Employment Contracts

An Employment Contract (or Agreement) is an agreement between an employer and an employee, usually a company and an individual.

The contract forms the basis of the working relationship between two parties. It sets out the rights, responsibilities and duties on both sides.

The terms of the contract will be different depending on the types of employment you’re offering: permanent or fixed-term.

The company can’t set any contract terms which give employees fewer rights than they have under the law of England and Wales, such as the right to paid holidays and the right to earn the National Minimum Wage.

If the worker is an independent contractor rather than an employee, you should use a Consultancy Agreement instead.

An Employment Agreement sets out in writing the terms that apply to your member of staff’s employment with you. The terms should include:

• salary


• duties


• probation period


• working conditions - including hours and location


• flexible and/or remote working arrangements


• holiday entitlements and pay


• sick pay


• pension scheme entitlements


• any confidentiality, non-compete and non-solicitation clauses


• any equity incentive plan if you have one (such as an Option Scheme)


• discipline and grievance procedures


• notice period


• termination details - how the contract can be ended and what happens

The easiest way to create an employment contract for your staff is to start with a template and customise it so that it’s exactly what you need.

On SeedLegals, you can create an Employment Agreement from our template and customise it by choosing terms to suit the type of employment you’re offering.

To get started, log into SeedLegals, go to Team. Add your team member and then create the Employment Agreement. It’s fast and incredibly simple. If you need any help, chat online with our experts.

When your document is ready, send it via SeedLegals to your new team member to sign online.

Best of all, we store your documents securely for as long as you need, so you can access them in My Documents anytime.

A SeedLegals Employment Agreement covers all the terms you need for a basic contract of employment - but it’s flexible enough to be used for even your most senior staff, including your Executive Directors.

You can add terms to the standard Employment Agreement and customise it so it’s exactly what you need.

Our standard Employment Agreement is a contract of employment for fixed-term and permanent members of staff.

If you’re employing a temporary member of staff, or someone who will work for you on a casual or seasonal basis, you should create and ask them to sign a Zero Hours Contract.

A worker employed on a Zero Hours Contract is still entitled to some employment rights (such as the right to be paid at least the National Minimum Wage and not to be unfairly dismissed) but it’s a flexible way to employ a temporary or seasonal member of the team.

Read more: Zero Hours Contracts »

No, you don’t need a separate NDA if your team member is already covered by a contract that includes confidentiality terms, such as an Employment Agreement, Consultancy Agreement or Intern Agreement.

The SeedLegals Employment Agreement template includes terms that protect your company’s confidential information. You can customise the template to suit your company. To get started, log into SeedLegals and go to Team. If you need any help, chat online with our experts.

It depends on how the team member is working for you and the type of employment contract you need:

★ Employees
The law changed in April 2020. An employee must now receive a contract or agreement by the end of their first working day and the contract must list all paid benefits (statutory or otherwise).

★ Contractors, consultants, freelancers
You can use a SeedLegals Consultancy Agreement.

★ Interns
You can use the SeedLegals Intern Agreement.

★ Advisors
You can use the SeedLegals Advisor Agreement.

★ Unpaid helpers
If you have friends, family or anyone else volunteering for your company (working unpaid), you should ask them to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) and IP Assignment Agreement.

Even if you don’t have a formal Employment Agreement with a worker, there is likely to be an ‘implied contract’ or verbal agreement between you: you offer them a job, they agree to work for you, they expect to get paid, you pay them.

If the agreement is verbal, the employee still has rights under the employment law of England and Wales. These rights include:

• minimum notice periods


• minimum holiday entitlement


• limits on the hours they can work


• the right to be paid at least the National Minimum Wage


• the right to be protected from discrimination on the basis of gender, gender reassignment, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, age, race, religion, disability and sexual orientation

This protection starts from when they’re recruited, even if there’s no formal contract in place.

If there’s any dispute, verbal agreements are tricky. With no written contract, a court would have limited evidence from both sides so deciding who is telling the truth about the agreed employment terms will be difficult.

It’s always better to have your employee sign to say they agree to the terms in a written Employment Agreement. That way, your company will be more able to resolve disputes quickly and easily.

Yes, there are two main types of employment contract: for permanent employees or those on a fixed-term contract.

With a SeedLegals Employment Agreement template, you can create permanent or fixed-term contracts (for as long or short as you need), for full-time or part-time workers.

Yes, SeedLegals Employment Agreements are set up to protect the personal data of your team.

In fact, when you create contracts with SeedLegals, they’re signed and stored online, so they’re more secure than sending documents by post and storing them as paper files.

The contracts and agreements you can create with SeedLegals are drafted and regularly reviewed by our legal experts and trusted by thousands of businesses.

Yes, but it’s important to know that when you create an Employment Agreement with SeedLegals, the contract is governed by and constructed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales.

If your employee is resident in another country then they’re also covered by the laws of that country.

Take a look at our helpful article about how UK employment laws work if your employees are based overseas:
What employment laws apply to UK employees living abroad?

While an Employment Agreement is between your company and a paid employee, a Consultancy Agreement is between your business and a self-employed freelancer or independent contractor.

A contractor, consultant or freelancer:

• is self-employed
  Self-employed workers are responsible for paying their own Income Tax and National Insurance.


• provides services to your company for a negotiated fee


• works for you for a limited time or on a specific project


• gets paid after they’ve sent an invoice, not through your payroll

Your contracts for self-employed contractors (Consultancy Agreements) must be correctly written because if there’s a dispute, a court will look behind the terms on the contract to determine the true employment status of the worker.

For more detail, take a look at this article:
Consultancy Agreement vs Employment Agreement - what’s the difference?