Employment Offer Letter in the UK: What Must Be Included (2026)

What must a UK employment offer letter include? A UK employment offer letter is the written offer an employer sends a candidate confirming the main terms of the job before they start. Unlike the US, the UK has a statutory list of particulars an employee (and, since 2020, a worker) must be given, and that written statement is a day-one right. Many employers use the offer letter, together with a contract of employment, to satisfy it. At a minimum, a good UK offer letter includes: - Job title and a brief description of the role.

• Start date and, if relevant, the date continuous employment begins.
• Pay: amount, frequency and method, and how it is calculated.
• Hours of work, including any variable or weekend pattern.
• Place of work.
• Holiday entitlement (including how it is calculated).
• Probationary period, its length and conditions.
• Notice period each side must give.
• Pension arrangements (auto-enrolment).
• Conditions of the offer: satisfactory references, a right-to-work check, and any medical or DBS (criminal record) check where lawful and relevant.
• Reference to the contract of employment the candidate will sign.
• Acceptance by signature and a deadline. This article is general guidance, not legal advice. UK employment law has detail and changes, so have qualified UK counsel review your documents before you rely on them. Last verified October 2026. ## Offer letter and the written statement of particulars Under section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, an employer must give a written statement of specified particulars on or before the first day of work, and this is a day-one right that extends to workers as well as employees since the April 2020 reforms. Some further particulars may follow within two months. A standalone offer letter is not automatically a compliant statement, but an offer letter (or, more usually, the contract of employment issued with it) can satisfy the requirement if it contains the mandatory particulars and reaches the person before the start date. The safe practice is to send a full contract of employment alongside or soon after the offer and check it against the statutory list. <!-- [VERIFY] exact section 1 particulars list against legislation.gov.uk --> The mandatory particulars generally include: the names of employer and employee, the start date and continuity date, pay and interval, hours, holiday, place of work, job title or description, probation, notice, pension, any collective agreements, and information on sick pay, other benefits and training entitlement. ## UK offer letter template Copy the block below onto company letterhead and fill the bracketed fields. ``` [COMPANY LETTERHEAD] [Date] Dear [CANDIDATE NAME], We are pleased to offer you the position of [TITLE] at [COMPANY], reporting to [MANAGER], based at [PLACE OF WORK]. Your proposed start date is [DATE]. Pay: Your salary will be GBP [AMOUNT] per year, paid [monthly] by [BACS], subject to deductions required by law. Hours: Your normal hours are [N] per week, [pattern]. Holiday: You will be entitled to [N] days per year plus public holidays [, calculated as set out in the contract]. Probation: The first [N] months are probationary, during which notice is [N] week(s). Notice: After probation, [N] [weeks/months] notice applies on either side, subject to statutory minimums. Pension: You will be enrolled in the workplace pension in line with auto-enrolment rules. Conditions: This offer is conditional on (a) satisfactory references, (b) evidence of your right to work in the UK, and (c) [a satisfactory DBS check / medical clearance, where relevant]. Contract: Your employment is governed by the enclosed contract of employment, which you should sign and return. Together with this letter it forms your written statement of particulars. Please confirm acceptance by signing and returning by [DATE]. Yours sincerely, [Name, Title] Accepted: ____________________ Date: __________ [Candidate name]

- Missing a mandatory particular (such as holiday calculation, probation or notice), which breaches the day-one requirement.
- Making an unconditional offer and then trying to withdraw it after a failed reference or right-to-work check.
- Forgetting pension auto-enrolment.
- Vague hours or place of work, which causes disputes later. ## A note on scope These rules are for Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland); Northern Ireland has its own, closely related employment law with some differences. Rates, thresholds and statutory minimums change, so confirm the current figures before sending an offer. The written-statement rules apply broadly, but how you combine the offer letter and contract to meet them is a matter of good drafting, not a single prescribed form. ## Where a contract workspace helps A template gets you one clean offer letter. The ongoing work is everything after: keeping the offer letter and contract consistent so that between them they cover every statutory particular, matching conditions to each role, tracking which candidates have signed and which right-to-work and reference checks are outstanding, and keeping each hire's offer, contract and policies linked. That is the idea behind an AI contract and document workspace. It can draft from an offer and contract template tuned to how your company hires, check that the mandatory particulars are all present, keep each candidate's documents in one place with a clear timeline, and surface outstanding conditions and start dates as alerts. Tools such as [Adira](https://adiralaw.com) are built around that single-workspace idea; note that its jurisdiction depth is deepest for India today, with the UK on the roadmap, so confirm fit for UK hiring. This template alone is enough to send a sound offer; a workspace simply makes drafting, review and tracking one connected job.