Employment contract for a personal assistant

A personal assistant sees the principal's diary, correspondence, finances and private life, and acts in the principal's name with suppliers, colleagues and family. The contract has to describe a role whose boundaries depend on the principal, impose confidentiality that reaches private affairs as well as business, set the authority the assistant has to spend and commit, deal with availability and travel, and govern the devices and accounts the assistant operates on the principal's behalf. I draft that contract for the employer for a fixed fee of £595, delivered in five working days.

Who this is for

Companies employing executive assistants for their directors, and individuals and families in England and Wales employing a personal assistant directly.

What matters in a personal assistant's contract

The role, the principal and the boundaries of the job

The contract should identify the principal the assistant supports and the reporting line (which for a company's executive assistant is the principal, and for a household assistant is the individual employer), describe the duties by area (diary, correspondence, travel, meetings, personal errands where included), state whether personal tasks for the principal are part of the role and their limits, and provide for reassignment if the principal leaves; an assistant asked to do the principal's personal shopping on a contract that describes a business role has a grievance, and a principal who cannot ask has an assistant who is not doing the job, so the contract should say which.

Confidentiality and the principal's private affairs

The contract should impose confidentiality covering the employer's business and the principal's private affairs (family, health, finances, relationships, security arrangements), surviving the employment indefinitely, with the UK GDPR obligations for the personal data handled, a prohibition on discussing the principal with the press or on social media, and the return and deletion of all information on leaving; for a household employer the clause should be drafted with the principal's privacy as its purpose, because the assistant's knowledge is the principal's exposure.

Authority, expenses and the principal's money

The contract should state the assistant's authority to spend on the principal's behalf (a company card or a float, with limits and the receipts required), to book travel and commit to suppliers within limits, and to deal with the principal's personal accounts where the role includes it (with written authority and the controls the principal sets), and should prohibit accepting gifts or benefits from suppliers beyond a stated value, consistent with the Bribery Act 2010 where the employer is a company; an assistant who controls a principal's money needs the controls as protection, and the contract should state them.

Hours, availability and travel

The contract should state the hours, the expectation of availability outside them (which should be stated and paid for, rather than assumed), the arrangements for travel with the principal (working time, expenses, accommodation, rest), time off in lieu, and the Working Time Regulations 1998 rest and holiday entitlements which apply to an assistant employed by a company and, for a household employee, with the domestic exemption under regulation 19 from the weekly limits but not from holiday; an assistant expected to answer messages at midnight has a working time position the contract should address.

Data, devices and the principal's accounts

The contract should govern the assistant's access to the principal's email, calendar, messaging and social media accounts (authorised access, under the principal's instructions, with credentials managed securely and access removed on leaving), the devices provided and their security, the handling of the principal's documents and signatures (the assistant signs only with express authority, and never purports to be the principal), and the Computer Misuse Act 1990 limits on access beyond authorisation; an assistant who continues to read the principal's email after leaving has committed an offence the contract should have made clear.

Notice, covenants and the particulars

Issued before the first day, the contract satisfies section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 on written particulars, states the pay no lower than the rate set under the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 (with the accommodation offset under the National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015 for a live-in household assistant), holiday, sick pay, the pension assessment the Pensions Act 2008 imposes, probation and notice with section 86 as the floor, and the disciplinary and grievance procedures in a form suitable for the employer, with confidentiality that survives and a non-solicitation of the principal's contacts rarely needed; a household employer has the PAYE, insurance and right to work obligations of any employer, which the note with the contract lists.

What it costs

Employment contract, £595. One template you can reuse for a grade of staff. Five working days.

Staff handbook and core policies, £995. Five working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the employment contracts and handbooks page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A bespoke contract drafted for how you employ people
• Restrictive covenants drafted at a scope a court will uphold
• Confidentiality and intellectual property provisions that put ownership where it belongs
• The statutory particulars, so the document does the job section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 requires it to do
• Flexibility clauses where you genuinely need them, drafted to survive challenge
• Core policies: disciplinary, grievance, sickness absence, equal opportunities, data protection and, increasingly, AI use
• One round of amendments

What is not included

• Acting for employees
• Employment tribunal representation
• Payroll, pensions auto-enrolment and tax
• Immigration and sponsor licence work
• Day to day HR handling, disciplinaries, grievances and redundancy processes

Questions I am often asked

Can our executive assistant be asked to run personal errands for the director?

If the contract includes personal tasks within stated limits, yes. If it describes a business role only, the request is outside it. The contract says which, so that neither side has to guess.

Can the assistant sign documents for the principal?

Only with express written authority for each category, and never by purporting to be the principal. The contract states the authority and the limits.

Does confidentiality cover the principal's private life?

The contract extends it to private affairs expressly, for an indefinite period, with the press and social media addressed. A business-only confidentiality clause leaves the principal's privacy unprotected.

Related guidance and services

• Employment contracts and handbooks, £595, the service this page describes
• Consultancy and contractor agreements, £595
• Settlement agreements for employers, £795
• Employment contract for an office manager
• Employment contract for a nanny

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: October 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.