Section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 stipulates that within 2 months from the commencement of employment, employees must be given a written statement setting out the following terms and conditions of their employment:

• The names of the employer and employee

• The date on which the employment began

• The date when the employee’s period of continuous employment began

• Details relating to remuneration (which should include rate of remuneration or method of calculating it and the intervals at which it is paid)

• Hours of work

• Entitlement to holidays and holiday pay (including the right to accrued holiday pay on termination of employment

• Incapacity for work due to sickness or injury, including details about sick pay

• Pensions and pension schemes

• The length of notice which the employee is obliged to give and entitled to receive to terminate the contract of employment

• The employee’s job title or brief description as to the duties of their job

• The place or places of work

• Where the employment is not intended to be permanent, the period for which it is expected to continue or, if it is for a fixed term, the date when it is to end

• Any collective agreements that effect the terms and conditions of employment including, where the employer is not a party, the person by whom they were made

• Information about work outside the UK, where it will be longer than a month, including:

(i) The period for which the employee will work outside the UK; (ii) The currency in which remuneration will be paid during that time; (iii) Any additional remuneration payable and any benefits to be provided by reason of the employee being required to work outside the UK; (iv) Any terms and conditions relating to the employee’s return to the UK

• Information regarding any disciplinary and grievance procedures

As indicated above, employers are required to provide information about any procedure regarding disciplinary decisions or a decision to dismiss and any grievance process, although this may be contained in a document separate to the written statement.

As a minimum, these procedures must reflect the Statutory Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures contained within the Employment Act 2002 (Dispute Resolution) Regulations 2004. Currently, the procedures are a statutory right only and do not have contractual force unless contained within a valid contract of employment, although this is to be addressed by the Government in 2006 when they may be implied into every employment contract.