Employer possibly retracting agreed promotion I’ve done all the work for?!

[Workstress2025]

Not sure that anyone will be able to advise on this but if nothing else the vent might be helpful! I accepted a job on the agreement that it was a preceptorship to be worked towards the next banding after 12-18 months. Had regular meetings about it during that time, done all the work, about to be signed off - and now they are saying they might not have the funding! I only accepted the role due to the promised promotion and have put a lot of effort into it, as well as passing up other opportunities as this was my preferred field. I dont know too much about employment law so was wondering if anyone with employment knowledge or who has been in a similar situation can offer thoughts? Could this be a breach of verbal contract? There is documentary evidence of it but it was never written into contract. They are currently getting the higher band work out of me for the lower pay banding.

It’s rubbish but does happen a lot unfortunately, not much you can do as the promotion didn’t form part of the contract however I would say it’s a tale as old as time. Dangle a promotion just out of reach so someone has the incentive to work hard, work out of grade, to try and secure it so they get the benefit.

Gah... happened to me. Sadly very little anyone can do.
Cold comfort, but I suspect your boss is as gutted as you. I have also had to deliver the news to others. When the budget runs out... it runs out.

Without a written contract, it seems unlikely that you have any type of legal recourse. However, take this as a sign of how this company operates, and consider whether you want to invest any more time fostering a career with them, as once they get away with having taken advantage of you, they likely will continue.

While you say you took the position because it was in the desired field, can you not take the experience you have gained and find a similar or better job with a different company?

Is it a sizeable company where you can identify one or more others at the band you're expecting, and can show you're on a par? I am wildly speculating but this could be sex discrimination, hoping they can string you along and you won't make much fuss, or they can give better payrises to longer serving employees.

If not, then it's an expensive lesson. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me [i was in this position 3 times till I learnt but maybe you can benefit from my experience]

A verbal contract is still a contract. The problem is proving the terms of the contract or, in some cases, its existence. You say you have documentary evidence. The question is whether you have enough evidence to show that a contractual commitment was made that you would be promoted if you achieved certain targets and that you have achieved those targets. There are lots of ways they could have phrased it that might give the impression that a commitment was made but fall short of making it contractual.

People can type their own OPs into ChatGPT, they don’t need you to do it for them.

I use ChatGPT a lot, and whilst I pay for premium and it knows I hate the — and the stupid emojis so automatically omits them for me now, it’s very clear that not just any AI wrote this, it was ChatGPT

Grievance if it will help you feel better and expect it to be partially upheld at most.

it’s crap but in terms of legal recourse I’d say there’s somewhere between slim and none.

Perhaps ChatGPT will also be able to source the funding for the employer to afford a post that they don't have the budget for?

OP, in the end a verbal contract is not worth a lot, but even a written contract can be frustrated - basically the employer is unable to meet the agreed terms. A calm and rational discussion is the best approach - they have said they MIGHT not have the funding. "Might not" is not "can't find it". It is also not "won't ever be able to find it". You may be frustrated and annoyed now, but don't throw the baby out with the bath water - your approach to this can be strong but it doesn't have to be confrontational, and how you approach it may make the difference in how motivated the employer is to resolve it, even if that takes more time.

Also, ChatGPT is not the fount of all knowledge. When training it, they have prioritised helpfulness over accuracy. It sometimes confidently gives incorrect answers (it has just told me that "Milan" doesn't end in "n", for example). Sometimes the advice it gives is dangerously wrong. For legal advice, it sometimes cites laws and/or cases that don't exist or are not as described. I would not rely on ChatGPT for legal advice or employment advice. Indeed, even with other forms of advice I would check what it says against reliable sources before accepting it.

Go and get another job, tell them you've got another job because they're shilly shallying/backsliding about promoting you, and see if they can match/improve on the payrise and conditions.

what's the published process in your organisation?
a place I worked at had x places for promotion for each grade and y people eligible to be considered for promotion.
it was a elbows out competition each year. and it was clear that only a limited amount of people are going to get promoted.

This happened to me.

i left. I was very upset - they’d got a lot of work out of me and I felt it was very unfair.

When the budget runs out... it runs out.

The word 'budget' can mean very different things, though.

Sometimes, it means the maximum amount of money that you actually have available for something; but often, it's a magic weasel word used by people - and especially by companies - to communicate that they simply don't want to pay the amount that they need to, in order to reasonably obtain the goods/services/work that they do want.

By all means have a budget - by choice or by necessity - but don't pretend to forget how money works, and just expect to get far more anyway than you would like to pay for.

Look for a new job. I'm sorry this happened. Take it as information and act accordingly.

ChatGPT is a tool to outsource one's research skills and, at times, critical thinking skills. While it has some practical applications, when it becomes (and probably already has) a large tool in the box for children learning these skills, it will do far more harm than good. Unlike calculators, where children are taught to perform the equations first using their brains, children will not get adequate writing, analytical and critical thinking skills first.

Similar happened to me, and then the promotion happened very suddenly (I started a job, expecting the promotion within 12-18 months, it took 3 years). I switched my 'open to work' on LinkedIn and kept an eye on the market with a view to moving if the right job came along (there were a couple that interested me, but not quite enough to leave).