It is essential that the fundamental details of the employment relationship between employer and employee are clearly defined. As an employment contract is formed as soon as an offer "made" by the employer is "accepted" by the employee. Idealy, the full details of the employer's terms and conditions of employment should be set out in that "offer" so that any "acceptance" by the employee is also an acceptance of those terms and conditions.

It is also very important to appreciate that the "contract" of employment is not formed by a single document, it can also be defined by additional information such as the job advert, anything said at the interview, the offer letter etc.  Thus employers should be very careful to ensure that all of these are clear, concise and do not conflict with each other.

Legally, you are not required to set out in writing all the full details of the contract of employment but you do have a statutory obligation to provide as a mimimum a written Main Statement of Terms and Conditions of Employment to all employees who are expected to work for longer than four weeks and within two months of their starting work.

The CA Plus Employment Advice Service can provide free help and advice on drafting relevant terms of employment, policies and procedures to suit your organisation (due to funding, for charitable, not-for-profit and voluntary groups in Nottingham City and County only). Please contact us for more information.

Further information can be found in the following Advice Note.

Employment Contracts Advice Note (Word)
Employment Contracts Advice Note (PDF)