The law does not ask for a contract. It asks for a list.
Every employment contract template is somebody's house style with the nouns swapped, and it is impossible to tell by looking whether it covers what it has to. What the law requires is a written statement of employment particulars under section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, and section 1 is a closed list of headings. If a heading is answered, it is answered. If it is missing, it is missing, and no amount of drafting elsewhere makes up for it.
So this tool is the list rather than a template. It shows every heading, the subsection it comes from, and whether it is still outstanding, and it prints the section of the Act next to each clause in the document so the finished thing can be checked against the statute rather than taken on trust.
Three rules about the list that are nearly always got wrong
It is due on day one, and it has been since April 2020
Section 1(2) requires the particulars in a single document, given not later than the beginning of the employment. The old deadline was two months after the employment began. It changed in April 2020, and enough published guidance still says two months that the belief has outlived the rule by six years.
Section 1(1) also says worker, not employee. Casual, agency and zero hours staff are entitled to the same statement on the same deadline, which is where most of the non-compliance in the country sits.
A blank heading is not the same as "none"
Section 2(1): where there are no particulars to be entered under a head, that fact shall be stated. An employer with no pension scheme, no sick pay beyond statutory and no collective agreements does not delete those headings. It writes that there are none under each of them.
Real statements get this wrong constantly: every template does the opposite, it quietly removes the sections that do not apply, and the result reads tidier and is incomplete. That is why every heading in this tool has a box saying nothing applies and I am stating that, and why a heading marked that way prints "None." in the document rather than disappearing from it.
The single document rule has exactly nine exceptions, and they are named
People believe either that everything must be in the one document, or that a staff handbook can carry the lot. Section 2 says precisely which is which, and the list is short.
- May refer to another reasonably accessible document, section 2(2): sickness and sick pay, any other paid leave, pensions, and training entitlement. Four headings.
- May refer to the law or a collective agreement, section 2(3): notice periods. One heading, and only that one.
- May be given in instalments and by two months, section 2(4): pensions, collective agreements, training entitlement, and the note about discipline and grievance. Note the last part of that subsection: they are due by two months even where the employment ends before that date.
Everything else, pay, hours, holiday, job title, place of work, probation, is day one, in the one document, with no cross-reference available. A handbook cannot carry them however well written it is.
The headings added in 2020 that older contracts do not have
If a contract predates April 2020, or was copied from one that did, four headings are usually absent altogether:
- Variable hours, section 1(4)(c). Not just the hours, but the days of the week required, whether they may vary, and how the variation is determined.
- Other paid leave, section 1(4)(d)(iia). A separate heading from sickness and from holiday.
- Other benefits, section 1(4)(da). A catch-all for anything not covered by another heading.
- Probation, section 1(4)(ga). Its conditions as well as its duration, so a bare "six months probationary" does not meet it.
Training is now three headings rather than one: the entitlement, the part of it you require them to complete, and any required training you will not pay for. That last one is section 1(4)(n) and it is the heading employers most often do not know exists. If you require somebody to hold a card and you are not funding it, that has to be written down before they start.
A written statement is not a whole contract
A written statement is the statutory minimum, not a complete contract of employment. Restrictive covenants, confidentiality, intellectual property, garden leave and the right to make deductions from wages are all things you may want and none of them appear on the section 1 list. Get the list right first, because the list is compulsory, then decide what else the business needs on top.
The disciplinary and grievance note follows the Acas Code of Practice as it currently stands. That Code is in consultation until 23 September 2026 and is expected to change. This is built against the current version deliberately, because a document written to a draft is out of date the day the consultation closes whichever way it goes.
Common questions
When does an employment contract have to be given?
The written statement of employment particulars must be given not later than the beginning of the employment, and the main particulars have to be in a single document. That is section 1(2) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 as it now stands. The old rule was two months after the employment began, it changed in April 2020, and a great deal of published guidance and a great many templates still assume the old one. Only four headings kept the two month deadline: pensions, collective agreements, training entitlement, and the note about discipline and grievance.
Do casual and zero hours staff get a written statement?
Yes. Section 1(1) says "Where a worker begins employment", not employee. The right extends to workers, so casual, agency and zero hours staff are entitled to a statement on the same terms and to the same deadline. That is where most of the missing statements in the country are, because the businesses using irregular hours are the ones least likely to think the requirement applies to them.
What if a heading does not apply to us?
You state that it does not. Section 2(1) says that where there are no particulars to be entered under a head, that fact shall be stated. So an employer with no pension scheme, no sick pay beyond SSP and no collective agreements writes exactly that under each heading. It does not leave them out. Every template on the internet deletes the sections that do not apply, and deleting them is not compliance, which is why this tool has a "nothing applies, and I am stating that" box on every heading rather than letting you skip it.
Can I just refer to the staff handbook?
Only for four headings, and the statute names them. Section 2(2) lets you refer the worker to another reasonably accessible document for sickness and sick pay, other paid leave, pensions, and training entitlement. Section 2(3) separately lets you refer to the law or a collective agreement for notice periods. Everything else, including pay, hours, holiday, place of work and job title, has to be in the statement itself. A handbook cannot carry them.
What has to be said about hours?
More than the number. Section 1(4)(c) requires the normal working hours, the days of the week the worker is required to work, and whether those hours or days may be variable, and if they may be, how they vary or how the variation is determined. The variability limb was added in 2020, and it is the detail missed most often, because it matters to people on irregular patterns and not at all to a fixed nine to five.
Does a probationary period have to be written down?
Yes, and in more detail than most contracts give it. Section 1(4)(ga) requires any probationary period including its conditions and its duration. A bare "the first six months are probationary" gives the duration and none of the conditions, so it does not meet the heading. Say what happens at the end of it, whether it can be extended and by how much, and what notice applies during it.
Do small employers still have to include disciplinary rules?
Yes. Section 3 used to exempt employers with fewer than twenty employees from including a note about disciplinary rules, and that exemption has been repealed. Every employer includes it now regardless of size. The belief that the exemption survives is concentrated in exactly the businesses it used to cover.
Is this the same as a job description?
No, and they should stay separate. The statement needs the job title or a brief description of the work, under section 1(4)(f). A job description is a longer document listing duties, and it is usually kept expressly non-contractual so that duties can change without varying the contract. Fold the whole job description into the statement and you have made every duty in it a contractual term.