United Kingdom. Employment Rights Act 1996 section 1, as in force 15 August 2026
Which employment contract template does UK law require for this hire?
A contract of employment exists the moment someone accepts a job, in writing or not. What the law separately requires is a written statement of particulars, and that has a fixed content list, a day-one deadline, and a rule that most of it must sit in one document rather than being spread across a handbook and three emails. The list is not the same for every hire: a zero hours worker, a fixed term employee and a genuinely self-employed contractor need different documents. Four questions and you will know which one this is.
Question 1
What is the engagement?
Employment status decides which rights attach. gov.uk treats worker, employee, self-employed and contractor, director and office holder as the main types, and notes that a person may have a different employment status in tax law.
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What must be in a UK written statement of employment particulars, and by when, 2026
Last updated
UK law does not require an employment contract to be written down, and does require a written statement of particulars. The two are frequently confused, and the second has a fixed list, a fixed deadline and a rule about which document it sits in.
The split between the day-one principal statement and the wider statement is taken verbatim from the gov.uk guidance on written statements of employment particulars, read on 15 August 2026. The underlying duty, the deadline and the single-document rule are taken from section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 on legislation.gov.uk, which provides that where a worker begins employment the employer shall give a written statement not later than the beginning of the employment, and that the particulars must be included in a single document. Rows marked as conditional are particulars that section 1(4) requires only where the situation arises, such as a fixed term or work outside the UK. Nothing in this table is an estimate, a market practice or a recommendation about what a contract should say beyond what the statute and the guidance require. Where the Employment Rights Act 2025 is mentioned it is by the verbatim headings of its sections as enacted; individual provisions of that Act are commenced by regulations, and this table does not assert which are in force.
| Particular | When it must be given | In the single day-one document? | Applies to |
|---|---|---|---|
| The employer's name | Day one | Yes | Employees and workers |
| The employee's or worker's name, job title or a description of work, and start date | Day one | Yes | Employees and workers |
| How much and how often they will get paid | Day one | Yes | Employees and workers |
| Hours and days of work, and if and how they may vary | Day one | Yes | Employees and workers |
| Holiday entitlement | Day one | Yes | Employees and workers |
| Where they will be working | Day one | Yes | Employees and workers |
| How long the job is expected to last | Day one | Yes | Conditional: where the employment is not intended to be permanent |
| How long any probation period is, and what its conditions are | Day one | Yes | Conditional: where there is a probationary period |
| Any other benefits | Day one | Yes | Employees and workers |
| Obligatory training, and whether or not the employer pays for it | Day one | Yes | Employees and workers |
| Sick pay and other paid leave | Day one | Yes | Employees and workers |
| The date continuous employment began | Day one | Yes | Employees only |
| Work outside the UK for more than one month: the period, the currency, any additional pay or benefits, and the terms of return | Day one | Yes | Conditional: where the work is outside the UK for more than a month |
| Pensions and pension schemes | Within two months | No | Employees and workers |
| Collective agreements | Within two months | No | Employees and workers |
| Any other right to non-compulsory training provided by the employer | Within two months | No | Employees and workers |
| Disciplinary and grievance procedures | Within two months | No | Employees and workers |
- A UK employer must give a written statement of particulars not later than the beginning of the employment, and the duty runs to workers as well as to employees.
- The day-one particulars must be included in a single document: pointing at a staff handbook for the detail does not satisfy section 1(2) of the Employment Rights Act 1996.
- Only four items may wait: pensions and pension schemes, collective agreements, non-compulsory training provided by the employer, and disciplinary and grievance procedures, all within two months.
- A probationary period is a day-one particular in itself: gov.uk requires how long it is and what its conditions are, so a bare statement that probation lasts six months is incomplete.
- A contract of employment does not have to be in writing to exist, which is why the written statement duty is separate from it and can be breached while a binding contract is in place.
- The Employment Rights Act 2025 carries sections headed Right to guaranteed hours, Shifts: rights to reasonable notice, Right to payment for cancelled, moved and curtailed shifts, and Exclusivity terms in zero hours arrangements.
Cite this page
“What must be in a UK written statement of employment particulars, and by when, 2026”, Employment Contract Generator, https://employmentcontractgenerator.co.uk/ (updated 2026-08-15). The split between the day-one principal statement and the wider statement is taken verbatim from the gov.uk guidance on written statements of employment particulars, read on 15 August 2026. The underlying duty, the deadline and the single-document rule are taken from section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 on legislation.gov.uk, which provides that where a worker begins employment the employer shall give a written statement not later than the beginning of the employment, and that the particulars must be included in a single document. Rows marked as conditional are particulars that section 1(4) requires only where the situation arises, such as a fixed term or work outside the UK. Nothing in this table is an estimate, a market practice or a recommendation about what a contract should say beyond what the statute and the guidance require. Where the Employment Rights Act 2025 is mentioned it is by the verbatim headings of its sections as enacted; individual provisions of that Act are commenced by regulations, and this table does not assert which are in force.
