What if the employer fails to provide a written statement?

An employee can bring a claim for a written statement of employment particulars in the employment tribunal at any time while they are working for the employer, or within three months of the end of the employment (or later, if a tribunal decides it was not reasonably practicable for them to do so within the three months). However, compensation is only payable if the claim is made alongside a successful tribunal claim to enforce a statutory employment right, such as the right not to be unfairly dismissed. There is no free-standing right to compensation for failure to provide a statutory statement of terms. Compensation is fixed at between two and four weeks’ wages, capped at £450 per week (2013-14).

Tribunal fees: From 29 July 2013, the claim will attract a tribunal fee, made up of an issue fee of £160 (2013-14) and a hearing fee of £230 (2013-14). Only one fee is payable, no matter how many claims are listed on an ET1. Where a claim for failure to provide a written statement is brought alongside a claim for unfair dismissal or discrimination, only the higher fee (£250 to issue the claim and £950 for the hearing) is payable.

A tribunal can decide what contract terms must have been agreed, but it cannot change the agreed terms (Eagland v BT [1992] IRLR 323).