Employment contract

What the contract is

GOV.UK describes an employment contract as an agreement that sets out an employee’s employment conditions, rights, responsibilities and duties. The same page notes that a contract does not have to be written down, and that an agreement for someone to do a piece of work, such as painting a house, is a contract to provide services rather than an employment contract.

That distinction matters when you bring in outside help. The label on a document does not decide whether someone is an employee or a freelancer; the way the work is actually organised does.

The offer letter summarises the headline terms you propose. The employment contract sets out the full terms of the employment. Draft it as its own document and check it against what the offer said.

What has to be in writing, and by when

In Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), every employee and worker is entitled to a written statement of employment particulars. Some terms have to be given on the first day, others within two months. Northern Ireland sets a different rule: employees employed for more than one month must receive the written statement within two months of starting.

Changes to the written statement have to be notified within one month of making them.

Other European countries set their own lists and deadlines. Germany’s Nachweisgesetz staggers 15 items between the first working day and one month after the start, and a fixed-term contract is only valid in writing under § 14(4) TzBfG. In France, fixed-term (CDD) and part-time permanent contracts must be concluded in writing, while a full-time CDI generally need not be unless the collective agreement requires it. Spain’s Workers’ Statute, article 8, lists the contracts that must be written, including part-time and fixed-term contracts of more than four weeks.

Before you reuse a template

A template drafted for one country carries that country’s required terms and form rules, and nothing else. Check it against the local list before it goes out: a missing probation clause, for instance, leaves a gap in the written particulars that you then have to close separately.

Our contract templates cover French permanent (CDI), fixed-term (CDD), seasonal, apprenticeship and work-study contracts, explained in English. If your situation departs from a template, for example because a collective agreement applies, have the draft reviewed before it is signed.