In the United States, a verbal contract must have three parts in order to be valid-
Offer-
Acceptance- occurs when the person receiving the offer indicates agreement
Consideration- Each side must give something of value for the agreement to be binding.

I realize that this doesn't help in the situation involved here (England?) - which I don't think any of us can comment on without receiving more information. Advice from this side of the water will be suspect in any case.