Employee Handbook (UK)
This template is a comprehensive employee handbook designed for organizations operating in England and Wales. It covers essential workplace policies including disciplinary and grievance procedures, equality and diversity, health and safety, data protection, and the use of AI tools. The document is structured to be non-contractual, allowing for easier updates as UK employment laws evolve.
EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK
England and Wales
Note: This Handbook is a suite of workplace policies, not an employment contract. Pay, notice, benefits and restrictive covenants belong in the contract of employment and the written statement of particulars, and must not be repeated here. It is written for staff who work in England and Wales. If you have staff in Scotland or Northern Ireland, Part 2.2 explains why it does not cover them as it stands. Each Part is drafted to stand alone so that any single policy can be extracted and published on its own: Part 1.6 sets out what has to travel with it. Complete every yellow field, choose one Option in each Option block and delete the others, then complete Schedule 1 and Schedule 2. Parts 17 to 19 are included only where the trigger in the note at the head of each of those Parts applies to your organisation. Delete any Part that does not.
PART 1. ABOUT THIS HANDBOOK
1.1 Purpose. This Handbook sets out how [full legal name of the employer] (the "Company", "we" or "us") expects work to be carried out, and the procedures we follow when questions of conduct, performance, health, safety or fairness arise. It applies to work carried out in England and Wales.
1.2 Status. This Handbook is not contractual. Nothing in it forms part of any contract of employment or engagement, and nothing in it creates a contractual entitlement to any payment, benefit or procedure. It does bind you as a set of workplace rules: failure to follow it may be dealt with under Part 5. Where this Handbook and your contract of employment conflict, your contract prevails.
Note: Leaving contractual status undeclared is a governance failure, because you cannot manage change control or enforceability expectations without it. Non-contractual is the right default and is the position drafted above. If a specific policy is intended to be contractual, say so expressly in that policy and give it a controlled amendment mechanism. Do not leave the question open. The second risk this paragraph manages is accidental incorporation: a handbook that promises rigid procedures, fixed benefit amounts or guaranteed outcomes can be read as contractual whatever the status clause says, so keep the promises here at the level of process.
1.3 Defined terms used throughout this Handbook.
"Company" means [full legal name of the employer].
"Handbook" means this document and every Part and Schedule in it, at the version identified in Schedule 1.
"Manager" means the person to whom you report, or in their absence the next most senior person available to you.
"Working Day" means any day other than a Saturday, a Sunday or a public holiday in England and Wales.
"Worker" means anyone who performs work for the Company personally, whether as an employee, a worker, an agency worker or a contractor, to the extent the relevant Part says it applies to them.
1.4 Version control. The version number, effective date, owner and review date for this Handbook are recorded in Schedule 1. Each individual policy is recorded in the register at Schedule 2. Superseded versions are archived and remain retrievable.
Note: Version control is not housekeeping here. An undated policy with no named owner is weak evidence in a tribunal or a regulatory inspection. The register at Schedule 2 does the work. Fill it in before rollout rather than afterwards.
1.5 Changes. We may add to, amend or withdraw any Part of this Handbook. Changes take effect when notified to you and recorded in Schedule 2. We will consult before making a change that has a material effect on working arrangements.
Note: Two forward-looking points on changing terms. First, because this Handbook is non-contractual, amending it does not vary anyone's contract, which is the main reason to keep it non-contractual. Second, section 28 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 will make it automatically unfair to dismiss an employee for refusing a restricted variation to their contract, which broadly covers pay, pension, hours, shift timing and time off. That is expected in January 2027 and it is not the law yet. It matters here because content that has drifted into contractual status cannot then be changed by dismissal and re-engagement, which is a further reason to keep contractual terms out of this Handbook.
1.6 Publishing a Part as a standalone policy. Any Part may be issued on its own. If it is, the extract must carry with it:
(a) the status statement at paragraph 1.2;
(b) any defined term from paragraph 1.3 that the Part uses;
(c) the version, owner, effective date and review date for that policy, taken from Schedule 2; and
(d) the contact points named in Schedule 1 that the Part refers to.
Note: This is the modularity rule. Each Part below has been written so that it makes sense without the Parts around it, and cross-references between Parts are kept to a minimum and are always by Part number rather than by page. Where a Part genuinely depends on another, the dependency is stated in the text so it survives extraction.
PART 2. WHO THIS HANDBOOK APPLIES TO
2.1 Coverage. Parts 3, 4, 13, 14, 15 and 16 apply to every Worker. The procedures in Parts 5, 6 and 7 apply to employees. Where an agency worker or contractor is involved in a matter under Parts 5 to 7, we will deal with it through the agency or the contracting party, and will still apply the standards in Parts 3 and 4.
Note: Where employment status is unclear, treat the person as covered for dignity and harassment, health and safety and data protection, and treat dismissal-type processes as needing separate consideration. The split above reflects that. It is deliberately generous at the top and cautious at the bottom.
2.2 Where you work. This Handbook is written for work carried out in England and Wales. The UK nation in which a person actually works, including under hybrid arrangements, determines which workplace rules apply to them. Staff who work in [uk nations where staff work outside england and wales] are covered by the addendum identified in Schedule 2 rather than by Parts 5, 7 and 13 of this Handbook.
Note: This is the point most often missed. Disciplinary and grievance process in Great Britain follows the Acas Code. In Northern Ireland it follows the Labour Relations Agency Code and routes through different institutions, so a document that says "UK-wide" while covering Northern Ireland staff is wrong on its face. Fire safety splits three ways: the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 in England and Wales, the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and its regulations in Scotland, and the Fire Safety Regulations (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 with the 2010 regulations in Northern Ireland. Flexible working also differs: Northern Ireland has not adopted the April 2024 changes described in Part 12. If you have staff outside England and Wales, produce a location addendum rather than stretching this text to cover them, and if anyone regularly works across nations apply the requirements cumulatively.
2.3 Headcount. The Company employs [total number of employees] employees. Several duties in Part 13 are triggered at five employees.
PART 3. EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND DIGNITY AT WORK
3.1 Commitment. We select, pay, train, promote and manage people on merit. We do not discriminate because of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation. Those are the protected characteristics listed in section 4 of the Equality Act 2010.
