No Contract of Employment until starting date

andy444

Hi, 

I have recently been offered a job that I have verbally accepted and today I have received a Letter of Offer that includes my annual wage, working hours, length of probationary period etc. and a request that I sign it at the bottom and return to confirm my appointment. But in my mind, it is not a formal contract and the document includes the line: "All other terms and conditions of employment are contained in your Contract of Employment which will be issued to you on or before your start date."

This strikes me as slightly unusual as with all other jobs I have joined I have seen my full contract before I have joined. But in this instance I may not see all my terms and conditions for working there until potentially my first day of employment. I have requested if I can at least see a draft version of the Contract of Employment before I sign anything but can I just check if this is particularly unusual or if I am just concerning myself about nothing?

anniecave

There will be likely lots of detail behind the actual contract and if it's a reputable organisation they will want to you to sign the contract as much in advance as is practical before you start anyway.  They likely want to share with you the key information first via the offer letter and ensure you are on board with this first.  Then after they will draft up a full contract, to avoid needlessly drafting a full actual contract if you aren't in agreement.    

They will likely have a template they can share with you of the actual contract so hopefully they'll be able to give you the extra information that you can read through at your leisure anyway. 

Lomast

I believe they legally have 2 months from your start date to provide a full contract. As long as you have a written offer then that I often all you will get before start date

TELLIT01

When I started working for DWP I didn't get a contract of employment for several months.  Nor did those who started at around the same time as me.  

EnPointe

anniecave said:

There will be likely lots of detail behind the actual contract and if it's a reputable organisation they will want to you to sign the contract as much in advance as is practical before you start anyway.  They likely want to share with you the key information first via the offer letter and ensure you are on board with this first.  Then after they will draft up a full contract, to avoid needlessly drafting a full actual contract if you aren't in agreement.    

They will likely have a template they can share with you of the actual contract so hopefully they'll be able to give you the extra information that you can read through at your leisure anyway. 

or conversely the  Contract is Standard Contract aside form  Start date and any recognition of previous service / negotiated  enhanced seniority  and will be issued in due course  once you are set up on HR  systems  with the requistie  dates / seniority/  entered

Marcon

andy444 said:

Hi, 

I have recently been offered a job that I have verbally accepted and today I have received a Letter of Offer that includes my annual wage, working hours, length of probationary period etc. and a request that I sign it at the bottom and return to confirm my appointment. But in my mind, it is not a formal contract and the document includes the line: "All other terms and conditions of employment are contained in your Contract of Employment which will be issued to you on or before your start date."

This strikes me as slightly unusual as with all other jobs I have joined I have seen my full contract before I have joined. But in this instance I may not see all my terms and conditions for working there until potentially my first day of employment. I have requested if I can at least see a draft version of the Contract of Employment before I sign anything but can I just check if this is particularly unusual or if I am just concerning myself about nothing?

It's not particularly unusual, but if you are concerned, go back and say you'd like to see the full Contract before your start date. There's something uncomfortable about agreeing to something when you don't know what it is you're agreeing to!

General_Grant

See https://www.gov.uk/employment-contracts-and-conditions/written-statement-of-employment-particulars for timescales for different aspects of the employment contract.

Savvy_Sue

Lomast said:

I believe they legally have 2 months from your start date to provide a full contract. As long as you have a written offer then that I often all you will get before start date

Not any more: legally has to be issued on start date at the latest. Used to be 8 weeks. Full details in link above ...

MyRealNameToo

Savvy_Sue said:

Lomast said:

I believe they legally have 2 months from your start date to provide a full contract. As long as you have a written offer then that I often all you will get before start date

Not any more: legally has to be issued on start date at the latest. Used to be 8 weeks. Full details in link above ...

Unfortunately you need to look at the government link above, the rules as they stand is that a summary with key points must be done by end of working day 1 but they have 2 months to provide the full details. Technically neither have to actually be a contract using the governments language but are statements

Undervalued

MyRealNameToo said:

Savvy_Sue said:

Lomast said:

I believe they legally have 2 months from your start date to provide a full contract. As long as you have a written offer then that I often all you will get before start date

Not any more: legally has to be issued on start date at the latest. Used to be 8 weeks. Full details in link above ...

Unfortunately you need to look at the government link above, the rules as they stand is that a summary with key points must be done by end of working day 1 but they have 2 months to provide the full details. Technically neither have to actually be a contract using the governments language but are statements

Plus, unless anything has changed recently, in most circumstances there is no useful redress if the employer fails to provide such a statement / contract.

A contract still exists by virtue of being offered and accepting the job even if nothing is written down. However obviously it is far harder to prove what has been agreed if it is purely verbal or an odd assortment of letters and emails.

At the very least keep copies of everything, including any job advert. Given that in most respects your have no security of employment in the first two years (reducing to six months at some point next year) in some repects it is fairly moot!