Written statement of employment particulars : calculate what you are owed

• GOV.UK: employers must give employees and workers a written statement of employment particulars. It is not the full employment contract.
• The principal statement must arrive on day one. A wider written statement (pensions, collective agreements, some training rights, disciplinary and grievance procedures) must arrive within 2 months.
• Day-one content must cover, among other things, how much and how often you are paid, hours and days of work (and how they may vary), and where you work.
• Acas: the right covers employees and most workers (workers who started before 6 April 2020 have a narrower position; check Acas if that is you).
• Use the statement as evidence when rota or clock hours exceed the hours the employer actually pays.
• From 1 April 2026, workers aged 21+ must get at least £12.71 an hour for NMW / National Living Wage purposes. Average underpayment is still unlawful even if the written rate looks fine.

GOV.UK is blunt: the written statement is not an employment contract. Acas says the same. The contract is broader. It can include custom, collective agreements, handbooks, and terms you accepted by starting work. The written statement is the statutory summary of main particulars that Part I of the Employment Rights Act 1996 requires the employer to give you in writing.

That distinction cuts both ways. Missing or incomplete particulars do not mean you have no rights. Extra promises outside the statement can still bind the employer. For unpaid hours, the practical win is simpler: the statement fixes what the employer said about pay, hours, and place, so you can show the gap when practice diverges.

Acas summarises the right:

• anyone with the legal status of employee
• anyone with the legal status of worker, unless they started before 6 April 2020

Employers must provide a written statement no matter how short the engagement. Agency workers have the same right as other workers and employees, subject to the same start-date nuance Acas describes for pre-April 2020 starts.

GOV.UK timing:

• Principal statement: first day of employment
• Wider written statement: within 2 months of the start
• Changes: the employer must tell you in writing within one month of making a change to the written statement

ERA 1996 section 1 (as amended) requires the core particulars in a single document given not later than the beginning of employment. Some items (for example pensions, collective agreements, and certain training notes) may follow in instalments within two months under section 2.

If you never received a statement, or it is incomplete, you can ask for one. Acas notes that employees who started before 6 April 2020 can ask for a statement that meets the newer requirements while they are still employed or within three months of leaving; the employer then has one month. Workers who started before that date do not have the same automatic right, but they can still ask.

GOV.UK lists the principal-statement minimum. For hours-and-pay disputes, focus on these:

• the employer's name, your name, job title or description of work, and start date
• how much and how often you will get paid
• hours and days of work and if and how they may vary (including Sundays, night period work, or overtime where relevant)
• holiday entitlement (and whether that includes public holidays)
• where you will be working and whether you might have to relocate
• if you work in different places, where those are and the employer's address
• how long the job is expected to last / fixed-term end date
• probation length and conditions
• other benefits
• obligatory training and whether the employer pays for it

For employees, continuous employment start dates that count previous jobs must also appear. On day one the employer must also cover sick pay and procedures, other paid leave, and notice periods (in the principal statement or in another document you can reasonably access).

ERA 1996 section 1(4)(c) spells out hours particulars in statutory language: normal working hours, the days of the week you must work, whether hours or days may vary, and how that variation is determined. Vague "hours as required" wording that never explains the variation method is a red flag. It does not licence unpaid overtime.

A written rate of £12.80 an hour looks safe against the April 2026 adult floor of £12.71. The NMW test is not the sticker rate alone. It is pay that counts for NMW divided by hours that count for NMW in each pay reference period (see GOV.UK calculating guidance). If the statement says 35 hours a week and the rota regularly loads 40, while payslips still show 35, you have:

1. a contractual / particulars baseline for the paid hours the employer described
2. a factual gap you can evidence with rotas, messages, and clock data
3. an NMW average that may fall under £12.71 once the unpaid minutes are added back

GBP example: Your principal statement says £12.80 an hour for 37.5 hours a week (legal floor for 21+: £12.71). Payslip shows 37.5 × £12.80 = £480. In the same week the published rota and WhatsApp cover requests add 4 hours of mandatory closing and pre-open work that never appear on the payslip. True counting hours ≈ 41.5. £480 ÷ 41.5 ≈ £11.57. That average sits under £12.71 even though the written hourly rate looked compliant.

The statement does not invent those four hours. Your evidence does. The statement stops the employer pretending the paid pattern was always "whatever the shop needed" with no paper trail.

GOV.UK payslip rules (and ERA 1996 section 8) require an itemised pay statement at or before payday for employees and workers. Where pay varies with time worked, the payslip must show the number of hours worked for that variable pay. Cross-check:

• statement hours vs rota hours vs payslip hours
• statement rate vs gross pay ÷ hours
• fixed and variable deductions

Acas's unpaid-wages guidance points you to the payslip and the written statement when you check what you should have been paid. Missing hours on the payslip are as important as a missing pound figure.

1. Save the PDF or photo of the day-one statement and any change notices.
2. Export rotas, clock-in exports, and messages that show earlier starts or later finishes.
3. Align each payday: statement expectations, hours actually worked, hours paid, pay received.
4. Rebuild the NMW average for each pay reference period at the correct age band (£12.71 for most workers 21+ from April 2026).
5. Raise the gap in writing with payroll or your manager. If it is an NMW underpayment, Acas says you generally choose either an HMRC complaint or an employment tribunal for the same underpayment.

Dual tribunal time limits (Acas, updated September 2026): most pay claims still use 3 months minus 1 day. From 1 October 2026, most claims become 6 months minus 1 day if the time limit starts on or after that date. Clocks that start before 1 October 2026 keep the shorter most-claims limit. Notify Acas for Early Conciliation inside the limit if you want the pause; a grievance does not extend it.

ERA 1996 sections 11 and 12 let you (or the employer) refer questions about what particulars ought to have been included to an employment tribunal. The tribunal can determine, amend, or substitute particulars. Separate pay-statement failures can lead to a declaration and, in some cases, an award linked to unnotified deductions in a short look-back window under section 12. That is not a substitute for recovering unpaid wages or NMW arrears; it is an extra lever when the paperwork itself is broken.

For pure underpayment, keep using the unpaid-wages / NMW routes in parallel with fixing the statement.

• "No written statement means no contract." False. GOV.UK: you can have a contract as soon as you accept the job; it does not have to be written. The statement is a statutory summary, not the existence test.
• "The contract email is enough even if it skips hours and pay." Day-one particulars must still cover pay, hours variation, and place. Incomplete documents leave gaps the tribunal can fill under section 11.
• "Variable hours means unpaid extras are fine." Variation must be explained. Unpaid mandatory time can still drag the NMW average under £12.71.
• "I'll wait for HR to reissue the statement before I act on unpaid hours." Tribunal clocks for pay claims keep running. Dual regime: 3 months minus 1 day now; 6 months minus 1 day if the clock starts on/after 1 October 2026.
• "Agency workers do not get particulars." Acas: agency workers have the same written-statement right as other workers and employees (with the pre-6 April 2020 nuance for workers).

Line up the statement, the rota, and the payslip in one sheet before you argue with payroll. Paye Mes Heures helps you turn those three sources into a clear hours-and-pounds picture against the £12.71 floor so you can raise a precise shortfall, then use Acas, HMRC, or Early Conciliation as the official next step. It prepares the file; it does not replace legal advice or a tribunal decision.

• https://www.gov.uk/employment-contracts-and-conditions
• https://www.gov.uk/employment-contracts-and-conditions/written-statement-of-employment-particulars
• https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/part/I
• https://www.acas.org.uk/what-must-be-written-in-an-employment-contract
• https://www.gov.uk/payslips
• https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates
• https://www.acas.org.uk/employment-tribunal-time-limits