3.2 Conduct that is not permitted. The following are disciplinary matters under Part 5 and may also be unlawful:
(a) direct discrimination, meaning treating someone less favourably because of a protected characteristic (section 13);
(b) indirect discrimination, meaning applying a rule or practice that puts people sharing a protected characteristic at a particular disadvantage and that cannot be objectively justified (section 19);
(c) harassment, meaning unwanted conduct related to a protected characteristic that violates a person's dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them (section 26), which includes conduct of a sexual nature and is dealt with further in Part 4;
(d) victimisation, meaning subjecting someone to a detriment because they have made or supported a complaint about discrimination, or because it is believed they might (section 27); and
(e) bullying, meaning offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour, or an abuse of power that undermines someone. Bullying is not itself a statutory claim but it is a disciplinary matter here and often overlaps with harassment.
3.3 Reasonable adjustments. If a provision, criterion or practice, a physical feature of a workplace, or the absence of an auxiliary aid puts a disabled person at a substantial disadvantage, we must take reasonable steps to remove that disadvantage. This duty applies under section 20 of the Equality Act 2010. Tell your Manager or the contact in Schedule 1 if you need an adjustment. We will discuss it with you, and we will consider adjustments before applying any procedure in this Handbook to you, including absence triggers under Part 9 and performance procedures under Part 6.
Note: The reasonable adjustments duty is anticipatory, and a failure to comply is a standalone claim separate from direct or indirect discrimination. That is why the operative text puts the obligation ahead of the procedure rather than inside it. The two places this most often goes wrong in practice are absence trigger points that count disability-related absence, and standard interview or return-to-work formats applied without variation.
3.4 Raising a concern. Raise a concern under Part 7, or under Part 4 if it concerns sexual harassment, or under Part 8 if it is a public interest concern. You may raise it informally or formally, and choosing the informal route first does not prevent you raising it formally later. Nobody who raises a concern honestly will be penalised for doing so, whether or not the concern is upheld. Retaliation against someone who raises a concern, or who takes part in an investigation, is itself a disciplinary matter.
Note: A policy that discourages reporting is a compliance gap in itself, and that includes "informal only" framing and "do not raise trivial issues" framing. It undermines the reasonable steps defence and the prevention duty in Part 4. The paragraph above therefore keeps the formal route open at all times and states the anti-victimisation position in operative text rather than as an aspiration.
3.5 Managers. If you manage people, you must act on discrimination, harassment or bullying that you witness or that is reported to you, whether or not a formal complaint is made. Passing it on to the contact in Schedule 1 is acting on it. Ignoring it is not.
Note: Equality action plans. Under section 33 of the Employment Rights Act 2025, a new section 78A of the Equality Act 2010 allows regulations to require employers with 250 or more employees to publish an action plan on gender equality, expressly including the gender pay gap and support for employees going through the menopause. Publication cannot be required more often than every twelve months. Reporting is voluntary at present and the Government intends to make it mandatory from spring 2027. If you have 250 or more employees, add a paragraph here recording the plan and where it is published once the regulations are made.
PART 4. PREVENTING SEXUAL HARASSMENT
4.1 The duty. We must take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of our employees in the course of their employment. This duty sits in section 40A of the Equality Act 2010. It is a positive duty: it requires us to act before anything happens, not only to respond afterwards.
Note: The standard is about to rise. Under section 20 of the Employment Rights Act 2025, section 40A(1) is amended to insert the word "all" before "reasonable steps", with effect expected to take effect on 30 October 2026. It is a real raise in the standard rather than a tidy-up: the equivalent "all reasonable steps" defence in section 109(4) of the Equality Act 2010 is widely regarded as very hard to make out. From that date, evidencing the steps you have taken matters more than the wording of this Part, so keep the records described at paragraph 4.5. When the change commences, replace "reasonable steps" with "all reasonable steps" in paragraph 4.1.
4.2 What is prohibited. Unwanted conduct of a sexual nature that violates a person's dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them is prohibited. It does not matter whether the conduct was intended that way. Conduct includes remarks, jokes, images, messages, gestures, physical contact and unwanted attention, in person or through any channel, and it includes conduct directed at someone who is not the person affected.
4.3 Where this applies. This Part applies wherever work takes it: our premises, client and customer sites, business travel, conferences, work social events and online channels used for work.
4.4 Third parties. Harassment of our people by customers, clients, suppliers, contractors, visitors or members of the public is not tolerated and we will act on it. If you are harassed by a third party, report it under paragraph 4.6. You are not expected to absorb it as part of the job, and you will not be criticised for declining to continue an interaction in which you are being harassed.
Note: A harassment policy that ignores third-party contexts is already incomplete, and the law is about to move further. Under section 21 of the Employment Rights Act 2025, new subsections are inserted into section 40 of the Equality Act 2010 so that an employer must not permit a third party to harass an employee, and the employer is treated as having permitted it where the harassment occurred in the course of the employee's employment and the employer failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent it. A third party is defined as a person other than the employer or an employee of the employer. This is wider than the provisions repealed in 2013: there is no requirement for two prior incidents and no requirement that the employer knew. It is expected on 30 October 2026 and will cover harassment related to the protected characteristics generally, not only sexual harassment. Sectors with heavy public contact, hospitality and retail in particular, should be planning the practical response now.
4.5 Steps we take. We:
(a) assess the situations in which sexual harassment is more likely to occur, including work social events, travel, lone working, client sites and relationships involving an imbalance of power, and record what we do about each;
(b) train everyone at induction and at intervals afterwards, and give managers additional training on handling reports;
(c) maintain the reporting routes at paragraph 4.6;
(d) act on reports, including against third parties and senior staff; and
(e) review this Part and the risk assessment at the interval recorded in Schedule 2.
Note: Training is not optional and must not be described as optional. A tribunal may increase compensation in a sexual harassment claim by up to 25 per cent where the preventative duty has been breached, and the risk assessment is the document that most often decides whether the employer is found to have taken the steps it claims. Keep the assessment, the training records and the record of what was done in response to each report. The absence of any of these is a gap that shows up quickly under scrutiny.
4.6 Reporting. Report to your Manager, or to [sexual harassment reporting contact job title], or by email to [sexual harassment reporting email address]. If the report concerns the person you would normally tell, use one of the other routes. Reports are handled on a need-to-know basis. A report of sexual harassment may also be a protected disclosure under Part 8.
