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Know what governs your work
Your employment document map: what actually governs your work
Understand how the advert, offer, contract, terms, job description, rota and job plan fit together—and what to do when they conflict.
No single document tells the whole employment story. The contract creates the employment relationship; incorporated national or local terms add rules; the job description defines the post; and the job plan or work schedule describes how time and duties are organised. Keep the signed versions together and resolve contradictions in writing before relying on assumptions.
By the end of this module, you should be able to:
- Explain the purpose of each employment document.
- Identify contractual and operational inconsistencies.
- Create a controlled personal employment record without retaining confidential patient information.
Seven documents with different jobs
An advert describes a vacancy but usually does not contain the whole bargain. An offer records the proposed appointment. The written contract identifies the parties, role, pay, hours and incorporated terms. National terms may govern matters such as pay progression, leave and job planning. A job description describes duties, accountability and person requirements. A rota allocates attendance or on-call commitments; a job plan or work schedule allocates contractual time and activities.
Documents can be contractual without being called ‘the contract’, particularly when the contract incorporates national terms, employer policies or a job plan. Ask which version applies and whether later correspondence formally varied it. A policy may guide procedure but cannot safely be assumed to override an express contractual entitlement.
- Keep dated copies of every signed or accepted version.
- Record which national or local terms are incorporated.
- Separate a description of current practice from an agreed contractual variation.
Written particulars and missing terms
Employees are entitled to written particulars of core employment information. Medical contracts are commonly more detailed and may incorporate national schedules. Missing wording does not mean there is no legal relationship, but ambiguity creates avoidable risk about hours, notice, place of work, deductions or contractual status.
Ask for missing documents early. Frame the request as record correction: identify the term, the conflicting wording and the confirmation needed. Preserve the response with the contract pack. For significant disagreement, obtain individual BMA, union or employment advice before signing a variation or resigning.
- Do not rely only on a recruitment portal once access may expire.
- Ask whether policies are contractual or non-contractual.
- Keep a clean issue log rather than a chain of emotional emails.
Title, grade and contractual status
Trust doctor, clinical fellow and similar titles do not by themselves identify a national contract or seniority. A locally employed doctor may work under bespoke local terms, terms mirroring a resident-doctor contract, or another arrangement. Specialty Doctor and Specialist are defined SAS grades under national arrangements; legacy Associate Specialist posts have separate historical terms.
Test status using the actual contract, employing body, grade code, pay scale, duties and incorporated terms. Clinical autonomy comes from competence, governance and agreed scope—not from a locally attractive title. If the duties have grown beyond the documented role, seek job-description and job-plan review rather than treating title as evidence.
- Use the contract, not the badge or rota nickname.
- Distinguish grade from Specialist Register status.
- Check whether a local contract genuinely mirrors national terms and where it differs.
Variations and custom in practice
A contractual change normally needs clarity and agreement; medical work also changes operationally in response to service need. Repeated practice can become important evidence, but a doctor should not assume silence has permanently changed every term. Ask whether the change is temporary, its start and end date, payment, supporting time, supervision and review mechanism.
Where urgent patient care requires immediate action, deal with safety first and record the operational issue afterwards. For planned recurring change, use the job-planning or contractual variation route prospectively. State reservations promptly if asked to work under disputed terms, while taking individual advice about lawful instructions and patient-safety duties.
- Name temporary arrangements as temporary.
- Confirm pay and time before recurring additional work.
- Never let an unresolved contract issue become a patient-safety confrontation.
Build a secure contract record
Keep an employment folder containing signed documents, pay circulars relied upon, job plans, formal review outcomes, pay progression decisions, leave records and pension statements. Use dates and version names. Store it on a trusted personal system where lawful, but do not remove patient records, incident files or employer-confidential documents without authority.
A factual chronology should record what happened, when, the document involved, the question raised and the response. It should not speculate about motives. This makes routine correction easier and supports advice if a disagreement escalates.
- Use version-controlled filenames.
- Save the source URL and access date for pay circulars.
- Exclude patient-identifiable and unauthorised organisational material.
The 30-minute first check
Start with identity: correct employer, grade, start date and continuous-service date where relevant. Then check hours, whole-time equivalent, salary and pay point, main and additional locations, probation if applicable, notice, pension status and the incorporated terms. Compare the job description, rota and job plan for time and responsibility.
Do not sign merely because payroll needs a form. Raise material queries before acceptance where possible. If work has already begun, request correction without delay and keep evidence of the date first raised. A contract review is most useful when it asks precise questions rather than declaring the entire document wrong.
- Check identity and dates first.
- Reconcile hours, salary, duties and locations.
- Turn every concern into a precise written question.
Can you reconstruct the post?
Tick only documents you hold in their current accepted version.
Could you locate, within five minutes, the signed document that supports each element of your current pay and working pattern?
Keep in mind
Three takeaways
- 1Employment documents have different functions and must be read together.
- 2Titles do not determine national-contract status or autonomy.
- 3Precise, dated written questions resolve more than broad objections.
Situational judgement exercise
Check your understanding
Six questions on Your employment document map: what actually governs your work test process and practical judgement. This is educational: it does not assess your health, evidence sufficiency or decide a legal issue.
Question 1 of 6
Choose one answer to continue.
Recommended workbooks
Keep personal financial documents on a trusted device. Do not upload them to this website.
Check the source
Page last reviewed 8 September 2026. Independent education only; not individual contractual, legal, tax, financial or pensions advice.Official and professional guidance
Use the document for the relevant nation, grade, contract version, scheme and tax year.