Employment Contract Checker UK 2025 — Key Clauses, Illegal Terms & Your Rights
Your employment contract is the foundation of your working relationship — but some terms employers include are unlawful or unenforceable, and some rights cannot be contracted away no matter what the contract says. This guide helps you spot red flags, understand which clauses are binding, and know what you are entitled to regardless of what the contract states.
Statutory rights cannot be contracted away — NMW, 28 days holiday, SSP, and protection from discrimination all apply regardless of what your contract says. Employment contracts must be provided from day one of employment (since April 2020). Always get legal advice before signing a restrictive covenant or agreeing to a contract change.
Rights You Have Regardless of Your Contract
These statutory rights apply to all employees and cannot be removed by your employment contract:
| Statutory right | Who it applies to | Can contract remove it? |
|---|---|---|
| National Minimum Wage (£12.21/hr age 21+) | All workers | No — any clause paying below is void |
| 28 days paid annual leave | All workers | No — cannot pay in lieu except on termination |
| Statutory Sick Pay | Employees earning £123+/week | No — can top up but not remove |
| Maternity/paternity leave | Employees with qualifying service | No |
| Protection from unfair dismissal | Employees with 2+ years service | No |
| Protection from discrimination | All workers | No |
| Itemised payslip | All workers | No |
| Right to join a trade union | All workers | No |
Contract Changes — Employer Rights and Limits
An employer who wants to change contract terms has two lawful options:
- Agree the change with the employee — the preferred route. If you agree, sign a variation agreement. Take advice before agreeing to significant reductions in pay, hours, or benefits.
- Terminate and re-engage — also called ‘fire and rehire.’ The employer gives proper notice to terminate the existing contract and offers a new contract with changed terms. The new statutory Code of Practice on fire and rehire (effective July 2024) requires employers to genuinely consult and not use the threat of dismissal as pressure to accept changes. Mass fire-and-rehire (20+ employees) triggers collective consultation requirements.
What an employer cannot do: simply tell you terms have changed and expect you to continue without challenge. Unilateral changes that are fundamental to the contract (pay, hours, location) are a repudiatory breach allowing you to resign and claim constructive dismissal.
Restrictive Covenants — Enforceability
Post-termination restrictions (non-compete, non-solicitation, non-dealing) are enforceable only if they:
- Protect a legitimate business interest (customer connections, confidential information, stable workforce)
- Go no further than is reasonably necessary to protect that interest
- Are reasonable in geographic scope and duration
Courts will not rewrite an over-broad restriction — they will void it entirely. Senior employees, customer-facing roles, and those with access to confidential information can generally support wider restrictions than junior or administrative staff. Non-competes of more than 12 months for most employees are increasingly difficult to enforce.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Any contractual clause purporting to waive the right to statutory annual leave or to substitute it with a payment (rolled-up holiday pay) is of no effect under the Working Time Regulations 1998. You are entitled to 28 days of actual paid leave (or 5.6 weeks including bank holidays for full-time workers). The only exception to the rolling-up rule is for workers with genuinely irregular hours where the Supreme Court has provided some guidance — see the holiday pay calculator for more.
Only if there is a clear contractual clause allowing it and the deduction does not take your pay below NMW. Many employers include training cost recovery clauses requiring repayment of training costs if you leave within a specified period (often 1–2 years). These are lawful in principle but must be clearly stated in the contract, proportionate to the actual training costs, and must not take you below NMW at the time of deduction. Courts scrutinise these clauses carefully if they are unreasonably wide.