Note: The link to Part 8 is now statutory. Under section 23 of the Employment Rights Act 2025, paragraph (da) was inserted into section 43B(1) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 with effect from 6 April 2026, so a disclosure that sexual harassment has occurred, is occurring or is likely to occur is a qualifying disclosure in its own right. The definition for this purpose comes from section 43L(1), which points to section 26(2) of the Equality Act 2010. The worker still has to meet the other conditions for protection, including reasonable belief that the disclosure is in the public interest. The practical consequence is that a mishandled sexual harassment report can now produce a whistleblowing detriment claim alongside the harassment claim, so route these reports carefully.
PART 5. DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURE
5.1 Scope. This Part covers misconduct. Performance and ill health are dealt with under Part 6. This Part does not apply to redundancy or to the expiry of a fixed term contract without renewal.
Note: Keeping misconduct and capability apart tracks the Acas Code, which does not apply to redundancy dismissals or to the non-renewal of a fixed term contract on expiry. Running a performance problem through a misconduct procedure is one of the more common procedural failures.
5.2 The steps we follow.
Step 1. Establish the facts. We investigate without unreasonable delay and to an extent proportionate to the allegation. Where practicable, different people investigate and decide.
Step 2. Inform you in writing. We set out the allegation in enough detail for you to answer it, provide the evidence we rely on, and give you notice of the meeting and of your right to be accompanied.
Step 3. Hold a meeting. You may set out your case, answer the allegations and ask questions.
Step 4. Allow you to be accompanied. See paragraph 5.3.
Step 5. Decide and tell you in writing. We confirm the outcome, the reasons for it and any sanction, and tell you how to appeal.
Step 6. Hear any appeal. An appeal is heard by someone who was not involved in the original decision where that is possible, and the outcome is confirmed in writing.
Note: This is the Acas Code sequence and departing from it carries a direct financial consequence: under section 207A of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 a tribunal may increase an award by up to 25 per cent for an unreasonable failure to follow the Code, and may reduce it by up to 25 per cent where the employee has unreasonably failed to follow it. Do not include any statement that failing to follow this procedure has no consequences. Keep the drafting at the level of principles and stages, and keep investigation checklists in manager guidance rather than here, so that the Handbook does not create procedural promises you cannot always meet.
5.3 Right to be accompanied. At a disciplinary hearing you may be accompanied by one companion, who must be a trade union official employed by a union, a trade union official certified as trained or experienced in accompanying workers at hearings, or a colleague. Your companion may present your case, sum it up, respond to views expressed at the hearing and confer with you during it, but may not answer questions on your behalf. If your companion cannot attend, you may propose an alternative time, and provided it is reasonable and falls within five Working Days after the date we proposed, we will move the hearing to it.
Note: This right sits in section 10 of the Employment Relations Act 1999 and the five Working Day postponement window is in the statute, not just in guidance. It applies to workers, not only employees. Omitting the right, or omitting the postponement mechanics, is a compliance failure on its face.
5.4 Suspension. We may suspend you on full pay while a matter is investigated where that is necessary. Suspension is not a disciplinary sanction and does not imply guilt. It is kept as short as possible and is reviewed.
5.5 Sanctions. Depending on the facts, the outcome may be no action, informal guidance, a first written warning, a final written warning, or dismissal. Serious misconduct may start at a later stage than the first. Gross misconduct may result in dismissal without notice.
Note: Give examples of gross misconduct in this paragraph, drawn from your own operation, and introduce them as examples rather than as an exhaustive list. Keep the list short and obviously serious: theft, violence, fraud, deliberate breach of a safety rule that endangers someone, and serious breaches of Parts 3, 4 or 14 are the usual core. A long list invites the argument that anything not listed cannot be gross misconduct, and a vague one invites the argument that the employee had no notice.
5.6 Appeals. Appeal in writing to [disciplinary appeal contact job title] within five Working Days of receiving the written outcome, saying why you are appealing.
Note: Where the organisation is too small for a genuinely independent appeal, an external chair works: an independent manager, group company HR, or an external HR consultant. Name the fallback here rather than promising an independence you cannot deliver.
PART 6. PROBATION, PERFORMANCE AND CAPABILITY
6.1 Probation. New employees serve a probationary period of [length of probationary period (3 to 4 months recommended)], which we may extend once. The length of the period is set by your contract of employment, not by this Handbook. During probation we meet you regularly, tell you clearly where expectations are not being met, and give you a fair opportunity to meet them.
Note: The length needs rethinking before 1 January 2027. Under section 25 of the Employment Rights Act 2025, "two years" is replaced with "six months" in section 108(1) and (2) of the Employment Rights Act 1996, and omits section 124 in full, removing the cap on the compensatory award. The commencement regulations (SI 2026/559) bring this in on 1 January 2027 and apply it wherever the effective date of termination falls on or after that date, including where the dismissal itself happened earlier. A six month probationary period therefore stops working: the employee acquires unfair dismissal rights at the moment probation ends, so any dismissal at that point is a full unfair dismissal risk with no ceiling on compensation. Three or four months is the workable range, because it leaves room to extend once, to absorb a period of sickness, and still to complete a fair process and give notice inside six months. Note also that where statutory minimum notice is not given, section 97(2) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 extends the effective date of termination by the notice the employee was entitled to, so dismissing in the final week of the six months does not avoid the right.
6.2 Performance. Where performance falls short, we will tell you what the gap is, agree what good looks like, provide support and a reasonable period to improve, and review. If performance does not improve, we may issue a written warning and ultimately dismiss. At each formal stage you will be told the concern in writing, invited to a meeting, allowed to be accompanied as set out in paragraph 5.3, given a decision in writing and given a right of appeal.
6.3 Capability arising from ill health. Where ill health affects your ability to do your job, we will meet you, seek medical information with your consent where that helps, consider reasonable adjustments under paragraph 3.3, and consider redeployment before considering dismissal.
Note: Handling performance solely through a misconduct route is a fairness risk in itself. Two safeguards make the difference in practice: a genuine opportunity to improve with support, and a willingness to extend timescales where an adjustment or a health issue is in play. Automated or trigger-driven outcomes without a human review stage are a discrimination risk as well as a fairness risk.
PART 7. GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE
7.1 Informal resolution. Many concerns are resolved by raising them with your Manager. Try that first where it is appropriate. You are not required to, and the formal route below remains available to you whether or not you do.
7.2 Formal grievance. The steps are:
Step 1. Put it in writing. Send your grievance to your Manager, or to [grievance contact job title] if the grievance concerns your Manager, setting out what has happened and what outcome you are seeking.
Step 2. Meeting. We will meet you without unreasonable delay to discuss it. You may be accompanied as set out in paragraph 5.3.
