Policies, handbooks and other documents

As well as contracts of employment, there are a number of other documents which may regulate the employment relationship.

Employee handbooks

Handbooks are not mandatory, and their format (eg presented on an intranet or in a written document) and precise content will differ depending on the organisation. They are, however, useful ways of providing information in respect of an organisation's:

  1. formal procedures, such as those on sickness and other absence, and disciplinary and grievance issues

  2. other policies, such as an equality or equal opportunities policy

  3. rules and procedures for the smooth and efficient running of the business, such as a company dress code

  4. aims and culture

Policies are often put into a handbook, to avoid making them contractual. However not all policies in handbooks are non-contractual. Whether or not a policy has contractual force depends on factors including how it is referred to in the contract of employment, and the status of other policies within the handbook. If an employer wishes a particular policy to be contractual or non-contractual, it is advisable to state this expressly in the policy.

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Right to work guidance updated on Digital Verification Service checks

The Home Office has issued an updated version of its ‘Employer’s guide to right to work checks’ document, with the changes primarily related to simplifying the information on digital checks for employers of British and Irish citizens who have a valid passport (or Irish passport card). The new version has removed various technical details which were previously intended for providers of these digital verification services, and revised the relevant terminology, so that ‘Digital Verification Service (DVS)’ now includes both the terms Identity Service Providers (IDSPs) and Identity Document Validation Technology (IDVT). This is stated to align the guidance with the terminology used in the UK digital identity and attributes framework and the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. Guidance and requirements specifically for DVS are now set out in a separate, supplementary code for digital right to work checks. The relevant guidance for employers has been revised. Although it is not currently mandatory for employers to use a DVS certified against the ‘trust framework’ and the supplementary code, this position will change ‘in the near future’, and it will become mandatory to use a DVS listed on the register of certified DVS (maintained by the Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA)). In other changes, the new version reiterates that an original expired BRP is not proof of a right to work, and instead an online check must be taken. It also confirms that short-term entry clearance vignettes are being phased out, and that increasingly persons recently issued entry clearance will only have their eVisa to rely on for these purposes, so will need to create a UKVI account as soon as possible and can do this from overseas. In relation to asylum seekers with a pending claim, the guidance now states that they can also volunteer whilst their claim is considered without being granted permission to work, but they can only carry out 'paid' work if they have been granted permission to work under the Immigration Rules, Part 11, paras 360 or 360C. Previously the reference in our quotation marks to ‘paid’ work stated ‘voluntary’ work

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