There’s something lovely about seeing order and neatness in paperwork. Knowing you have a template for everything, and no one-off surprises in individual documents, helps to increase our feelings of control and confidence in most management situations. Employment contracts are no exception to this. It seems instinctively easier to imagine every employee on exactly the same contract template, with the same (albeit pro-rated) sick pay, maternity benefits and annual leave entitlements. But is this always the right thing in a GP practice? And in situations where we do want to ‘harmonise’ people onto the same contract templates, how do we go about that?

These are the questions that this article grapples with. Firstly, we’ll look at several legitimate reasons why members of your practice team might have different-looking employment contracts, and why that’s important. Then we’ll look at other circumstances where you might prefer to harmonise them instead, and how to go about doing this.

Some good reasons for practice employees to have different types of contract

1. If they’re a salaried GP

Most GP practices are contractually obliged to offer terms of employment to salaried GPs that are the same or equivalent to the BMA’s model contract for salaried GPs. You can learn more about this here, and a sample salaried GP contract is available for PLUS members here. This provides benefits for sickness and maternity and so on, which are well above the minimum statutory levels, as well as provisions for regular study leave. Of course, there’s no implicit reason why you couldn’t offer these same terms to all other employees at your practice, but for cost and practicality reasons, most practices tend to offer different terms to non-salaried GPs.

2. If they’ve previously transferred to your practice via TUPE

Employees who’ve transferred to a practice via TUPE have their previous terms and conditions protected by law. A desire to harmonise them with existing employees isn’t sufficient excuse to override this, and if a practice does attempt to change individuals’ contracts for the purpose of harmonising them, this is likely to be unlawful. (Note: if the reason for a contract change is not connected to the original transfer, such as if the employee succeeds in applying for promotion at the practice, then this TUPE protection won’t apply.)

3. If their terms have been individually negotiated

Sometimes recruitment is tough and you might find yourself agreeing to non-standard amounts of annual leave or similar in order to persuade your preferred candidate to accept the role. This is legitimate HR practice and much caution would be advised before any later proposal to divert that individual’s contract terms away from the original deal!

4. If you’ve made a conscious decision not to push though with harmonising an individual’s contract

As managers, we don’t have to win every battle. Sometimes there might be good reasons why you decide not to push ahead with changes to an individual’s contract. Maybe they’ve been with you a long time? Maybe you’re happy with the terms they have? Maybe the risk of conflict just isn’t worth it? These are all perfectly valid reasons to leave things as they are, if you prefer.

Some situations where you might want to try and harmonise

1. Differences in our annual leave and sick pay entitlements and so on that have developed over time are creating problems

Subject to considerations and requirements mentioned in the previous section, you might well decide that getting people onto the same benefits and entitlements would make managing the practice easier.

2. Having different people on different contract templates is causing confusion

The wording of employment contract templates often changes over time. For example, in April 2020 fresh legal requirements were introduced regarding what information needs to be included on newly issued statements of particulars. (See here for more information on that, if you’re interested.) This doesn’t necessarily create a problem, but some practices might prefer to update everyone’s contracts to keep them consistent.

3. We’ve given these individuals so many small contract amendments over the years it’s hard to keep track of them all!

In many cases when a small change is made to someone’s contract (e.g., a change in hours or entitlements), the practice will issue a short contract amendment letter rather than a whole new contract. This is fine, but for longer-serving employees all these documents can add up and you may eventually feel the need to consolidate everything for them into one new contract.

If you’ve decided it’s best to do so, how can you go about issuing someone a new contract?

Changing an employee’s contract might be a very simple or a very complicated process depending on individual circumstances. There isn’t enough room to explore the subject in depth here, but this Acas guidance document for employers on making contract changes is highly recommended for those considering such a step.

In short, though, the steps are as follows:

1. Decide on and prepare a draft contract that you want to offer

If it helps at all, there’s a template contract draft for employees in England and Wales available for PLUS members here to start you off. Scottish and Northern Irish versions are available too.

2. Explain the changes you want to make and why

Set aside some time to do this properly. It’s one of the key stages to getting their agreement.

3. Listen to and consider any concerns, questions or suggestions the employee has

Sometimes just amending a bit of wording here and there and/or explaining a confusing line in the document makes a big difference in reassuring employees about the change.

4. Issue the new contract and ask the employee(s) to agree and sign it

If the new contract includes terms that would disadvantage them, an employee has good reason to refuse at this point. Can you negotiate and offer any inducements to improve the situation from their perspective?

If these steps don’t result in agreement with the employee over the new contract, it’s recommended that you seek specialist HR or legal advice before deciding on your next steps.

In conclusion

Should all employees in your practice be on the same contract template? Possibly not. But there are good reasons why you won’t want to let individual contracts deviate from each other unnecessarily either.

Employment contracts can be a complicated thing to think about and manage, so always seek specialist advice if you’re unsure. But in most cases, minor changes and updates can be agreed with relatively little worry. Whatever path you decide to go down for your practice, best of luck!