UK household-employer guide
Domestic staff employment contract checklist and example clauses.
Use this clause-by-clause checklist after the role is agreed to turn duties, pay, hours, holiday, notice and household-specific arrangements into clear written terms. The example wording is illustrative drafting guidance, not a legal contract template.
What should a domestic staff contract checklist cover?
Start with the statutory written particulars, then add the household-specific terms that make the job workable in practice. GOV.UK requires the principal written statement on the first day of employment and the wider statement within two months. The written statement is not the whole employment contract.
For a nanny, housekeeper or other directly employed domestic professional, the useful drafting sequence is: identify the parties and role, define duties and workplace, record gross pay and working pattern, state holiday and leave arrangements, deal with probation and notice, then add any genuinely necessary live-in, travel, privacy or confidentiality wording. Bespoke or restrictive clauses should be reviewed by a qualified employment professional before use.
Cover the information that must be supplied on day one and the wider statement items due within two months.
Translate the actual brief into duties, hours, work locations and any live-in or travel arrangement.
Identify confidentiality, restrictive, complex notice or accommodation wording that merits professional review.
Make sure both sides receive the agreed documents and record later changes in writing.
This page owns the clause checklist, not the law behind every clause.
The separate employment contracts for domestic staff guide explains why a written statement is required, what the principal and wider statements must contain, and how the written statement differs from the wider legal contract.
This page assumes that foundation and focuses on the practical drafting question: what should a household check, and what might neutral example wording look like before professional review?
Clause-by-clause domestic staff contract checklist.
Each example below is a drafting prompt, not approved legal wording. Adapt the factual details to the real job and obtain qualified review where the clause changes rights, limits conduct or deals with a complex working arrangement.
Illustrative wording: “Your employment with [household employer] starts on [date]. Your normal place of work is [address].”
Illustrative wording: “You are employed as [role]. Your normal responsibilities are set out in the attached job description.”
Illustrative wording: “Your normal place of work is [address]. You may also work at [other agreed locations] as set out in this agreement.”
Illustrative wording: “Your gross pay is £[amount] [per hour / week / year], paid [weekly / monthly] on [date or day].”
Illustrative wording: “Your normal working days are [days], normally from [time] to [time], with breaks as agreed and recorded.”
Illustrative wording: “Your paid annual leave entitlement is [days / hours] for the leave year [dates]. Bank holidays [are / are not] included in that entitlement.” Read the holiday entitlement guide before inserting the figure.
Household-specific terms should describe the real job, not a generic domestic role.
A contract checklist becomes useful when it captures the practical details that change how the job works day to day.
How to use the example wording safely.
The short examples on this page are deliberately narrow. They show how a factual term can be expressed plainly, but they do not decide whether a clause is lawful, enforceable or suitable for a specific household.
Where wording affects dismissal, deductions, accommodation rights, confidentiality, restrictive covenants, mobility, significant contract variation or other legal rights, use the current Acas material and obtain qualified employment-law advice.
The topical-map compliance rule requires qualified professional approval before FDS offers template-level clause wording. Until that review is complete, the page remains a structured checklist with limited illustrative drafting prompts.
Which clauses deserve professional review?
Plain factual terms such as the role title, agreed gross pay, ordinary workplace and normal working days are usually straightforward to record. The risk rises when wording tries to create discretion, change rights or restrict what someone can do.
Acas advises employers to consider legal advice before using restrictive covenants. GOV.UK also makes clear that a contractual or NDA provision cannot validly prevent a worker from making a protected whistleblowing disclosure.
From our work
We start the contract conversation with the household brief.
Filipino Domestic Services introduces candidates for household roles; the household decides whom to employ and carries the direct-employment responsibilities that follow. Our current employer guidance therefore asks the household to define the actual role before treating a placement as complete: duties, normal days and hours, location, working arrangement and pay basis all need to be clear enough for the household and candidate to discuss the same job.
That is also the most useful starting point for contract drafting. If the brief says “housekeeper” but the recurring expectation includes school runs, cooking, pet care and regular work at a second residence, a generic housekeeping clause will not describe the real arrangement. If a live-in role has no clear off-duty pattern, accommodation wording alone will not solve the ambiguity.
We would rather see a household separate the factual job terms from the clauses that need specialist legal drafting. The factual layer should make the work understandable. The specialist layer can then be reviewed without turning the entire contract into generic legal boilerplate.
FDS is an introduction agency, not a law firm. This page therefore stays within practical employer guidance and routes bespoke legal wording to a qualified professional.
Use the official Acas templates as the statutory starting point.
Acas provides separate written-statement templates for employees and workers. They can be adapted, but certain particulars must be included. Use them to cover the statutory framework, then add only the household-specific terms that genuinely need to be documented.
Final review before the employee starts.
- Match the contract to the real role.Check the job description against what the household actually expects each week.
- Check every day-one particular.Make sure the principal statement and other day-one information are not deferred into a later policy.
- Use gross pay consistently.Keep the employee’s gross remuneration separate from employer payroll costs and agency fees.
- Cross-check holiday wording.Confirm the stated entitlement and bank-holiday treatment against the actual working pattern.
- Separate accommodation from working time.For live-in roles, describe the accommodation and off-duty arrangement rather than treating presence in the home as working time by default.
- Flag specialist clauses.Route restrictive, confidentiality, mobility, complex notice, deduction and occupancy wording for qualified review.
- Give both sides the documents.Keep a signed or otherwise reliable record of the agreed terms and supporting policies.
- Record later changes.Where main written terms change, put the agreed change in writing within one month.
Questions about domestic staff contract clauses.
What clauses should a nanny or housekeeper contract include?
Start with the statutory written particulars: parties, role, pay, working days and hours, holiday, workplace, duration, probation where used, benefits, training and the other required day-one information. Then add only the household-specific terms that accurately describe the job, such as duties, live-in arrangements, travel or appropriately reviewed confidentiality wording.
Is the Acas written-statement template enough for domestic staff?
It is the best official starting point for the statutory particulars, but it will not automatically describe the detail of a particular household role. A domestic employer may need to add a job description and factual terms about locations, driving, travel, live-in arrangements or other agreed responsibilities.
Should a domestic staff contract state gross or net pay?
The written terms should state the agreed pay clearly. FDS employer guidance uses gross pay so employee remuneration stays separate from employer PAYE, National Insurance, pension and agency costs. A household should make sure the contract, payroll setup and offer all use the same basis.
How should live-in accommodation be covered?
Record the accommodation provided, what is private or shared, relevant household-use arrangements and how off-duty time is separated from work. Any wording about deductions, occupancy rights or what happens to accommodation when employment ends can have legal consequences and should be professionally reviewed.
Can a confidentiality clause stop a domestic employee reporting wrongdoing?
No clause can validly prevent a worker from making a protected whistleblowing disclosure. Confidentiality wording should identify legitimate confidential information without trying to remove statutory rights or prevent lawful reporting. Bespoke NDA or restrictive wording should be legally reviewed.
When do changes to contract terms need to be put in writing?
Where main written terms change, the employer must put the change in writing within one month. Acas recommends putting contract changes in writing more generally so both sides are clear about what has changed, why and when it takes effect.
Sources and compliance boundary.
This page is educational household-employer guidance. It does not provide personalised legal advice, approve a legal template or determine employment status.
Define the job before you finalise the paperwork.
If you are still deciding what the household needs, start with the staffing brief. If the role is already defined, use this checklist alongside the official Acas template and obtain qualified review for any bespoke legal wording. Then carry the agreed terms into the household-employer start checklist.