Most people spend less time reading their employment contract than they spend reading the terms of a streaming service. That imbalance has consequences. Employment contracts govern how you are paid, what you can do after leaving, who owns your ideas, and how much notice you are owed. The time to understand them is before you sign.
Paste any UK contract clause and get a structured risk report — plain English, red flags, enforceability insight, and a suggested counter-proposal.
1. Job title and role description
Ensure the role description reflects what you have actually agreed to do. Broad role descriptions give employers flexibility to change your responsibilities without breaching contract. If specific duties or seniority attracted you to the role, they should be in writing.
2. Salary and bonus provisions
Confirm the base salary, payment frequency, and whether any bonus is contractual or discretionary. A discretionary bonus can be withheld at any time without giving rise to a breach of contract claim. If a bonus was a material part of the package discussed, push for it to be contractual with defined criteria.
3. Notice period
Check both your notice obligations and the employer's. Under the Employment Rights Act 1996, you are entitled to a minimum of one week's statutory notice per year of service, up to twelve weeks. A contractual period can exceed this but cannot go below it. Also check whether there is a payment in lieu of notice (PILON) clause — without one, paying you off immediately rather than requiring you to work your notice technically constitutes a breach.
4. Probationary period
Confirm the duration and what notice applies during that period. Some contracts allow dismissal during probation with as little as one week's notice regardless of length of service. Check also what benefits — bonus eligibility, enhanced sick pay — are conditional on passing probation.
5. Place of work and remote working
If flexible or remote working is part of the arrangement, it should be in the contract. A clause specifying a fixed office location with no flexibility gives the employer grounds to require your attendance there, even if the informal arrangement has been otherwise.
6. Intellectual property assignment
Most employment contracts assign all intellectual property created during employment to the employer. Check whether the clause is broad enough to capture personal projects or creative work developed independently. Where you create work in your own time, using your own equipment, unrelated to your employer's business, there may be scope to carve it out.
7. Confidentiality obligations
Post-termination confidentiality obligations are enforceable where they protect genuine trade secrets. Check whether the clause is time-limited and how "confidential information" is defined — overly broad definitions may be unenforceable.
8. Non-compete and non-solicitation clauses
Before signing, ask whether the restriction would materially affect your ability to find comparable work if this role ends. If the answer is yes, negotiate now. See our non-compete guide for a detailed breakdown of what is and is not enforceable.
9. Variation clause
Many contracts allow the employer to vary terms by giving notice. Unilateral variation clauses can allow changes to pay, hours, or role without your agreement. Check whether variation requires your consent.
10. Governing law
UK employment contracts should be governed by English, Scottish, or Northern Irish law. If you are employed by a foreign entity, confirm the contract does not attempt to exclude your UK statutory rights — it cannot, as those rights apply regardless of governing law where you ordinarily work in the UK.