Step 3. Decision. We will tell you the outcome in writing, with the reasons and any action we intend to take.
Step 4. Appeal. If you are not satisfied, appeal in writing to [grievance appeal contact job title] within five Working Days. The appeal is heard impartially and the outcome confirmed in writing.
Note: Written grievance, meeting, decision and appeal are the four elements the Acas Code requires, and the right to be accompanied applies here as it does to disciplinary hearings. Omitting the appeal stage or the accompaniment right will each undermine the process on its own.
7.3 Overlapping matters. A grievance that concerns sexual harassment is handled under Part 4. A grievance that raises a public interest concern is handled under Part 8. A grievance raised during a disciplinary process does not automatically pause that process, though it may do where the two are closely connected.
Note: Time limits are changing. Under section 152 of and Schedule 12 to the Employment Rights Act 2025, the primary tribunal time limit rises for most claims from three months to six months, expected on 1 October 2026 and applying to causes of action arising on or after that date rather than reviving expired claims. That gives more room to resolve matters internally before a claim has to be issued, but it also means a grievance can now surface a considerably older set of facts. It is a reason to keep records for longer, not a reason to move more slowly.
PART 8. WHISTLEBLOWING AND PROTECTED DISCLOSURES
8.1 What this Part is for. This Part is for concerns about wrongdoing that affect others, not for personal complaints about your own treatment, which go under Part 7. It reflects Part 4A of the Employment Rights Act 1996.
8.2 What counts. A qualifying disclosure is information which you reasonably believe is in the public interest and which tends to show one or more of:
(a) a criminal offence;
(b) a failure to comply with a legal obligation;
(c) a miscarriage of justice;
(d) danger to the health or safety of any individual;
(e) damage to the environment;
(f) that sexual harassment has occurred, is occurring or is likely to occur; or
(g) that information about any of the above has been or is likely to be deliberately concealed.
Note: Limb (f) is new. Under section 23 of the Employment Rights Act 2025, paragraph (da) was inserted into section 43B(1) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 with effect from 6 April 2026, and section 43L(1) defines sexual harassment for this purpose as harassment of the kind described in section 26(2) of the Equality Act 2010. Handbooks that list the original five limbs are now out of date. Note that a disclosure is not protected simply because it fits a limb: the worker must reasonably believe it is in the public interest and must disclose it in one of the ways the Act protects.
8.3 How to raise it. Tell [whistleblowing contact job title]. If that route is not appropriate, use [whistleblowing alternative route]. You may raise a concern anonymously, though it is harder to investigate and to protect you if we cannot contact you.
Note: Forcing whistleblowing into the grievance procedure with no protected route is a gap. Provide at least two routes, one of which sits outside the normal management chain. If there is no hotline, a named non-executive, an external adviser or a designated senior person outside the reporting line all work.
8.4 Protection. You will not be dismissed or subjected to any detriment for making a protected disclosure. This applies whether or not the concern turns out to be well founded, provided you held the belief reasonably. Anyone who retaliates against you will be dealt with under Part 5.
8.5 Disclosures outside the Company. We would prefer you to raise a concern with us first so we can deal with it, but nothing in this Handbook, in your contract, or in any settlement or confidentiality agreement prevents you from making a protected disclosure to a prescribed person or body, to a legal adviser, or otherwise as the law permits.
Note: A policy that tells staff not to report outside the organisation without that caveat is a serious gap, and the caveat is not merely good practice: section 43J of the Employment Rights Act 1996 makes void any contractual provision purporting to prevent a worker making a protected disclosure. Keep this paragraph even if you have a hotline, and keep the same carve-out in your settlement agreement template.
Note: A wider restriction on confidentiality agreements is coming and is worth planning for now. Under section 24 of the Employment Rights Act 2025, a new section 202A of the Employment Rights Act 1996 will make void any provision in an agreement between an employer and a worker to the extent that it prevents the worker making an allegation of, or a disclosure of information about, relevant harassment or discrimination, or the employer's response to it. Harassment takes its meaning from section 26(1) to (3) of the Equality Act 2010 and discrimination from sections 13, 15 to 19A and 21(2). Only the regulation-making parts of section 24 are in force. The substantive provision is expected in 2027, will not apply retrospectively, and will bite only on agreements entered into after it commences. Regulations will define an excepted agreement, and the Government has consulted on conditions that would include independent legal advice for the worker, a written preference from the worker, a non-waivable 14 day cooling off period, and confining the agreement to conduct that has already happened. The practical point is that settlement agreement and contractual confidentiality templates will need reworking, not this Handbook.
PART 9. WORKING TIME, ATTENDANCE AND SICKNESS ABSENCE
9.1 Hours. Your normal working hours are set out in your contract. Standard office hours are [standard working hours].
9.2 Working time rights. Nothing in this Handbook removes or reduces your rights under the Working Time Regulations 1998, including daily and weekly rest, rest breaks and the limit on average weekly working time. If we ask you to agree in writing to disapply the average weekly limit, that agreement is voluntary, you may withdraw it on notice, and declining to sign will not count against you.
Note: A handbook that purports to remove statutory working time protections without a lawful mechanism is unenforceable on that point. The only route to exceed the average weekly limit is an individual written opt-out that the worker may terminate. There is no route at all to contract out of rest breaks and rest periods.
9.3 Reporting sickness absence. If you cannot attend work, tell [sickness absence reporting contact] as early as possible and in any event by [sickness absence reporting deadline] on the first day, and keep us updated. For absence of more than seven calendar days, provide a fit note.
9.4 Statutory sick pay. If you qualify, statutory sick pay is payable from the first day of sickness absence. There is no longer a waiting period and no lower earnings limit. The weekly amount is the lower of the prescribed weekly rate and 80 per cent of your normal weekly earnings. Any company sick pay is a matter for your contract, not for this Handbook.
Note: This changed on 6 April 2026. Sections 10 and 11 of the Employment Rights Act 2025, commenced by SI 2026/373, removed the three day waiting period and removed the lower earnings limit from Schedule 11 to the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, and substituted a new section 157(1) so that the weekly rate is the lower of the prescribed rate and 80 per cent of normal weekly earnings. Two practical consequences: employers now carry statutory sick pay from day one, which raises the cost of short absences, and some lower-paid employees receive less per week than under the old flat rate while gaining the first three days. Do not state the cash rate in the Handbook. It is uprated and a stale figure here is worse than none. Schedule 1 records where the current rate is published instead.
