Whats the difference between a contract and a written statement of employment?
A contract of employment exists as soon as an employee starts work. Starting work proves that they accept the terms and conditions offered by the employer. Both employer and employee are bound by the terms offered and accepted. Often the contract is verbally agreed and not written down. However, employees are entitled by law to be given a written statement setting out the ‘main particulars’ of their employment within two months of their start date. This tool enables you to meet your legal requirement to provide these statements. There are other optional contractual terms that you may need for your business, eg who owns the intellectual property created by your employee, or confidentiality agreements. If this is the case, you may want to consider including these within a written contract. If employers want to change the terms of an employee’s contract of employment, they need to get his or her prior consent to the changes. Employers are not required to issue a new written statement each
