The employment contract

Put together an employee's written statement in separate parts

If the written statement is given in separate parts, the following information – if not contained in the "principal statement" - must be provided within two months of starting work. Alternatively, for the details on sickness, injury and pensions, and some of the details on dismissal, disciplinary and grievance procedures you can refer to another document - eg the company handbook - which is accessible to the employee. Where there are no details to be given under any heading, you should say so.

Sickness, injury and sick pay - terms and conditions relating to sickness or injury including any sick pay provisions.

Period of employment - where the employment is temporary, the period it's to continue for, or, if it is a fixed-term contract, the date it's to end.

Notice periods - the length of notice required from both parties. Rather than stating specific terms you can refer to the relevant legislation - see our guide on how to issue the correct periods of notice - or to any relevant collective agreement which the employee has a reasonable opportunity to read.

Employment abroad - details of any terms relating to employment abroad for more than a month.

Collective agreements - details of any collective agreements with trade unions which directly affect the terms and conditions of employment.

Pensions - any terms relating to pensions and pension schemes including whether the employment is covered by a pensions contracting-out certificate. Download a guide to contracted-out pensions from the Pension Service website (PDF).

Dismissal, disciplinary and grievance procedures (which must meet new statutory minimum requirements) - some details must be in the written statement itself. These are:

• the name or job title of the person the employee should apply to in order to resolve a grievance, and how this application should be made
• the name or job title of the person the employee should apply to if they're dissatisfied with any disciplinary decision or decision to dismiss them, and how this application should be made

Some other details, which must be included, can be set out either in the written statement itself or, as with sickness and pension details, you can refer to another document that the employee can access easily, such as a staff handbook. These are:

• any disciplinary rules that you have
• any disciplinary or dismissal procedures that you have
• any further steps that follow an application to resolve a grievance or if the employee is dissatisfied with a disciplinary or dismissal decision

If your employee wins a tribunal complaint about one of a number of issues such as unfair dismissal (not about the written statement itself), you may be ordered to pay an additional two or four weeks’ pay if the tribunal finds that you did not issue a written statement, or that it was wrong or incomplete.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• What a contract of employment is
• How to change an existing contract
• Put together an employee's written statement
• Put together an employee's written statement in separate parts
• Implied terms of an employment contract
• When you send a new employee abroad

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