Scope of this checker
- Employees, workers who are not employees, and genuinely self-employed contractors
- Permanent, fixed term and task-specific engagements
- Fixed hours, guaranteed minimum hours and zero hours arrangements
- Probationary periods, and work abroad for more than a month
- What must be in the single day-one document and what may follow within two months
- Based on Employment Rights Act 1996 section 1 and the gov.uk guidance on written statements, read on 15 August 2026
Employment Contract Generator is an independent site operated by Ellul Solutions Ltd. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to gov.uk, Acas or any government body, and it is not a law firm or an employment adviser. Nothing here is legal advice on a particular hire, and this site does not produce a contract: it tells you which statutory particulars the engagement requires and by when, so that the document you commission or draft can be checked against them. Every requirement stated here is taken from the text of the Employment Rights Act 1996 on legislation.gov.uk or from the gov.uk guidance on written statements, read on the date shown at the top of the page. Where the Employment Rights Act 2025 is mentioned it is by its section headings as enacted; we do not state which of its provisions are in force, because that is set by commencement regulations and a page that asserted it would go stale without warning.
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Straight answers
Does a UK employment contract have to be in writing?
No. A contract of employment exists once an offer is accepted, whether or not anything is written down. What the law separately requires is a written statement of particulars of employment. Section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 provides that where a worker begins employment, the employer shall give a written statement not later than the beginning of the employment. So the contract and the statement are two different things, and an employer can have a perfectly binding contract while being in breach of the statement duty.
What must be in a written statement of employment particulars?
gov.uk sets out the day-one principal statement as the employer's name; the worker's name, job title or description of work and start date; how much and how often they will be paid; hours and days of work and if and how they may vary; holiday entitlement; where they will be working; how long the job is expected to last; how long any probation period is and what its conditions are; any other benefits; and obligatory training and whether the employer pays for it. Four further items may follow within two months: pensions, collective agreements, non-compulsory training and the disciplinary and grievance procedures.
Can the employment particulars be spread across a contract and a staff handbook?
Not the day-one ones. Section 1(2) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 requires the particulars to be included in a single document. This is the requirement most often missed by employers who are otherwise careful, because writing a short offer letter and pointing at a handbook for holiday, sick pay and hours is the natural way to do it. The handbook can expand on the particulars and cover everything else; it cannot be where they live. Only the four wider items may sit elsewhere, and only within two months.
Do casual and zero hours staff need a written statement?
Yes. The section 1 duty runs to workers, not only to employees, so casual, bank and zero hours staff are covered and must receive the statement not later than the beginning of the employment. The particular that matters most for them is hours and days of work and if and how they may vary, which for a wholly variable arrangement has to describe the actual mechanism: how shifts are offered, how they are accepted, and what happens when none are offered.
What does a probation clause have to say?
How long it is and what its conditions are, both on day one and both in the single document. Conditions means more than the length: what is being assessed, what notice applies during the period, whether it can be extended and on what basis, and which benefits are withheld until it is passed. Two omissions undo the clause in practice. A shorter probationary notice period that is not written down does not apply, and extending probation without an express power to extend is a variation of contract that needs the employee's agreement.
Does a self-employed contractor need an employment contract?
No. The written statement duty applies to employees and workers, so a genuinely self-employed contractor running their own business is outside it and needs a contract for services instead. The word doing the work is genuinely. Status is decided by what happens in the relationship rather than by what the document is called, and gov.uk notes that a person may have a different employment status in tax law. If the relationship is in truth worker or employee, the statement was due on day one whatever the contract says.
How has the Employment Rights Act 2025 changed employment contracts?
The Act carries sections headed Right to guaranteed hours, Shifts: rights to reasonable notice, Right to payment for cancelled, moved and curtailed shifts, Exclusivity terms in zero hours arrangements, and Right not to be unfairly dismissed: qualifying period and compensation. Each of those describes something a pre-2025 template does not contemplate. Individual provisions in an Act of that size are commenced by regulations rather than all at once, so which of them are in force on the day you are drafting has to be checked on the Act's own page rather than assumed either way.
Sources
Find out which document this hire needs
Status, hours and two follow-ups, and you have the particulars list that applies and the deadline it applies by.
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