Most colleges now set out main terms and conditions of employment in the form of a standard contract of employment document. This document will be referred to if there are disputes later about the terms of your employment so it is very important that you read and fully understand it and that you keep it in a safe place.

A contract of employment may be written or oral, or a mix of the two. All employees are entitled to receive a written statement of the main terms and conditions of their employment within two months of starting work, which must include details of: name of employer and employee; date when employment began; date on which period of continuous employment began; scale or rate of remuneration; intervals at which remuneration is paid (e.g. monthly or weekly); terms and conditions relating to hours of work; details of holiday entitlement; terms and conditions relating to incapacity for work due to sickness; pensions and pension schemes; length of notice employees are obliged to give and entitled to receive; title of job the employee is employed to do; the date when employment will end (if a fixed-term contract) ; place of work; and any collective agreements (i.e. with the trade union) which directly affect the terms and conditions of employment.

As well as the terms set out in the contract document there will be some terms of your employment which apply to all staff and this information may be contained in a separate document such as the college staff handbook. Handbooks of this type should be readily accessible to all staff and it is a good idea to familiarise yourself with the contents.

Teaching hours

At present there is no national agreement on working hours. NATFHE continues to press for such an agreement but in the meantime has negotiated with local colleges to ensure that there are acceptable limits to teaching hours, both within the week and over the whole year. Agreements have now been reached in a majority of the colleges in the sector which generally limit weekly working hours to 37hours and teaching to between 800 and 850 hours per year with often a weekly limit of 24 hours

The way teaching hours are expressed can vary considerably depending on how teaching or contact time is defined. The more areas of work which are regarded as contact or teaching time, the higher the hours are likely to be.

Staff employed in management spine posts can expect to have considerably reduced teaching hours.

Holiday

Most new contracts of employment provide for a specific number of days of paid holiday entitlement. In addition many contracts allow for a specified number of days to be worked away from the college premises.

Whilst the the national employers organisation recommends that colleges provide for 37 days of annual holiday entitlement, plus bank holiday, contracts which have been locally agreed with NATFHE are generally a considerable improvement upon that, with holiday entitlements of between 50 and 60 days.

Usually holiday entitlement can only be taken at certain times of the year, in periods outside the college teaching year. Most local agreements allow for a minimum of 4 weeks consecutive leave to be taken over the summer.

Maternity/Family Purposes and Dependants/Sickness Leave

Your individual contract of employment should specify your entitlements and which will usually be a result of locally negotiated agreements. National Guideline Agreements on Maternity Leave, Family Purposes and Dependants Leave and Sickness Leave (Word documents) have recently been signed which establish recommended minimum standards for such entitlements.