Statement of changes to employment particulars

If any of the terms in the written statement of employment particulars change, you must give the employee a written statement of that change within one month.

Statutory provision

S.4 Employment Rights Act 1996 states that if any of the mandatory terms contained in a written statement of employment particulars change, you must give the employee a written statement containing particulars of the change at the earliest opportunity and, in any event, no later than one month after the change in question (or, if earlier, the date the employee leaves the UK to work outside the UK for a period of more than one month, if the change relates to that move). From 6 April 2020, this provision also applies to new workers engaged on or after that date to whom you are required to issue a written statement of employment particulars. 

Statement of changes

Use our Statement of Changes to Employment Particulars to issue a written notice to each affected employee as the method for notifying the change. We’ve included in our statement some examples of the changes you might wish to notify, but you can delete or add to these as appropriate. Make sure though that you include the effective date of the change(s) and do issue our statement no later than one month after the change has taken effect.

Lawfully changing terms

Our statement is simply to ensure compliance with the statutory notification requirements; it doesn’t constitute an appropriate means of actually changing an employee’s contractual terms of employment. Whilst an employee is unlikely to object to favourable contractual changes, such as a pay rise, increased holiday entitlement or the provision of a new benefit, you can’t unilaterally impose detrimental contractual changes on them without risking a breach of contract, unauthorised deduction from wages and/or constructive dismissal claim, unless the particular change is expressly specifically permitted by the contract itself - see our Variation of Terms of Contract of Employment Letter - in Exercise of a Contractual Power. Otherwise, you will need to go through a process of seeking the employee’s written consent to the change - see our Meeting to Discuss Varying Contract Terms, Letter Seeking Agreement to Vary Employment Contract Terms and Letter Confirming Agreement to Vary Terms of Contract of Employment. Without the employee’s consent however, as a last resort your option would then be to consider possible dismissal and re-engagement on new terms if you still want to press ahead with the change - see our Proposal to Dismiss and Re-employ on New Terms and Letter Terminating Employment and Offering Re-employment on New Terms. You should also ensure you comply with the Code of Practice on Dismissal and Re-Engagement where you envisage that, if the employee doesn’t agree to the change, you might opt to dismiss them and offer them re-engagement to effect the change.