drafted restrictions that apply after employment ends.
Types of working arrangements
Organisations may use different contractual or working arrangements depending on the requirements of the role, including:
- Permanent full-time contracts
- Permanent part-time contracts
- Fixed-term contracts
- Casual contracts
- Agency worker arrangements
The appropriate arrangement should reflect how the role will operate in practice.
Important legal considerations
A job offer letter should not automatically be described as “informational” or “not legally binding”. Once an applicant accepts an unconditional job offer, a legally binding employment contract may be created, whether the offer and acceptance were made verbally or in writing.
Employers should therefore ensure that an offer letter:
- Accurately reflects the proposed terms of employment
- Clearly identifies whether the offer is conditional or unconditional
- Lists all conditions that must be satisfied, such as satisfactory references, right-to-work checks, qualification verification and an appropriate Disclosure and Barring Check (DBS)
- Does not contain commitments the setting cannot offer or meet
- Explains how and by when the applicant should accept the offer
- A conditional offer may usually be withdrawn if the applicant does not meet a clearly stated condition. Withdrawing an unconditional offer, or an offer where all conditions have been met, could result in a breach of contract claim.
Offer letters, contracts and written statements and other relevant legal documentation should be reviewed by a suitably qualified Human Resource or Legal Professional before they are issued. Your setting may already have access to employment and/or legal advice through a professional membership organisation, insurance policy, local provider association or retained Human Resource individual or service. The following websites provide useful information and guidance for employers.