Notice Period for Contract that doesn't exist

[TravellingT]

Hopefully this is the right area to ask this, asking on behalf of friend.

Friend accepted a job, signed Terms of Employment (TOE). Job has fixed term contracts, extended multiple times.

Has now realised TOE had wrong start date- wrong by 3 years (2019 instead of 2022) Friend had 6 week probation period, then was verbally offered 6 month contract. No contract was signed, no paperwork has been given to her stating this contract. Contract has since verbally been extended, 2 months at a time until this point. Friend currently knows she will be employed until end of December, but then will wait around until end of Dec to know if contract will be extended again. (This happens every 2 months, no sign/inclination of knowing if it'll be extended or not until manager tells her)

Job was one role, that role has now become obselete and friend was given new role (Within sector, but not original job description at all). It is stated in TOE that the employer can change the job description and employee will be given reasonable other tasks to do. The new role does not contain any aspect of the original. Like being moved from cleaner to receptionist.

The new role is not something friend has done before, has dabbled in as part of a role before but no training or real experience. Friend has kept manager up to date with what she's been doing, including issues she's faced in completing the tasks. Manager and colleagues also do not know how to do the role, but have given some help/taken on tasks. No training or tips have been given. Now role has become difficult to manage, there isn't much/any work to do, and the work she is doing 'isn't good enough'.

There is no room for progression in the company, no room to change roles and no budget for training.

Friend has had awful meetings with manager for 3 weeks now, and is ready to leave. Constantly being told work isn't good enough, but not offered solutions, and still being offered employment.

The only paperwork mentioning contract is in the onboarding info, not a signed document, just states "6 month initial contract" as a job perk (!).

If there is no physical contract, is friend actually in a contract? Is her job protected- i.e. can they get rid of her with 0 notice period? Can she leave without giving notice? In the Terms of employment it says notice period is one month for both parties, but doesn't mention any contract or length. As TOE is inaccurate (wrong date), does it make it obsolete?

Neither of us have had a job like this before, so unsure of how contracts like this work!

TIA

There may not be a written contract but there is clearly a contract. Your friend works for her employer and gets paid. That is enough to prove the existence of a contract.

A mistake on the terms of employment document does not make it invalid. If it says one month's notice for both parties, that is likely to be what the courts would uphold. If your friend's employer tries to sack her without notice she will be able to take them to court for her notice pay (unless she is sacked for gross misconduct). In theory, if your friend leaves without notice, her employer could sue her for any loss they suffer as a result, although it is unlikely they would try and even less likely they would succeed. The worst consequence she is likely to face if she leaves without notice is that she may not be able to get a reference from her current employer. Even if they do give a reference, they could mention that she left without notice.

Thank you so much, the company have done some dodgy things before so friend never knows what's legit or not. She'll give 1 month notice and get out ASAP.

A mistake on the terms of employment document does not make it invalid.

A general principle in English law is a trivial error - missing commas, incorrect date etc - is not in and of itself enough to void an entire contract.

It is however a massive clue as to how shit a company is when it comes to the really important stuff. If they can't get that right, it's axiomatic there will be significant errors elsewhere.

Not a legal point, but certainly one to bear in mind.