Your employment contracts are the foundation of every working relationship — and your first line of defence when something goes wrong. We help Sussex and Surrey employers put in place clear, compliant, up-to-date contracts that protect the business and set expectations from day one.
You’re hiring and need a proper contract
You’ve never issued written terms
Your existing contracts are old or generic
You want to protect the business with the right clauses
Every employee is legally entitled to a written statement of terms from day one. Beyond compliance, a good contract sets expectations, protects confidential information, and gives you the clauses you’ll rely on if a dispute arises.
Many small businesses run on a template downloaded years ago, or nothing in writing at all — a gap that only becomes obvious when there’s a problem.
That’s where MJV Consulting comes in. We provide clear, compliant contracts tailored to your business.
Clear, up-to-date contracts do more than meet your legal obligations — they set expectations, protect your confidential information and clients, and give you something dependable to rely on if a question ever arises.
Older or generic templates can quietly fall behind the law, and employment law is changing under the Employment Rights Act 2025. Making sure your contracts are current means fewer surprises and greater peace of mind.
We audit your existing contracts and terms — or your current gaps — against the law and your real working practices.
We draft clear contracts tailored to each role, with the right clauses on pay, hours, notice, confidentiality and restrictions.
We help you issue written terms properly and on time, so you meet your day-one obligations for every new starter.
We keep your contracts up to date as your business and the law change — so they never quietly fall out of date.
The framework we work through with every client — and the
version we’re happy to talk through on a free discovery call.
Employees and workers are entitled to a written statement of the main terms of their employment from day one — in fact, on or before their first day. It’s a legal requirement and a good discipline besides, setting expectations clearly from the start. We’ll make sure yours are compliant and cover what they should.
The written statement must cover the essentials — job title, start date, pay, hours, holiday, notice, place of work and more — as set out in employment law. A good contract goes a little further, adding the clauses that genuinely protect your business. We’ll help you get both the required terms and the sensible extras right.
Contractual changes normally need the employee’s agreement, reached through consultation and clear communication. Imposing changes without that is where problems start. In most cases there’s a fair, straightforward route to the change you need, and we’ll help you plan and handle it well.
The written statement is the legal minimum you must provide; a contract of employment is usually a fuller document that includes those terms plus additional clauses — confidentiality, notice, restrictions and so on. Most businesses are better served by a proper contract. We’ll help you put clear, compliant contracts in place.
Often, yes. Permanent, fixed-term, part-time and casual arrangements each have their own considerations, and a one-size template can leave gaps. Getting the right contract for each type of engagement avoids confusion later. We’ll help you build a small set of clear templates that cover your workforce.
Sensible, proportionate restrictions — protecting confidential information or client relationships for a reasonable period — can be valuable, but overly broad ones are hard to enforce. The key is tailoring them to what genuinely needs protecting. We’ll help you draft covenants that are both fair and effective.
The Employment Rights Act 2025 brings changes across areas such as day-one rights, probation, zero-hours arrangements and more, some of which touch how contracts are best framed. (Detail and timings are still being finalised.) Keeping your templates current is a simple way to stay ahead of it, and we’ll help you review and update them.
In most cases yes. If someone has carried on working under the terms you set out, they’re generally taken to have accepted them, so an unsigned contract is usually still effective. It’s tidier to have a signature on file, though, and we can help you chase these up gently so your paperwork is complete and clear.
Yes, zero-hours contracts are lawful and can suit genuinely variable work — but they come with real obligations, and the new employment law is tightening the rules around them, including moves towards guaranteed hours for those who work regular patterns (timings are still being confirmed). We’ll help you use them properly, or suggest a better-fitting arrangement if one exists.
It matters because each has different rights, and the label you use isn’t always what counts — it’s the reality of the working relationship that decides it. Employees have the fullest set of rights, workers a core set, and genuine self-employed contractors far fewer. Getting this right protects you, and we’ll help you check that your arrangements reflect what’s actually happening.
Book a free 30-minute discovery call and we’ll talk through your situation and the safest way forward — no obligation, just clear, practical advice.
Your employees deserve a workplace where they can thrive and so does your business. Contact MJV Consulting to explore how our solutions can transform your organisation.
