# Written statement of employment particulars: what it must include (UK)

> What the UK written statement must include on day one and within two months, who gets one, how it differs from a contract, and free templates.

Source: https://forematter.com/guides/written-statement-of-employment-particulars/
Updated: 2026-09-28
Author: Jack Stovell (https://jstov.uk/)

Someone new joins your company on Monday. Do you actually know what you're legally required to hand them, and when? Because "a contract, obviously" isn't quite the right answer, and getting this wrong is one of those small admin things that turns into a proper headache later.

Let's sort out what a written statement actually is, what it needs to say, and why it's genuinely not the same thing as an employment contract. I mean, they overlap, but they're not twins.

## What a written statement is

A written statement of employment particulars is a document you, as the employer, have to give someone setting out the main conditions of their job. [GOV.UK is pretty blunt about it](https://www.gov.uk/employment-contracts-and-conditions/written-statement-of-employment-particulars): "An employer must give employees and workers a document stating the main conditions of employment." That's the whole point of it, really. Not a contract, not a handbook, just the key facts written down so nobody's guessing later.

## Who must get one, and when

Employees and workers both qualify. There's one exclusion though: if someone [started their job before 6 April 2020](https://www.acas.org.uk/what-must-be-written-in-an-employment-contract), they're not covered by this right. Anyone who started after that date is in, and it doesn't matter how long they've been there or how long they're expected to stay, because [length of employment doesn't come into it](https://www.acas.org.uk/what-must-be-written-in-an-employment-contract) at all.

Timing matters here, and it's split into two stages. [The employer must provide the principal statement on the first day of employment and the wider written statement within 2 months of the start of employment](https://www.gov.uk/employment-contracts-and-conditions/written-statement-of-employment-particulars). So day one gets the core stuff, and the rest can follow, but only within that two month window. Not "eventually." Two months.

## What the day-one statement must include

This is the bit people underestimate. The principal statement isn't a vague intro letter, it's a specific list, and GOV.UK sets out what it [must include at least](https://www.gov.uk/employment-contracts-and-conditions/written-statement-of-employment-particulars):

- the employer's name
- the person's name, job title or job description, and start date
- pay, and how often it's paid
- hours and days of work, including whether and how they might vary (this covers Sundays, nights, and overtime)
- holiday entitlement, including public holidays
- where the person works, whether they might need to relocate, and the employer's address
- how long the job is expected to last, or the end date if it's fixed-term
- how long any probation period is and what its conditions are
- other benefits
- any training that's required, and whether it's paid
- for employees, any earlier start date that counts towards their continuous employment

That's a proper list, and honestly, most of it is just factual. Not much room for ambiguity, which is kind of the whole point.

There's an extra layer if someone's working outside the UK for more than a month. In that case the statement also needs to cover [how long they'll be working abroad, what currency they'll be paid in, any extra pay or benefits because of the overseas work, and the terms for coming back](https://www.gov.uk/employment-contracts-and-conditions/written-statement-of-employment-particulars). Makes sense really, foreign postings come with their own complications.

And there's a few more things due on day one that sit slightly outside the "principal statement" list but are still required upfront: sick pay and the procedures around it, details of any other paid leave, and notice periods. These can actually [live in a separate document](https://www.gov.uk/employment-contracts-and-conditions/written-statement-of-employment-particulars), as long as it's reasonably accessible, an intranet page counts. So you don't have to cram everything into one file, you just need to make sure the person can actually find the other bits.

## What can follow within two months

Not everything has to land on day one. Some things can wait, within reason, for that two month window. [Pensions, any collective agreements, non-compulsory training, and disciplinary and grievance procedures](https://www.gov.uk/employment-contracts-and-conditions/written-statement-of-employment-particulars) all fall into this later category.

Worth flagging too: if anything changes after the statement's been issued, you've got to tell the person. [Changes must be notified within one month of making the change](https://www.gov.uk/employment-contracts-and-conditions/written-statement-of-employment-particulars). So this isn't a "write it once and forget it" document. It's meant to stay accurate.

## Written statement vs employment contract

Here's where people get confused, and I get why. The written statement feels contract-shaped. It's got pay, hours, holiday, all the things you'd expect in a contract. But GOV.UK is explicit: [it is not an employment contract](https://www.gov.uk/employment-contracts-and-conditions/written-statement-of-employment-particulars). ACAS backs this up too, saying [legally the contract is much broader than the written statement](https://www.acas.org.uk/what-must-be-written-in-an-employment-contract).

And here's the bit that trips people up even more: a contract doesn't even need to be written down to exist. As GOV.UK puts it, [an employment contract does not have to be written down](https://www.gov.uk/employment-contracts-and-conditions). The written statement sets out the main terms in one place. It's not the whole agreement, and it was never meant to be.

So if you've been treating your written statement as "the contract," it's worth pausing on that. They're related, sure. But one's a legal requirement to disclose specific facts, and the other is the full, sometimes unwritten, web of obligations between employer and employee.

## What happens if you do not provide one

Say the statement never turns up, or it's missing half the required content. What then?

The expected route is informal first: raise it, talk it through, see if it gets sorted. If that doesn't work, there's a grievance process to go through internally. And if that still doesn't resolve things, a tribunal is the last resort. At that point, [the tribunal will decide what the employment particulars in the statement should have been](https://www.gov.uk/employment-contracts-and-conditions/problems-with-a-written-statement), which is a fairly blunt way of saying: if you didn't write it down properly, someone else will decide what it should have said.

One more thing worth knowing: compensation only comes into it alongside a successful claim about something else, and GOV.UK says ["Compensation can be up to 4 weeks' pay although there's a limit on how much a tribunal will award for a week's pay."](https://www.gov.uk/employment-contracts-and-conditions/problems-with-a-written-statement) So a missing statement tends to ride alongside something else that's gone wrong. Worth bearing in mind if you're an ops lead thinking "well, it's just paperwork, what's the worst that happens."

## Templates

You don't need to build this from scratch, which is honestly a relief. ACAS provides [free templates for written statements](https://www.acas.org.uk/templates-for-written-statements), including one for employees and a separate one for workers, since the two aren't identical.

A few practical bits, none of which need a citation, they're just sensible: get the statement sent with the offer, or at the very latest before day one, don't wait for someone's actual first morning to scramble it together. Keep one template per contract type you use, and check it against the required list every so often, because requirements can shift and templates get stale. And if some of the day-one content lives in a separate document (sick pay procedures, say), make sure new starters actually know where that document is. Doesn't help anyone if it's technically "provided" but buried three folders deep on a drive nobody can find.

This is general information, not legal advice, so check ACAS or GOV.UK for the details that apply to your own situation.