9.5 Return to work and support. We hold a short return to work discussion after an absence. Where absence is frequent or prolonged, we will meet you to understand the cause and what support would help, consider reasonable adjustments under paragraph 3.3, and only then consider the capability route in paragraph 6.3.
Note: Punitive absence handling without process, and any "automatic dismissal after X absences" rule, will not survive scrutiny. If you use absence triggers or a Bradford Factor score, screen for disability-related absence before applying any trigger and record that you did. Counting disability-related absence towards a trigger is a reasonable adjustments failure and an indirect discrimination risk, and the screening step is what makes the system defensible.
PART 10. HOLIDAY AND HOLIDAY RECORDS
10.1 Entitlement. Your annual leave entitlement is set out in your contract. The holiday year runs from [holiday year start date]. Book leave in advance through [holiday booking system] and obtain your Manager's approval before making commitments.
10.2 Records. We keep records adequate to show that we have complied with our obligations on annual leave and holiday pay, and we retain those records for six years from the date each record is made.
Note: This is a new statutory duty and it carries criminal liability, which makes it unusual for a handbook topic. Under section 35 of the Employment Rights Act 2025, regulation 16B was inserted into the Working Time Regulations 1998 with effect from 6 April 2026. It requires records adequate to demonstrate compliance with regulations 13(1), 13A(1), 15B(2) and 16(1) on entitlement and pay, and regulations 14(2) and (6) and 15E(2) on payment in lieu on termination. Records may be kept in whatever manner and format the employer reasonably thinks fit, but must be retained for six years from the date made, and failure is an offence under regulation 29(1) of those Regulations. Six years is longer than most payroll retention schedules, so check yours. Irregular hours and part-year workers are the group where the records are most often incomplete.
PART 11. FAMILY LEAVE AND TIME OFF FOR DEPENDANTS
11.1 Statutory leave. You may be entitled to maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental, parental and neonatal care leave, and to statutory pay where you meet the conditions. Entitlements and rates change, so the current position is published at [location of current statutory leave and pay information] rather than repeated here. Contact [hr contact name] to start any request.
Note: Promising enhanced paid leave in the handbook without a governing document and change control creates an entitlement you cannot then manage. Keep enhancements in the contract or a separate benefits policy with its own amendment mechanism, and keep this Part descriptive with a signpost. That also avoids embedding rates that go stale.
11.2 Paternity leave and parental leave. Both are available from your first day of employment. There is no qualifying period of service for either. You may take paternity leave after a period of shared parental leave.
Note: Sections 15 to 17 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 removed the qualifying periods and the restriction on taking paternity leave after shared parental leave, with effect from 6 April 2026. Transitional provisions matter for paternity: the day one right applies in relation to children born on or after 6 April 2026, or whose expected week of childbirth begins on or after 5 April 2026, children placed for adoption on or after that date, and children whose primary carer dies on or after it. For a child falling outside those cases the previous 26 week service requirement still governs, so do not apply the new rule retrospectively.
11.3 Carer's leave. If you have a dependant with a long term care need, you may take up to one week of unpaid carer's leave in any rolling twelve month period to provide or arrange care. There is no qualifying period. You may take it in units of half a day up to a continuous week, and the days need not be consecutive. Give notice of either twice the number of days requested or three days, whichever is the earlier.
Note: Take care with the quantum here. The Carer's Leave Regulations 2024 give one week, not a fixed five days, and a week means a week of that employee's normal working pattern. For a three day a week employee the entitlement is three days, not five. Carer's leave is unpaid, it is a day one right, and refusing it or treating it as unauthorised absence is unlawful.
11.4 Neonatal care leave. If your baby is admitted to neonatal care, you may be entitled to neonatal care leave in addition to any other family leave. It is a day one right. Tell [hr contact name] as soon as you can so we can confirm your entitlement and arrange pay where you qualify.
11.5 Time off for dependants. You may take a reasonable amount of unpaid time off to deal with an unexpected problem or emergency involving a dependant, including making longer term arrangements. Tell your Manager as soon as you can.
Note: Bereavement leave is expanding but is not yet in force. Under section 18 of the Employment Rights Act 2025, parental bereavement leave will be replaced by a wider right to bereavement leave covering a broader group of relationships and including pregnancy loss before 24 weeks, with at least one week where the person who has died is not a child, and the existing two weeks retained for the death of a child under 18. It is expected in 2027 and the detail is left to regulations that are still being consulted on. Do not draft it as current law. Add a paragraph to this Part when the regulations are made.
PART 12. FLEXIBLE WORKING AND HYBRID WORKING
12.1 Statutory requests. You may apply to change your hours, your working times or your place of work from your first day of employment. You may make two applications in any twelve month period. Apply in writing to [flexible working request contact job title], stating the change you are seeking and the date you would like it to start.
12.2 How we handle a request. We will discuss the request with you before reaching a decision. We will not refuse a request without consulting you first. We will decide, including any appeal, within two months of the date the application is made, unless we agree a longer period with you.
12.3 Grounds for refusal. We may only refuse a statutory request on one or more of the eight statutory grounds: the burden of additional costs; a detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand; inability to reorganise work among existing staff; inability to recruit additional staff; a detrimental impact on quality; a detrimental impact on performance; insufficiency of work during the periods you propose to work; and planned structural changes. If we refuse, we will tell you which ground applies and why.
Note: Three things to check. The 26 week qualifying period was removed by the Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023 with effect from 6 April 2024, so this is a day one right. The allowance of two applications in any 12 months sits in section 80F(4)(a) of the Employment Rights Act 1996, and the two month decision period and the duty to consult before refusing sit in section 80G. Northern Ireland has not adopted these changes and retains one request per 12 months with a three month decision period, so if Part 2.2 applies to you the addendum governs. A further requirement is coming: under section 9 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 there will be a requirement that refusal must be reasonable, and will allow regulations to prescribe the process to follow before refusing. That is expected in 2027 and is not the law yet, so it is not drafted above. When it commences, the eight grounds survive but each will have to be shown to be a reasonable basis for refusal in the particular case.
12.4 Hybrid and home working. Where you work from home, in whole or in part:
(a) complete the home workstation self-assessment before you start and repeat it when your setup changes;
(b) report any problem you cannot resolve yourself to [health and safety responsible person job title], who will arrange for it to be assessed;
(c) apply Part 14 to any confidential or personal data you handle at home; and
(d) obtain approval before changing your usual place of work, so that we can check the health, safety, insurance and data protection position first.
