Every employee should have a contract. If you are recruiting a new employee a digital version of the Green Book is available to purchase from Employer Link, which will remain valid on the day of issuance. The cost for this is £100 (including VAT). Should you wish to make a purchase, please confirm your order by sending an email and include any necessary purchase order numbers (made out to the “Improvement & Development Agency”), if applicable. Also state the name of your council and that you are members of NALC.  Click on this link to email Employer Link. There is also a NALC and SLCC approved model contract template available to our members. 

It is never too late to ensure you as an employer and your clerk as an employee are both protected, which is ultimately the purpose of a contract.

Below are a list of particulars a contract should include which may affect payroll:

·       Start date

·       Working hours

·       Salary

·       Holiday Entitlement

·       Termination

·       Pension

·       Deductions

·       Employment absence such as sick pay

If you as an employer or myself as a payroll officer are ever unsure on the information above, our first point of reference should be what has been detailed in the employee contract.

If an employee does not have a contract, the council may only be obliged to pay them the statutory minimum of the following:

·       National living wage

·       Annual leave

·       Statutory sick pay, maternity pay, paternity pay, adoption pay, shared parental leave and parental bereavement

·       Workplace pension

Without a contract any backpay or holiday entitlement will only be calculated based on the statutory minimum.

The information you provide your payroll provider with should correspond with the particulars of the contract in relation to salary, working hours and annual leave if paid rather than taken. 

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