Use this page to help you produce employment contracts and written statements.
An employment contract is a legally binding agreement between an employer and employee/worker. (See GOV.UK to understand the difference between employees and workers).
All employees/workers must receive written evidence of this contract, but employers can build on this contract verbally. For example, a verbal promise of a pay rise in six months’ time might be deemed as part of an employee’s contract.
A ‘written statement of employment particulars’ sets out the terms of the employment contract in writing.
All employees/workers must receive a written statement, made up of two parts:
By law, employers must issue employees/workers with a principal statement on or before their first day of work. It must include the following information.
For employees only: date of continuous employment
Employers must also share the following terms with employees/workers on their first day of work. You can choose whether to include this information in the principal statement or provide it separately (for example, in policy documents saved on your organisation’s intranet). But it must be stored somewhere employees/workers can easily access.
Employers must share the following terms with employees/workers within two months of their start date. Again, you can store this information separately.
See more detailed guidance from Acas on what must be in a written statement.
The templates below should help you get started. They can be adapted for different types of contractual arrangements, such as:
For employees, download our principle statement template:
For workers, try this written terms of employment template from Acas.
It’s a good idea to legal advice before finalising your written statement. NCVO members are entitled to a free annual call with our trusted supplier WorkNest. They provide free, specialist advice on employment law.
Sometimes, you may need to recruit someone to complete a specific, short-term task.
For example, you may need someone with specific skills to set up a new computer network or provide advice on an issue affecting your charity.
For such tasks, you may need a self-employed person rather than an employee.
A self-employed person does not have any ongoing obligation to work with you, beyond the specific piece of work they are contracted for. A self-employed person is responsible for their tax and national insurance, so you do not need to pay them via your payroll.
The arrangements you have agreed should be put into a written contract. This could be drawn up by you, by the consultant, or jointly.
It’s important that you’re clear when you need a consultancy agreement/contract for services and when you may need an employment contract. Don’t be tempted to take someone on as a consultant when they’re doing the job of an employee for you – there could be unanticipated legal and tax implications.
Download our consultancy contract template:
See GOV.UK for further information about determining employed or self-employed status.
In some cases, you may require someone to work on a flexible and casual basis. In this circumstance, you could employ someone as a ‘worker’.
Casual workers:
Such an arrangement may suit individuals who want the flexibility to take work as and when it suits them. The arrangement may suit employers, to fill short term needs, such as to cover shifts in a care home or to deal with occasional peaks in administrative workload.
Workers have some rights under employment law, but not as many as employees. For example, they don’t have the right to claim unfair dismissal, notice pay or redundancy pay.
Workers do, however, have the following core employment rights.
As workers are not considered to be self-employed, in most cases, they should be paid via the payroll. You still need to take references, check their right to live and work in the UK and, if appropriate to the role, seek a Disclosure (criminal record check) on them from the DBS.
In some instances, casual workers are entitled to the same rights as employees. For example, if you use a casual worker regularly over a period of time, they could be viewed to have the status of an employee in an employment tribunal.
See GOV.UK for further information about workers.
Volunteers are not employees. They should not be given a contract of employment. Instead, you should give them a volunteer agreement.
Internships are not a separate category of contract in employment law terms. When hiring an intern, you’ll need to carefully consider the work they’ll do and decide whether to issue them an employment contract or a volunteer agreement.
GOV.UK provides more information on employment rights for interns.
Last reviewed: 01 August 2022
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