Note: Homeworking does not reduce the employer's health and safety duties, and permitting it without a display screen equipment and workstation approach leaves a real gap. Where you cannot inspect a home workstation, a structured self-assessment with an option to submit photographs, clear equipment guidance and an escalation route to a competent person is the accepted substitute. Working from abroad raises tax, immigration, social security and employment law questions that this Handbook does not address: require prior approval and take advice case by case.
Note: Predictable working patterns are no longer a separate right. The Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Act 2023 was repealed by section 7 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 with effect from 6 January 2026 without ever being brought into force. Remove any reference to it from older handbooks. The zero hours and low hours measures in sections 1 to 8 of the 2025 Act, covering guaranteed hours, reasonable notice of shifts and payment for cancelled shifts, are expected in 2027 and are still under consultation. If you engage staff on zero hours or low hours contracts, plan for those, but do not draft them as current law.
PART 13. HEALTH, SAFETY AND WELLBEING
13.1 Our duty and yours. We are responsible for your health, safety and welfare at work so far as is reasonably practicable. You must take reasonable care for your own safety and that of others, use equipment properly, follow safety rules and training, and not interfere with anything provided for safety.
13.2 Written health and safety policy. Our health and safety policy statement, together with the organisation and arrangements for carrying it out, is issued separately, is brought to the attention of all employees, and is reviewed at the interval recorded in Schedule 2. The person responsible for health and safety is [health and safety responsible person job title].
Note: The written policy duty sits in section 2(3) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, which requires a written health and safety policy statement, the organisation and arrangements for carrying it out, and for these to be brought to employees' attention. The Employers' Health and Safety Policy Statements (Exception) Regulations 1975 except employers who employ fewer than five employees. That is the five employee trigger referred to in Part 2.3. Over it without a written policy, you are in breach. Below five, a short written policy is still worth having: it costs little and it is the evidence you will want if anything happens.
13.3 Consultation. We consult employees on health and safety matters through [health and safety consultation arrangement]. You may raise a health and safety concern at any time, directly or through your representative, without fear of any detriment.
Note: Consultation is a statutory duty, not a courtesy, and having no mechanism at all is a breach. Where a union is recognised, consultation runs through appointed safety representatives. Where it is not, it runs either directly with employees or through elected representatives of employee safety. Name whichever applies.
13.4 Risk assessment. We assess the risks to health and safety arising from our work and put controls in place. If you identify a hazard or a near miss, report it to [health and safety responsible person job title] so it can be assessed and recorded. If you believe a task is unsafe, stop and escalate.
13.5 Display screen equipment. If you use display screen equipment regularly as a significant part of your work, we assess your workstation, provide training and information, and contribute to the cost of an eye test on request. This applies to your home workstation as well as to our premises.
13.6 Fire and emergencies. Our fire risk assessment and emergency plan are maintained for each site. The responsible person is [fire safety responsible person job title]. You must know the escape routes and assembly point for the site you are in, take part in drills, and never obstruct an escape route or prop open a fire door.
Note: For premises in England and Wales the duty sits with the responsible person under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Two practical points. In a shared or multi-occupancy building, fire safety is not simply the landlord's problem: the employer retains duties for its own undertaking and has to coordinate with the building's duty holders, and this is a common failure. And if you have premises in Scotland or Northern Ireland, a different regime applies to those premises, which is why Part 2.2 routes them to an addendum.
13.7 First aid and accidents. First aid arrangements and the current first aiders are published at [location of first aid information]. Report every accident, injury, near miss and case of work-related ill health to [health and safety responsible person job title] as soon as possible, whether or not anyone was hurt, so that it can be recorded and, where the law requires it, reported to the enforcing authority.
Note: Two separate obligations sit behind this paragraph, and confusing them is a common source of trouble. Internal incident recording covers everything including near misses and is what drives prevention. Reporting under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 covers a regulated subset, including deaths, specified injuries, over-seven-day incapacitation, certain occupational diseases and dangerous occurrences, and it carries deadlines. Name one owner for deciding whether something is reportable, and require escalation rather than a judgement call by the person who had the accident. Remote workers need a reporting route too.
13.8 Employers' liability insurance. Our certificate of employers' liability insurance is available to you at [location of employers liability insurance certificate].
13.9 Smoking and vaping. Our enclosed workplaces and work vehicles are smoke free. Smoking and vaping are permitted only in any designated area.
PART 14. DATA PROTECTION, IT AND MONITORING
14.1 Your personal data. We process personal data about you to run the employment relationship. What we collect, why, the lawful basis, how long we keep it, who we share it with and your rights are set out in the employee privacy notice, available at [location of employee privacy notice]. Our data protection contact is [data protection contact details].
Note: Articles 13 and 14 of the UK GDPR require an employee privacy notice. The privacy notice is a separate document from this Handbook and should stay separate: it changes on a different cycle and it has a different audience.
14.2 Personal data you handle at work. If your work involves personal data about colleagues, customers or anyone else, use it only for the purpose you were given it for, keep it secure, do not move it onto personal accounts or devices except as our IT rules allow, and report any actual or suspected data breach to [data protection contact details] immediately. Reporting deadlines are short, so tell us before you investigate.
14.3 Use of our systems. Our IT systems are provided for work. Reasonable personal use is permitted provided it is lawful, does not interfere with your work, does not consume material resources and does not put our systems or data at risk.
14.4 Monitoring. We monitor use of our systems and premises to the extent set out in the employee privacy notice. Monitoring is proportionate to the purpose it serves, and the categories of monitoring we carry out, why we carry them out and our lawful basis for each are described in that notice. You retain rights of privacy at work. We do not monitor covertly except where there is a specific and documented justification approved at senior level.
Note: Two things go wrong here most often. Monitoring without a clear lawful basis, transparency to staff and a documented impact assessment is the first. A handbook that claims staff have "no expectation of privacy" is the second, because it conflicts with the fairness and transparency requirements of the UK GDPR: the drafting above uses proportionality language instead, which is the position the Information Commissioner's Office employment practices guidance supports. Complete a data protection impact assessment before introducing or extending any monitoring, keep covert monitoring exceptional and separately approved, and keep the detailed technical rules in the IT policy so this Part does not need reissuing each time a tool changes.
PART 15. USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AT WORK
15.1 Approved tools. Use only the artificial intelligence tools we have approved, listed at [location of approved ai tools list]. If you want to use a tool that is not on the list, ask [ai tool approval contact job title] first.
