The employment contract

You can set out an employee's written statement of employment in one or more documents.

What employers must include in the principal statement

However, either that document or one of those documents - known as the principal statement - must contain all the information listed below as a minimum:

• The legal name of the employer company - it is a good idea also to include the trading name, if different.
• The legal name of the employee.
• The date the current employment began.
• Any earlier date upon which employment with a previous employer began which is treated as 'continuous' with the current employment.
• The employee's pay, or how it is calculated, and the intervals at which it will be paid - eg weekly or monthly.
• The employee's hours of work.
• Entitlement to holidays - including public holidays - and holiday pay. The information must be accurate enough to allow precise calculation of accrued entitlement.
• The job title or a brief description of the work.
• The address of the employee's place of work. If they will be working in more than one place then you should indicate this along with the employer's address.

For information on what else you must include in a written statement of employment, see putting together an employee's written statement of employment.

Template for a written statement of employment

You can also download our template for a written statement of employment (PDF, 239K) which you can then print off and tailor to your organisation.

The Labour Relations Agency (LRA) has a free Employment Document Toolkit. Once employers are registered they can unlock the LRA's free core employment guides to help them build documents, policies, and procedures for their own organisation. Find out about the free Employment Document Toolkit.