Check a written offer before an authorised person sends it
Reconcile one proposal and route every term through qualified local review.
- Preparation
- One focused review after terms are approved
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Task
- Reconcile a written offer
Before you start
Get what you need before you start
- Confirm the worker’s location, classification, authorised decision owner, and qualified HR or legal reviewer.
- Collect only approved terms and recorded candidate questions.
Steps
Work through the method
Use the listed inputs and tools. Check the evidence when you need to verify a step.
Reconcile approved terms
Compare approved salary, hours, benefits, leave, location, start date, conditions, and equity documents with the candidate’s recorded questions and every prior written commitment.
Why it matters: The written offer must represent one proposal rather than several unstated assumptions.
- Input
- Approved terms, role record, and relevant written commitments.
- Output
- A discrepancy list resolved by authorised humans.
Tools in this stepAcas Job Offer GuideEvidence for this step
A founder describes the time and conflict involved in agreeing salary, profit share, equity, risk, and employment terms with founding employees.
Reddit r/startups: Root post and author replies, lines 21–28 and 98–109Acas guidance lists written-offer fields including the job title, terms, conditions, start date, response route, and employer contact.
Acas: “What to include in a job offer letter”, accessed 26 September 2026ICO recruitment guidance addresses personal information used during recruitment, including defined purposes, necessary data, access, retention, and candidate rights.
UK Information Commissioner's Office: “Data protection and recruitment”, “Automated decision-making and profiling”, and “Keeping recruitment records”, guidance under review, accessed 26 September 2026
Prepare the reviewed offer
Put the approved title, terms, conditions, start date, response route, deadline, and contact into one version.
Why it matters: Both sides need the same written proposal for acceptance, decline, or negotiation.
- Input
- The resolved approved terms.
- Output
- A versioned offer draft for qualified review.
Tools in this stepAcas Job Offer GuideEvidence for this step
Acas guidance lists written-offer fields including the job title, terms, conditions, start date, response route, and employer contact.
Acas: “What to include in a job offer letter”, accessed 26 September 2026
Approve and send the offer
Have local HR or legal reviewers approve the final version before the authorised person sends it and records the response.
Why it matters: Acas guidance cannot set lawful terms outside its jurisdiction or authorise an offer.
- Input
- The final draft and jurisdiction-specific review.
- Output
- An approved sent version, response record, or stop decision.
Tools in this stepAcas Job Offer GuideEvidence for this step
Acas guidance lists written-offer fields including the job title, terms, conditions, start date, response route, and employer contact.
Acas: “What to include in a job offer letter”, accessed 26 September 2026ICO recruitment guidance addresses personal information used during recruitment, including defined purposes, necessary data, access, retention, and candidate rights.
UK Information Commissioner's Office: “Data protection and recruitment”, “Automated decision-making and profiling”, and “Keeping recruitment records”, guidance under review, accessed 26 September 2026
Success checks
Check the result before you finish
- The sent version matches the approved terms and names the response route.
- The record identifies the jurisdiction, reviewers, sender, and final version.
Failure modes
Watch for these problems
- Stop when classification, checks, equity, compensation, conditions, or withdrawal rights lack qualified review.
- Do not let a Tool decide terms, issue the offer, or provide legal advice.
Tools
Choose the tools you need
Tool
Acas Job Offer Guide
Official Great Britain guidance for checking the contents of a written job offer.
Check fit, limits and pricingSources
Read the sources behind this practice
Check what each source supports and where the advice has limits.
- Reddit r/startups: Founding employee issuesFirst-hand founder account · Publication date unavailable
- Acas: Offering someone a jobOfficial Great Britain employment guidance · Publication date unavailable
- UK Information Commissioner's Office: Recruitment and selectionOfficial UK data-protection guidance under review · Publication date unavailable