Director's Review — 2026 Contract Refresh

Status: Awaiting your sign-off, then Zoe's review.

What is this?

A refresh of employment paperwork for all 37 Wild Hearth team members.

Key decisions

Click any link to see the underlying clause.

Across all contracts

• Probation: 3 months for new joiners, 1 week notice during probation
• Notice after probation: 1 month standard, 2 months senior staff, 6 months director
• Holiday year: 1 April – 31 March (tax year)
• Sick pay: SSP only — no enhanced company sick pay
• Training repayment: case-by-case in writing before each course; mandatory food-safety / allergen training always employer-funded with no recovery
• Records retention: 5 years post-employment (Scottish law)
• Governing law: Scotland

Role-specific

• Drivers (7 people): driver addendum — licence checks, accident reporting, vehicle use
• Senior bakers (Kevin, Heather, Reuben): recipe-IP addendum — 6-month non-compete within 20 miles of any WHB site
• Young workers (Miles, 16; Alick, 17): under-18 addendum — working-time limits + parent/guardian co-sign
• Casual staff (10 people): Casual Worker Agreement — no mutuality of obligation, 12.07% rolled-up holiday pay

Specific to you (John)

• Employment hours: 19.8/week — NMW-compliant cap at your £1,047.50/month. Time beyond that is unpaid director duty under your service letter, not paid employment.
• Notice period: 6 months either way
• Restrictive covenants: 12-month UK-wide non-compete + non-solicit + non-deal post-employment
• Office-holder duties: statutory duties under the Companies Act 2006, baked into the service letter

Bakery-wide protections built in

• Lifetime confidentiality on recipes, formulations, methods, supplier lists, customer lists
• All recipe / process / product IP belongs to WHB
• Food-safety + personal-hygiene compliance
• Return of uniform / PPE on leaving

Outstanding

• Pension provider name — variable in the contract; needs payroll confirmation (likely NEST)
• IR35 CEST for David Johnson — to be jointly completed before his consultancy agreement can be signed
• Two incomplete employee records: Michael Hansen (visiting baker — missing DOB, address, NI, pay) and Harry Reith (0 hours, no pay rate — confirm intended pattern). See Variables by Employee.

Open decisions for you

Two practice questions arose during the working-time / overtime review. Neither is legally required — your call. Full context in Decisions Pending:

1. Sunday / bank-holiday premium for hourly staff (1.5× or day-in-lieu)
2. Minimum 3-hour call-out fee for drivers and casuals

Staff at a glance

Full per-person breakdown: Variables by Employee.

Why restrictive covenants only for some

They apply only to the four people with access to proprietary information:

• You (John) as director — 12-month UK-wide non-compete
• Kevin Moore (Head Baker) — 6 months, 20-mile radius
• Heather Goodfellow (Senior Baker) — 6 months, 20-mile radius
• Reuben Chesney (Senior Baker) — 6 months, 20-mile radius

Everyone else has confidentiality obligations but no non-compete. Tribunals don't enforce broad non-competes for general staff, so adding them creates friction without protection.

Next steps

1. Start with the comparison view — side-by-side of what's in existing contracts vs what's proposed, who has a contract on file, and what decisions are still open. Best read before diving into the individual docs.
2. Read through this page; flag anything that doesn't match your understanding
3. Drill into any doc via the sidebar — every one has a plain-English summary at the top
4. Sign off when ready
5. Zoe's review (~1–2 weeks)
6. Final approval back to you with any edits from Zoe incorporated
7. Rollout to staff — see Transition Workflow

Your notes / concerns

• (blank — for John to fill in)