Nursery World - Careers & Training

After the launch of the apprenticeship levy last month, Beena Nadeem sets out the dos and don’ts of agreements

A contract of employment is an agreement between an employer and employee. All contracts should contain details of pay, holidays and working hours, and can be varied only with the say so of both parties. When it comes to apprentices, however, standard employment contracts are not appropriate.

‘One of the things we see a lot is that apprentices have been employed on the wrong employment contract,’ says Jacqui Mann, director of HR4 Nurseries. ‘They should be employed on an apprenticeship agreement.’

Simon Whitehead, employment lawyer at HRC, agrees. ‘The nursery sector is quite poor at understanding the importance of contracts. Time and time again we see that everyone is given the same contract without really thinking about whether it’s the right contract for that particular employee. If you get it wrong with an apprentice, you’ll be in breach of the national minimum wage, you’ll be named and shamed and you’ll get a penalty.’

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