in your workplace

What should a basic job contract and job description contain and are they mandatory? I am a practice nurse employed by a single-handed GP

This is a very good question and one I often get asked by colleagues working in smaller health service settings. To give you a complete answer from a legal perspective would take far too long, but I can briefly outline a general answer which many readers may be surprised with:

There is no actual requirement for a UK employer to provide a contract of employment or a job description.

However, this is not as bad as it first sounds because firstly, there are mandatory rules that protect all UK employees and these cannot be derogated even if there was a contract. These rules give every UK employee a right to statutory sick pay, maternity pay, redundancy pay and protection from unfair dismissal.