15.2 What you must not put into an AI tool. Do not input into any tool that has not been approved for that purpose:
(a) personal data about any identifiable person;
(b) confidential information belonging to us, a client, a customer or a supplier;
(c) anything covered by legal professional privilege; or
(d) source code, commercial terms or unpublished financial information.
15.3 Checking output. You remain responsible for anything you produce with the help of an AI tool. Check it for accuracy before you rely on it, send it to anyone outside the Company or put it into a document that others will rely on. Do not present AI output as verified where you have not verified it.
15.4 Disclosure. Tell your Manager where AI has been used in a way that a client, customer or regulator would reasonably want to know about, and comply with any contractual restriction on AI use that applies to work for a particular client.
Note: Staff use of AI tools without any policy on data inputs is an unmanaged confidentiality and data protection risk, and it is one of the fastest-moving areas of workplace practice. The distinction that does the work is between enterprise tools covered by a contract that restricts training on your inputs, and consumer tools where inputs may be retained and used. Keep the approved list outside this Handbook so it can be updated without reissuing the Handbook, and cross-refer to Part 14 for anything involving personal data.
PART 16. SOCIAL MEDIA AND PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS
16.1 Personal accounts. What you post in a personal capacity is your own business. Two things follow from working here. Do not disclose confidential information about us, our clients, our customers or your colleagues. Do not give the impression that you speak for the Company unless you are authorised to.
16.2 Company accounts. Only people authorised by [communications approval contact job title] may post on our accounts or speak to the media on our behalf.
16.3 Conduct. Conduct towards colleagues online is treated the same way as conduct in the workplace. Part 3 and Part 4 apply to what you post about colleagues wherever you post it.
16.4 What this Part does not restrict. Nothing in this Part prevents you from making a protected disclosure under Part 8, reporting wrongdoing to a regulator or the police, discussing your pay and working conditions with colleagues or a trade union, or exercising any other right you have by law.
Note: Paragraph 16.4 is not optional. A policy that prohibits lawful reporting or protected disclosures is void to that extent, and section 43J of the Employment Rights Act 1996 would in any event void a term purporting to prevent a protected disclosure. Broad social media and confidentiality rules also tend to fail on their own terms because they sweep in conduct the employer never intended to prohibit and cannot lawfully prohibit. Keep the rule narrow: confidentiality, no holding yourself out as a spokesperson, and respectful conduct towards colleagues.
PART 17. DRUGS, ALCOHOL AND IMPAIRMENT
Note: Include this Part where impairment is a live safety or performance risk, which usually means safety critical roles, driving, operating machinery, or a workplace where alcohol is regularly present. If it is not, delete the Part. If you intend to test, do not rely on this Part alone: testing collects health data, which is special category personal data, so complete a data protection impact assessment and put the governance in Part 14 in place before any programme starts.
17.1 Being fit for work. Do not attend work, or carry out work, while impaired by alcohol or drugs to an extent that affects your ability to do your job safely and properly. This applies to illegal drugs, to alcohol, and to prescription and over the counter medication where it affects your capacity to work safely.
17.2 Medication. If you are prescribed medication that may affect your ability to work safely, tell your Manager so that we can consider adjustments. We treat that information in confidence and in accordance with Part 14.
17.3 Support. If you have a problem with alcohol or drugs, tell us. We will treat it as a health matter in the first instance and support you in getting help. That approach is not available where the issue only comes to light after a serious incident or a refusal to cooperate.
17.4 Work events. Where alcohol is served at a work event, the standards in Parts 3 and 4 apply in full. A work event is work.
PART 18. ANTI-BRIBERY AND PREVENTION OF TAX EVASION FACILITATION
Note: Include this Part where you use agents, intermediaries or subcontractors who deal with payments or with client or government counterparties, where you operate in higher risk sectors or geographies, or where a larger counterparty requires a policy as a condition of contracting. Otherwise delete it. The reason to include it when triggered is specific: section 7 of the Bribery Act 2010 creates strict corporate liability for failing to prevent bribery by an associated person, with a defence only where adequate procedures were in place, and sections 45 and 46 of the Criminal Finances Act 2017 do the same for the facilitation of tax evasion with a reasonable prevention procedures defence. A policy on its own is not adequate procedures, but there are no adequate procedures without one.
18.1 Prohibited conduct. Do not offer, promise, give, request, agree to receive or accept a bribe, whether directly or through anyone else, and whether or not the counterparty is a public official. Do not make facilitation payments. Do not knowingly assist anyone to evade tax, and do not ignore signs that someone is doing so.
18.2 Gifts and hospitality. Reasonable and proportionate gifts and hospitality given or received in the ordinary course of business are permitted. Anything above [gifts and hospitality approval threshold] requires approval from [gifts and hospitality approval contact job title] and is recorded in the register. Never give or accept anything intended to influence a decision, or that could reasonably be seen that way.
18.3 Reporting. Report any bribery or tax evasion concern under Part 8. You will not suffer any detriment for refusing to participate in bribery or in the facilitation of tax evasion, or for reporting a concern, even if that costs us business.
PART 19. REDUNDANCY AND ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE
19.1 Approach. Where redundancies are contemplated, we follow a separate redundancy procedure and the applicable law. That procedure covers the business case, the selection pool, selection criteria, individual consultation, consideration of alternative employment, and any collective consultation that the law requires. Contact [hr contact name] for the current procedure.
Note: This Part is deliberately a signpost, and it is worth keeping it that way. Two reasons. The Acas Code does not apply to redundancy dismissals, so the Part 5 sequence is not the right framework. And the collective consultation duties are unforgiving: under section 188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 collective consultation is triggered where 20 or more redundancies are proposed at one establishment within 90 days, with a minimum of 30 days before the first dismissal for 20 to 99 redundancies and 45 days for 100 or more. Committing to a timetable in a handbook before those numbers are known risks breaching the duty and triggering a protective award. Note also that the maximum protective award doubled from 90 to 180 days' pay on 6 April 2026, so the cost of getting this wrong has doubled, and that a further organisation-wide trigger threshold is expected in 2027 which will catch multi-site employers who currently assess risk site by site.
PART 20. TRAINING, ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND RECORDS
20.1 Training. We provide training at induction and afterwards on the matters covered by Parts 3, 4, 13 and 14. Managers receive additional training on running investigations and hearings and on handling harassment reports. Training is not optional and attendance is recorded.
