The moment an applicant unconditionally accepts an offer of a job, a contract of employment comes into existence. The terms of the contract can be oral, written, implied or a mixture of all three.

Even if an employer does not issue a written contract, he/she is under a legal duty to provide most employees with a written statement of the main employment particulars within two months of the start of their employment. The written statement is not itself the contract but it can provide evidence of the terms and conditions of employment between an employer and employee if there is a dispute later on.

The contract of employment
A contract of employment is a legally binding agreement between employer and employee which is formed when an employee agrees to work for an employer in return for pay. The contract need not be in writing, unless it is a contract of apprenticeship. Its terms can be written, oral, implied or a mixture of all three. In order to avoid dispute, however, the contract should be in writing.

If no contract of employment exists beforehand, one will come into existence as soon as an employee starts work and, by doing so, demonstrates that he or she accepts the job on the terms offered by the employer.

Written statement of employment
A written statement is a summary in writing of an employee's main particulars of employment. It is not itself a contract of employment but is evidence of the contract of employment.

Employers are required by law to give employees their written statements within two months of the start of their employment - ideally on their first day. Written statements may be provided in the form of a letter of engagement and/or a written contract before the employee begins work. The law allows employers to issue the written statement in instalments, but certain key information must be included in the 'principal' statement which must be included in a single document. These items are:

• name of employer and employee
• date employment and continuous employment began
• job location
• pay
• working hours
• holiday entitlements and job description/job title
• details of any collective agreements that directly affect the employee's conditions of employment

The remaining information can be given in other instalments, but all the instalments must be given to the employee within two months of the date of starting work.

Where an employer is preparing a written statement for an existing employee, they are not entitled to change the present terms. These may have arisen from appointment letters, old statements, custom or practice. A new written statement should incorporate these. If there are any agreed alterations to an employee's terms and conditions after the statement has been issued, employers must give the employee a written notification giving details of the changes as soon as possible and in any event within one month of the changes taking place. Written notification must be issued on every occasion there is a change in terms and conditions.

For further information contact Chris Wiper at chris.wiper@close-thornton.co.uk or call him on 01325 466461

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