Employee Handbook: What to Include (UK Employer Guide)

A staff handbook sets out how your workplace operates, what you expect from employees, and what they can expect from you. While UK law does not require you to have one, many policies it contains are legally required, and not having them written down creates real risk.

If your handbook has not been updated recently, it almost certainly needs attention. The Employment Rights Act 2025 has introduced significant changes affecting sick pay, flexible working, dismissal procedures, and whistleblowing.

Last updated: April 2026

This guide covers everything a UK employer should include in an employee handbook, what the law requires, what best practice looks like, and where the ERA 2025 changes things.

---

What to Include in a UK Employee Handbook: The Core Sections

There is no single legal template for a staff handbook. The content depends on your business size, sector, and workforce. But certain sections appear in virtually every effective handbook, and several are backed by specific legal requirements.

The sections below are listed in the order most employers arrange them. Each one includes the legal basis where relevant and notes on ERA 2025 changes.

---

Company Introduction and Values

Start with a brief section explaining who you are, what your business does, and what your workplace culture looks like. This is not legally required, but it sets the tone for everything that follows.

Keep it short. Two or three paragraphs covering:

• Your company's purpose and mission
• Core values or principles
• A welcome message from a senior leader

This section helps new starters understand the organisation they are joining and provides context for the policies that follow.

---

Employment Terms and Conditions

This section summarises key terms of employment. It should not replace the written statement of employment particulars, which is a separate legal requirement under the Employment Rights Act 1996, but it can cross-reference it.

Cover: types of employment offered (full-time, part-time, fixed-term, zero hours), probationary periods, notice periods, hours of work, and pay information including pay dates and calculation method.

ERA 2025 note

The Employment Rights Act 2025 introduces day one unfair dismissal rights from 2027, significantly affecting how probationary periods operate. If your handbook states that employees have fewer rights during probation, update this before the 2027 changes take effect. The government has indicated a statutory probationary period of up to nine months will apply, with a lighter-touch dismissal process, but full unfair dismissal protection from day one.

---

Equal Opportunities and Anti-Discrimination

Every employer should have a clear equal opportunities policy. While there is no legal requirement to publish one in a handbook, the Equality Act 2010 requires you not to discriminate, and having a written policy is strong evidence that you take this seriously.

Your policy should cover:

• Protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 (age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation)
• Your commitment to equal treatment in recruitment, promotion, pay, and access to training
• How employees can raise concerns about discrimination
• The consequences of discriminatory behaviour

Also include a clear statement on reasonable adjustments for disabled employees under the Equality Act 2010, and explain how employees can request them.

---

Anti-Harassment and Bullying Policy

This is one of the most important sections in any handbook, and one of the areas most affected by the ERA 2025.

Your anti-harassment policy should include:

• A clear definition of what constitutes harassment and bullying
• Examples of unacceptable behaviour, including verbal, physical, and online conduct
• The process for reporting harassment, including to whom and how
• Confirmation that complaints will be treated confidentially where possible
• The consequences for employees found to have engaged in harassment

ERA 2025 note

The Employment Rights Act 2025 has made sexual harassment a qualifying disclosure for whistleblowing purposes from April 2026. This means an employee who reports sexual harassment is now protected under whistleblowing legislation, not just the Equality Act 2010. Your handbook must reflect this. If an employee raises a sexual harassment complaint and suffers detriment as a result, they now have a whistleblowing claim as well as a discrimination claim.

The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023, which took effect in October 2024, also requires employers to take "reasonable steps" to prevent sexual harassment. Your handbook policy is a key piece of evidence that you are meeting this duty.

---

Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures

UK employers are required by law to have disciplinary and grievance procedures. Under section 3 of the Employment Act 2008 and the ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures, tribunals can adjust awards by up to 25% where an employer has unreasonably failed to follow the ACAS Code.

Your handbook should set out both procedures clearly. For detailed guidance, see our full disciplinary procedure employer guide.