Note: Being unable to evidence that staff received and understood the key policies is a gap in itself, and so is letting untrained managers run investigations and hearings. Where resources are limited, the priority order is sexual harassment prevention first, manager training on disciplinary and grievance second, and health and safety reporting and fire procedures third.
20.2 Acknowledgement. You are asked to acknowledge that you have received this Handbook and have had the opportunity to read it, using Schedule 3. Acknowledging it does not make it contractual.
20.3 Records. Records of disciplinary, grievance, harassment and whistleblowing matters are kept securely, are available only on a need-to-know basis, and are retained for the period recorded in Schedule 2.
20.4 Questions. If anything in this Handbook is unclear, or you think a policy is not being followed, contact [hr contact name] at [hr contact email address].
SCHEDULE 1 - SUMMARY OF KEY TERMS
Note: Every yellow field in the body of this Handbook appears in this Schedule. Complete it once and the entries flow through. Do not enter statutory rates here. Where a rate is needed, record where the current figure is published and keep the pointer accurate instead.
Part A - The Employer
Full legal name of the employer: [full legal name of the employer]
Total number of employees: [total number of employees]
UK nations where staff work outside England and Wales: [uk nations where staff work outside england and wales]
Part B - Handbook control
Handbook version: [handbook version number]
Effective date: [handbook effective date]
Handbook owner: [handbook owner job title]
Next review date: [handbook next review date]
Commencement watch owner: [commencement watch owner job title]
Part C - Contact points
HR contact name: [hr contact name]
HR contact email address: [hr contact email address]
Sexual harassment reporting contact: [sexual harassment reporting contact job title]
Sexual harassment reporting email address: [sexual harassment reporting email address]
Disciplinary appeal contact: [disciplinary appeal contact job title]
Grievance contact: [grievance contact job title]
Grievance appeal contact: [grievance appeal contact job title]
Whistleblowing contact: [whistleblowing contact job title]
Whistleblowing alternative route: [whistleblowing alternative route]
Flexible working request contact: [flexible working request contact job title]
Health and safety responsible person: [health and safety responsible person job title]
Fire safety responsible person: [fire safety responsible person job title]
Data protection contact: [data protection contact details]
AI tool approval contact: [ai tool approval contact job title]
Communications approval contact: [communications approval contact job title]
Gifts and hospitality approval contact: [gifts and hospitality approval contact job title]
Part D - Working arrangements
Standard working hours: [standard working hours]
Length of probationary period: [length of probationary period (3 to 4 months recommended)]
Holiday year start date: [holiday year start date]
Holiday booking system: [holiday booking system]
Sickness absence reporting contact: [sickness absence reporting contact]
Sickness absence reporting deadline: [sickness absence reporting deadline]
Gifts and hospitality approval threshold: [gifts and hospitality approval threshold]
Note: On the probationary period, see the note at paragraph 6.1. Three to four months is the workable range once the six month unfair dismissal qualifying period takes effect on 1 January 2027. Six months does not work.
Part E - Where to find related documents
Employee privacy notice: [location of employee privacy notice]
Current statutory leave and pay information: [location of current statutory leave and pay information]
First aid information: [location of first aid information]
Employers' liability insurance certificate: [location of employers liability insurance certificate]
Approved AI tools list: [location of approved ai tools list]
Health and safety consultation arrangement: [health and safety consultation arrangement]
SCHEDULE 2 - POLICY REGISTER
Note: This register is what makes the Handbook modular and what makes it usable as evidence. Each row is one policy. Where a Part is issued as a standalone policy, its row here is the version control that must travel with it under paragraph 1.6. Complete every row before rollout: an undated policy with no named owner is a governance failure, not a formatting issue. Add rows for any location addendum required by paragraph 2.2.
Register owner: [handbook owner job title]
Register last updated: [policy register last updated date]
Policies in this suite
Record for each Part: policy title, the Part number, the owner, the version, the date it took effect, the review interval, and whether it has been issued as a standalone policy.
[policy register entries, one row per part, each showing policy title, part number, owner, version, effective date, review interval and standalone status]
Related documents held outside this Handbook
[list of related documents, for example the health and safety policy statement, the employee privacy notice, the it acceptable use policy, the approved ai tools list, the redundancy procedure and any location addendum, each with its owner and version]
Commencement watch
Several changes to employment law commence after the date of this Handbook. Each is drafted as a note in the Part shown and must be promoted into operative text on the date given. Record the person responsible against each row.
1 October 2026: Tribunal time limits rise from three months to six months. Part 7 note.
30 October 2026: The duty to prevent sexual harassment rises to all reasonable steps, and third party harassment liability begins. Replace "reasonable steps" with "all reasonable steps" in paragraph 4.1. Parts 4.1 and 4.4 notes.
1 January 2027: The unfair dismissal qualifying period falls to six months and the cap on the compensatory award is removed. Check the probationary period in Schedule 1 Part D well before this date. Part 6.1 note.
Expected during 2027: Bereavement leave, the flexible working reasonableness test, guaranteed hours for zero and low hours workers, restrictions on confidentiality agreements, and fire and rehire. Parts 1.5, 8, 11 and 12 notes.
Commencement watch owner: [commencement watch owner job title]
Note: These dates are the Government timetable and several have already moved. Confirm each on legislation.gov.uk before acting on it rather than relying on the date printed here.
Record retention
Retention period for disciplinary, grievance, harassment and whistleblowing records: [case record retention period]
Retention period for annual leave and holiday pay records: Six years from the date each record is made, as required by regulation 16B of the Working Time Regulations 1998
Note: The six year holiday records period is fixed by regulation and is not a field. It is stated here because it is longer than most existing payroll retention schedules and is the entry most likely to be missed when this register is completed.
SCHEDULE 3 - ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I confirm that I have received the Employee Handbook issued by [full legal name of the employer], version [handbook version number], and that I have had the opportunity to read it and to ask questions about it.
I understand that the Handbook is not contractual, that it does not form part of my contract of employment, and that it may be amended.
I understand that I am expected to follow it, and that failure to do so may be dealt with under Part 5.
Employee
Name: [name of the employee]
Job title: [job title of the employee]
Signature:
Date: [acknowledgement date signed by the employee]
Note: Keep the signed acknowledgement with the personnel file and record it in your training and acknowledgement log. Being unable to evidence that staff received the key policies is a gap in itself. An electronic acknowledgement through an HR system is equally good provided it captures the version number, and better if it captures which version was displayed at the time.
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