How long after starting a job should you receive your contract?

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  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0 Newbie
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    ScorpiondeRooftrouser wrote: »
    You ask them?

    I've started many jobs where I knew these things but hadn't received a formal contract. The contract was generally signed in the first few days.

    And I wouldn't quit my job until I had a signed contract.. But I like to be able to pay the bills and stuff safe in the knowledge I have some legal protection.
  • ScorpiondeRooftrouser
    ScorpiondeRooftrouser Posts: 2,851 Forumite
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    ringo_24601 wrote: »
    And I wouldn't quit my job until I had a signed contract.. But I like to be able to pay the bills and stuff safe in the knowledge I have some legal protection.

    I've always been happy that I could easily cover the bills for a lot longer than it would take me to get another job if anything went wrong. Your mileage may differ.
  • Masomnia
    Masomnia Posts: 19,506 Forumite
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    There's no legal right to a full written contract.

    If you're working for them you have a verbal contract.

    You do have a right to a written statement of employment particulars which is a list of details such as rate of pay, leave entitlement, who is employing you and so on. You should get this within 2 months of starting. But as I say this need not be a full contract.

    Your handbook may be contractual; but it may not. It should say.
    “I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.” - P.G. Wodehouse
  • Beyou
    Beyou Posts: 47 Forumite
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    Andy_L wrote: »
    Then that counts as your contract

    "Contract terms could be:

    in a written contract, or similar document like a written statement of employment
    verbally agreed
    in an employee handbook or on a company notice board
    in an offer letter from the employer
    required by law (eg an employer must pay employees at least the National Minimum Wage)
    in collective agreements - negotiated agreements between employers and trade unions or staff associations
    implied terms - automatically part of a contract even if they’re not written down"

    https://www.gov.uk/employment-contracts-and-conditions/contract-terms


    In the email they sent me they said they will post the contract after I send them my forms so that's what I meant since they haven't posted it yet.
  • Undervalued
    Undervalued Posts: 8,853 Forumite
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    Masomnia wrote: »
    There's no legal right to a full written contract.

    If you're working for them you have a verbal contract.

    You do have a right to a written statement of employment particulars which is a list of details such as rate of pay, leave entitlement, who is employing you and so on. You should get this within 2 months of starting. But as I say this need not be a full contract.

    Your handbook may be contractual; but it may not. It should say.

    Indeed.

    However, if for some reason this doesn't happen there is nothing you can usefully do about it. If you have proper cause to take your employer to an Employment Tribunal you could add this failing to you claim and you might be awarded up to two weeks pay. However you can no longer make this claim on its own. That changed five or more years ago.
  • getmore4less
    getmore4less Posts: 46,882 Forumite
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    The other thing to not is that the contact is made up of all the things you have been told, so anything in writing or discussed during the recruitment process etc.

    In the absence of any known terms, statutory terms apply.

    eg if notice has never come up, you are on statutory notice so if you resign that's 0 days then after working a month one week.

    they cannot then produce a contract with a month in it
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0 Newbie
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    edited 25 May 2017 at 3:14PM
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    ScorpiondeRooftrouser wrote: »
    I've always been happy that I could easily cover the bills for a lot longer than it would take me to get another job if anything went wrong. Your mileage may differ.
    I've got a decent wage in a specialised industry, with a big mortgage and lots of outgoings. Sure, we've got enough to tide us over for about 3 months, but I don't feel like blowing all our emergency savings because I was screwed over by a dodgy employer.

    E.g. around this time a year ago, I had a firm chasing to hire me. I wasn't having anything until I saw a contract. It took ages, and turns out they'd changed my job title and also give a low amount of annual leave. Didn't want to touch them after that. I'm looking at £60k+ jobs so I'm not diving into things lightly.

    An inability to provide a contract always worries me, as it indicates they don't care much about HR processes because they're a small operator or inept.
  • ScorpiondeRooftrouser
    ScorpiondeRooftrouser Posts: 2,851 Forumite
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    ringo_24601 wrote: »
    An inability to provide a contract always worries me, as it indicates they don't care much about HR processes because they're a small operator or inept.

    My current employer made a profit of over 3 billion euros last year. I signed the contract int he first week in the office.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0 Newbie
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    ScorpiondeRooftrouser wrote: »
    My current employer made a profit of over 3 billion euros last year. I signed the contract int he first week in the office.
    Profit margins mean nothing to do with how an employer is going to treat you.

    e.g. My current employer (£32m profit annually) sent me a contract and had me down as zero hours.. now I'm damn glad I saw it before starting work, as I had a chance to correct it, contact them and sort it out.
  • ScorpiondeRooftrouser
    ScorpiondeRooftrouser Posts: 2,851 Forumite
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    ringo_24601 wrote: »
    Profit margins mean nothing to do with how an employer is going to treat you.

    I never said they did, because you didn't say anything about how they are going to treat you.

    Large profits (as opposed to profit margins, which I didn't mention) definitely mean they are not a small operation, and arguably mean they are not inept. And these were the only two points that you brought up.
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