Disciplinary procedure

At minimum, your disciplinary procedure must include:

• Investigation stage: how you will gather facts before taking action
• Notification: written confirmation of the issue and an invitation to a disciplinary hearing
• The hearing: the employee's right to be accompanied (under section 10 of the Employment Relations Act 1999)
• Decision and sanctions: verbal warning, written warning, final written warning, dismissal
• Appeal: the right to appeal any disciplinary decision

Grievance procedure

Your grievance procedure should cover:

• How to raise a grievance (in writing, to whom)
• Timescales for acknowledging and investigating the grievance
• The meeting process and right to be accompanied
• The right to appeal

---

Absence, Sickness, and Statutory Sick Pay

Your handbook must explain how employees should report absence, what evidence is required, and what pay they will receive when they are off sick.

Include:

• Reporting requirements: who to contact, by when, and how
• Fit notes: when a GP fit note is required (usually after seven consecutive days of absence)
• Return to work meetings: whether you conduct them and what they involve
• Statutory Sick Pay (SSP): current rate and qualifying conditions
• Contractual sick pay: any enhanced sick pay you offer above SSP

ERA 2025 note

From April 2026, SSP is payable from the first day of sickness absence. The previous three waiting days have been removed. Your handbook must reflect this change. If your policy still refers to waiting days or says SSP starts on the fourth day, it is now incorrect. For full details, see our guide to SSP from day one.

The lower earnings limit for SSP eligibility has also been removed, meaning all employees now qualify regardless of earnings.

---

Annual Leave and Holiday Policy

Set out your holiday entitlement clearly. Under the Working Time Regulations 1998, all full-time workers are entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks (28 days) paid annual leave per year, which can include bank holidays.

Your policy should cover:

• Total entitlement in days, and whether this includes bank holidays
• How to request leave and the approval process
• Notice requirements for booking holiday
• Restrictions: blackout periods, maximum consecutive days, and rules around peak times
• Carrying over unused leave: your policy on whether unused days can roll into the next year
• Holiday pay calculations: particularly important for workers with variable hours

---

Flexible Working

Every employee in the UK now has a day one right to request flexible working under the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023. Your handbook should reflect the current rules.

Include:

• Confirmation that all employees can request flexible working from day one
• The process for making a request
• How quickly you will respond (the statutory requirement is two months)
• The eight statutory grounds on which you can refuse a request
• Your approach to trial periods for flexible arrangements

For full details, see our guide to flexible working requests.

ERA 2025 note

The ERA 2025 further strengthens flexible working rights. Later phases of the Act are expected to make flexible working the default where practicable, requiring employers to justify refusal rather than simply citing one of the eight statutory grounds. Update your handbook once secondary legislation is published.

---

Family Leave Policies

Your handbook should cover all forms of statutory family leave. Since April 2026, several of these have become day one rights under the ERA 2025.

Maternity leave and pay

• 52 weeks of maternity leave (26 ordinary + 26 additional)
• Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) entitlement and qualifying conditions
• Your notification requirements

Paternity leave

• Up to two weeks of paternity leave, now a day one right from April 2026
• Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) entitlement
• Notification requirements and timing

Adoption leave

• 52 weeks of adoption leave, now a day one right
• Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP)
• Matching and placement notification requirements

Other family leave

Also cover shared parental leave (up to 50 weeks of leave, 37 weeks of pay), parental leave (18 weeks unpaid per child, now a day one right), and time off for dependants (statutory right to reasonable unpaid time off for emergencies).

---

Data Protection and Privacy

The UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 require you to tell employees how you collect, use, and store their personal data. Include a summary covering: what data you collect, why (lawful basis), who has access, retention periods, employee rights (access, rectification, deletion), and how to raise a concern.

---

IT, Social Media, and Communications

Set clear expectations about how employees use company IT systems. Cover acceptable use of email, internet, and devices, whether personal use is permitted, social media rules for personal and company accounts, monitoring (you must tell employees if you monitor usage under UK GDPR), and consequences of misuse.

