Trustpilot
ISO 27001 Certified
Welcome to Simply-Docs
Business
Corporate
Health & Safety
Property
Samples & Free
Employment

Contract of Employment Templates

Employers are legally obliged to provide employees with certain written details of their employment. Such written statements of employment particulars do not have to be in the form of a written contract, but most employers choose to issue a full contract of employment to cover all terms comprehensively.

Full written employment contracts provide legal clarity and protection for employers, employees and workers.

Legally compliant and up-to-date employment contracts

These templates have been drafted and kept up-to-date by employment solicitors and HR professionals. The employment contracts have been updated to reflect the statutory sick pay (SSP) changes set by the Employment Rights Act where SSP is now payable from the first full day of sickness absence.

They have been created to cover a wide selection of responsibilities and roles to reduce the requirement for employers and employment practitioners to tailor them to individual job specifications.

All the contracts of employment provided include the statutory obligatory information such as:

  • job title and description;
  • start date, pay details and hours of work;
  • holiday entitlement and place of work;
  • employer details and notice periods; and
  • information on sickness, disciplinary and grievance procedures.

Contracts of employment and matching offer letters

The written statement or contract of employment must be provided on or before the first day of employment. They are often provided at the same time as an employment offer letter.

Matching offer letters are available within Employment Offer Letter Templates.

Which employment contract should you use?

Due to the different forms of employment, such as permanent, full time, part time, fixed term and zero-hours, as well as business needs and worker preferences, it is important to choose a template that provides clarity and protection for each employment relationship.

Separate sections provide for self-employment at Self-Employment Contract Templates.

Choosing between full time, part time and specialist contracts

The widest range and most frequently downloaded employment contracts are within Full Time Contracts of Employment and Part Time Employment Agreements.

Each of these provides generic versions that can be applied to a wide range of roles, seniority levels and working structures, such as fixed term, but they also include contracts for more specific employment terms.

  • Full Time Contracts of Employment include contracts for apprenticeships, young workers, homeworkers, night workers and other arrangements.
  • Part Time Employment Agreements include options for zero hours, casual, job share and term-time work.

Contracts for managers, directors, sales staff and hospitality roles

More specific role-based contract of employment templates can be downloaded within Managers Employment Contracts and Directors' Service Contracts. These are tailored to the responsibilities of those roles and therefore provide better protection to the employer.

The choice of templates also includes Employment Contracts for Sales Staff and Pub and Restaurant Employment Contracts.

Sales staff contracts provide for differences from more standard employment contracts, such as company cars and commission structures, and tighter restrictive covenants. The pub and restaurant selection specifically provides for waiter/waitress, bar and food handling staff.

Restrictive covenant clauses for additional protection

Restrictive Covenant Clauses are essential protections for an employer's business.

As an employee's role changes and responsibilities increase, giving them access to information and contact with customers/clients, suppliers and staff, the original contract of employment may not provide sufficient protection. These clauses are designed to be added to relevant employment agreements to further protect the employer's business interests.

What other templates can be downloaded from Employment?

The subscription provides unlimited downloads not just to the matching employment offer letters but to every document within Employment. The breadth of templates covers a extensive range of HR tasks enabling the management of the employment relationship from recruitment to termination. These professionally drafted, simple to use documents are constantly updated to latest legislation are an affordable and cost effective resource for any employer.

Choose from the lists below the Employment Contracts that best fit your requirements:

Contract of Employment Templates is part of Employment. Just £38.50 + VAT provides unlimited downloads from Employment for 1 year.

Frequently Asked Questions

Am I legally required to give a new employee a written contract before they start? +
Not quite, but close. The legal duty is to give a written statement of employment particulars, not a written contract as such, and the timing is 'on or before' the first day, not strictly before they start. Under section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, you must provide the principal statement on or before the employee's first day, with the remaining wider particulars allowed up to 2 months after employment begins. Most employers satisfy this by issuing a full written contract that covers all statutory particulars in one document. Simply-Docs employment contract templates are drafted to include every required detail, so issuing one on day one meets the legal obligation.
My new hire is part-time and works variable hours. Which contract template should I use? +
Choose from the Part Time Employment Agreements sub-folder, which includes options for zero-hours, casual, job share and term-time working patterns. If your worker has no guaranteed minimum hours, use the zero-hours variant. Zero-hours contracts cannot contain exclusivity clauses preventing the worker from taking other work, as these are unlawful under the Employment Rights Act 1996. For a regular part-time role, a standard part-time agreement gives the clearest terms.
I am taking on a sales manager. Do I need a specialist contract rather than a standard one? +
A sales role needs terms a standard contract does not address: commission structures, company car entitlements and tighter restrictive covenants, so a specialist contract gives you better protection. The Employment Contracts for Sales Staff sub-folder provides suitable templates. For a sales manager with line-management responsibilities, also consider the Managers Employment Contracts sub-folder for clauses tailored to managerial duties.
Our employment contracts mention a three-day SSP waiting period. Do they need updating after the 2025 law changes? +
Yes, but only for eligible employees who meet all the other SSP criteria. From 6 April 2026 the Employment Rights Act 2025 abolished the three waiting days, so statutory sick pay is now due from the first day of sickness absence for eligible employees. Any contract or sickness policy that refers to waiting days before SSP applies is out of date and should be amended. Transitional rules mean some long-term-absent employees are not entitled to day-one SSP. An employee will not be entitled to SSP from 6 April 2026 if their sickness absence started on or before 21 September 2025 and continued without a break until 5 April 2026, and they will not qualify until they have returned to work for at least 8 weeks. An employee who has received Employment and Support Allowance in the last 85 days is also excluded. Simply-Docs employment contract templates have been updated to reflect this change. If you have existing contracts that still contain the old waiting-day provision, issue a written variation to bring them into line.
We run a pub and need contracts for bar staff and waiters. Is there a template for that? +
Hospitality contracts need to reflect sector-specific terms and variable shift arrangements rather than a generic contract with the job title changed. The Pub and Restaurant Employment Contracts sub-folder provides templates tailored specifically for waiter and waitress, bar and food-handling roles, so they better reflect the terms that apply in that sector.
Should I give a new employee an offer letter or a contract, and what is the difference? +
Both serve different purposes. An offer letter confirms the key terms of an offer before the employee starts and is typically shorter. A contract of employment sets out all the terms of employment in full and, provided it contains the required statutory particulars, satisfies the legal obligation to provide a written statement. Simply-Docs provides matching offer letters for each contract type in the Employment Offer Letter Templates section, so you can issue both together. The contract must be provided on or before the first day of employment.
Employment Buy Only £38.50 + VAT!
Unlimited Downloads for One Year
No Auto-Renewal

Selection of Employment Contracts

Matching Employment Offer Letters

All Employment

Simply-4-Business Ltd Registered in England and Wales No. 4868909, 20 Mortlake High Street, Mortlake, London SW14 8JN

Trustpilot
Top