A contract of employment exists as soon as an employee accepts an offer of work and by doing so proves that he or she accepts the terms and conditions offered by the employer. Sometimes the contract is agreed orally and not written down.

By law, employees who are employed to work for over one month are entitled to a written statement of the terms and particulars of their contract of employment within two months of starting work. The provisions relating to an employee's right to receive a written statement of employment particulars are contained in sub section 1.7 of the Employment Rights Act 1996.

The written statement must contain:

• the names of the employer and employee
• the employment start date and any details relating to continuous employment
• pay details and payment intervals
• hours of work
• holiday entitlement and holiday pay
• the place of work or the employer's address if the employee is required to work at a number of locations
• job title or a brief job description.

The employer must provide the following within the two-month period, either with the principal statement or in further instalments:

• sick leave and sick pay entitlement
• pension scheme details
• notice of termination details
• details of the boundaries of temporary or fixed-term employment
• details of relevant collective agreements.

The statement must also give details of the employer's disciplinary and grievance procedures, regarding the rules, the person to whom an appeal has to be made, the form the appeal needs to take and any further steps which follow the appeal.

If the employee is required to work abroad, the statement must include details about time to be spent abroad, currency details, additional benefits and the terms relating to the return to the UK.

Some of the required particulars may be given by reference to other documents, namely:

• sick leave and pay entitlements
• pension schemes details
• disciplinary rules
• further steps in the disciplinary or grievance procedure
• terms determined by collective agreement.

The statement must be given within two months of the date when the employee commenced work with the employer.

Employees are entitled to receive written notification of any changes in the particulars contained in that statement. This notification can be a photocopied notice but must be given to each of the employees individually. It must also be given within one month of when the change occurs and must contain explicit particulars of the change. However, this does not entitle an employer to change terms without the consent of the employee.

Contractual disputes can either be resolved via an industrial tribunal, if they arise on termination of the employee's employment, or in the civil courts if they arise during the course of employment and cannot be resolved using the normal grievance procedure.

Failure to provide a written statement of employment particulars may be resolved by an industrial tribunal, and the application can be made whilst the person is still in employment. There are no financial penalties for not giving the statement at the required time.