---

Health and Safety

Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, every employer has a duty to ensure employee health, safety, and welfare. If you have five or more employees, you must have a written health and safety policy. Cover your general policy statement, employee responsibilities, accident and near-miss reporting procedures, fire safety and evacuation, first aid arrangements, and your approach to risk assessments.

---

Whistleblowing Policy

The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA) protects employees who report wrongdoing. Your whistleblowing policy should explain what qualifies as a protected disclosure, how to make one internally, who to contact, assurance against detriment, and external reporting options.

ERA 2025 note

From April 2026, sexual harassment is a qualifying disclosure for whistleblowing. This is a significant expansion. If your whistleblowing policy does not mention sexual harassment, it needs updating now. See our Employment Rights Act 2025 employer guide for the full picture.

---

Redundancy and Restructuring

Cover when redundancy might arise, the consultation process (individual and collective), fair selection criteria, notice periods, statutory redundancy pay, and the right to time off to look for new work.

ERA 2025 note

From April 2026, the maximum protective award for failing to consult on collective redundancies has doubled from 90 to 180 days' pay. This significantly increases the financial risk of getting it wrong. Your handbook should reference your commitment to proper consultation.

---

Making Your Handbook Enforceable

A few practical points on making sure your handbook actually works:

1. Contractual vs non-contractual: Be explicit about which policies are contractual (binding on both sides) and which are non-contractual (guidance that can be updated without employee agreement). Most handbook policies should be non-contractual, giving you flexibility to update them.

2. Acknowledgement: Ask every employee to sign an acknowledgement that they have received and read the handbook. This does not make the policies contractual, but it proves the employee was aware of them.

3. Accessibility: Make the handbook available digitally and keep it somewhere employees can access at any time. An intranet, shared drive, or onboarding portal all work.

4. Regular review: Review and update the handbook at least annually. With the ERA 2025 changes rolling out through 2027, quarterly reviews are sensible until the dust settles.

---

Employee Handbook Compliance Check

Is your employee handbook ERA 2025 compliant? The EmployerKit Audit checks your handbook against current law and highlights exactly what needs updating. From £49. Run your audit now.

---

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is a staff handbook a legal requirement in the UK?

A: No. There is no UK law that requires employers to have a staff handbook. However, certain policies within a handbook are legally required, such as a written health and safety policy (for employers with five or more employees), disciplinary and grievance procedures (expected under the ACAS Code of Practice), and a data protection privacy notice (required under UK GDPR). In practice, having a handbook is the simplest way to meet all these obligations in one document.

Q: Should an employee handbook be contractual or non-contractual?

A: Most employment lawyers recommend making handbook policies non-contractual. This means you can update them without needing each employee's consent. If a policy is contractual, changing it requires agreement or risks a breach of contract claim. Include a clear statement at the front of the handbook confirming its non-contractual status, and keep truly binding terms (pay, hours, notice) in the employment contract itself.

Q: How often should I update my employee handbook?

A: At minimum, once a year. With the Employment Rights Act 2025 introducing changes in phases from April 2026 through 2027, more frequent reviews are sensible right now. Key triggers for an immediate update include changes in employment legislation, new case law that affects your policies, changes to your business operations, and any incident that reveals a gap in your current policies.

Q: What happens if my handbook contradicts the employment contract?

A: If there is a conflict between the handbook and the employment contract, the contract usually takes precedence, particularly if the handbook is stated to be non-contractual. This is why it is important to keep the two documents consistent. Where the handbook provides more generous terms than the contract (for example, enhanced sick pay), make it clear whether this is contractual or discretionary. Ambiguity can lead to tribunal claims where an employee argues the enhanced terms were a contractual entitlement.

Q: Do I need a separate handbook for remote or hybrid workers?

A: No. Include remote and hybrid working provisions within your main handbook. Cover home working expectations, equipment provision, health and safety for home workers, data security, and how existing policies apply when working from home. A single handbook is easier to maintain and avoids inconsistencies between separate documents.