What is the Minimum Notice Your Employer Must Give You?

When your employer terminates your employment, the amount of notice you are entitled to receive will usually be set out in your Contract of Employment.

However, employees are also entitled to statutory minimum notice periods.

Your contract cannot lawfully provide less notice than the statutory minimum.

If you have worked continuously for your employer for:

• Between 1 month and 2 years – At least 1 week's notice
• Between 2 and 12 years – 1 week's notice for each complete year of employment
• 12 years or more – At least 12 weeks' notice

For example, if you have completed eight years' continuous employment, your statutory minimum notice entitlement will normally be eight weeks.

These are minimum rights only.

If your employment contract provides a longer notice period, the contractual notice period will normally apply.

For example, a senior employee may have a contractual notice period of:

• 3 months
• 6 months
• 12 months

depending on the role and employment agreement.

Can Your Employer Give Less Notice Than Your Contract Provides?

Normally, no.

If your contractual notice period is longer than the statutory minimum, your employer should generally honour the contractual period unless there is another lawful basis for ending employment immediately.

This might include:

• A valid contractual Payment in Lieu of Notice clause
• An agreed termination
• Gross misconduct justifying summary dismissal

If your employer terminates your employment without giving the notice to which you are contractually entitled, you may potentially have a claim for wrongful dismissal.

For further guidance, see Wrongful Dismissal.

Can You Ever Be Entitled to More Than the Statutory Maximum of 12 Weeks?

Yes, where your contract provides more.

The statutory notice entitlement is capped at 12 weeks, but this does not prevent an employment contract from providing a substantially longer period.

Where no clear contractual notice period has been agreed, there can in some circumstances be arguments about whether a reasonable period of notice should be implied into the contract.

Relevant factors could potentially include:

• Seniority
• Length of service
• Industry practice
• Nature of the role
• The circumstances in which the employment was agreed

However, an employee should not assume that a Tribunal will automatically award a longer notice period merely because longer notice is common in their profession.

The wording and circumstances of the contract remain important.

What Notice Must You Give When You Resign?

Your employment contract or written statement should normally specify the amount of notice you must give if you decide to resign.

If your contract requires a longer period than the statutory minimum, you will normally be expected to give the contractual notice.

Where the contract does not specify a notice period, an employee who has been continuously employed for at least one month must generally give at least one week's notice.

An employee who has worked for less than one month may not have a statutory obligation to give notice, although the contract should still be checked.

Does Your Resignation Have to Be in Writing?

Not necessarily, unless your employment contract requires written notice.

A resignation can potentially be communicated verbally.

However, giving notice in writing is usually preferable because it creates a clear record of:

• The fact that you resigned
• The date notice was given
• Your intended final working day

An email can often provide sufficient written evidence.

For further guidance, see Resignation.

Can You Give More Notice Than Your Contract Requires?

Potentially, yes.

For example, if your contract requires three months' notice, you could tell your employer that you intend to leave in four months.

However, giving more notice than required can create contractual issues and should be considered carefully.

If your resignation clearly specifies a future termination date and is effective, your employer cannot simply treat your employment as having ended immediately without potentially creating a dismissal and notice issue.

The parties can agree to bring the termination date forward.

Alternatively, the employer may itself seek to terminate employment before your proposed resignation date by giving the notice required under the contract or exercising a valid PILON provision.

It can therefore be sensible to agree the final date clearly in writing.

When Does Your Notice Period Start?

Your employment contract may specify when notice becomes effective.

If it does, the contractual wording should be considered first.

Where the contract is silent, Acas guidance states that the notice period will generally begin on the day after:

• You tell your employer that you are resigning
• Your employer tells you in person that you are being dismissed or made redundant

Where notice is given in writing rather than personally, the position can depend on when the recipient receives it and has a reasonable opportunity to read it.

What if You Are Not There to Receive Written Notice?

Where an employer sends written notice and the contract does not contain a specific deemed-service provision, notice does not necessarily become effective simply because the letter was posted.

The question may be when you:

• Received the notice
• Read it
• Had a reasonable opportunity to read it

For example, if notice is delivered to your home while you are away on holiday, the effective date may be later if you had no reasonable opportunity to read it until you returned.

The precise wording of the employment contract can alter the position, particularly where it contains provisions dealing with how notices are served.

What Pay Should You Receive During Your Notice Period?

If you continue working normally throughout your notice period, you should generally continue receiving your normal contractual:

• Salary
• Benefits
• Pension contributions
• Other contractual entitlements

The position becomes more complicated if you are not working normally because you are:

• Off sick
• On maternity leave
• On another form of statutory leave
• Temporarily unable to work

In those circumstances, your entitlement to full notice pay can depend on the relationship between your contractual notice period and the statutory minimum notice period.

What Happens to Notice Pay if You Are Off Sick or on Family Leave?

It is not always correct to say that an employee automatically receives full normal salary throughout notice while absent.

Special statutory notice-pay rules apply.

Broadly, where the contractual notice that your employer must give is less than one week longer than the statutory minimum, you may have statutory protection requiring normal notice pay during relevant periods of absence.

However, where your contractual notice entitlement is at least one week longer than the statutory minimum, different rules can apply.

In those circumstances, your pay during notice may instead reflect the type of pay you are currently entitled to receive, for example:

• Statutory Sick Pay
• Contractual sick pay
• Statutory Maternity Pay
• Contractual maternity pay

This can make a significant financial difference, particularly where an employee has a long contractual notice period.

What if You Want to Leave Without Working Your Full Notice?

If you leave before your notice period expires without your employer's agreement, you may be in breach of contract.

Your employer cannot normally force you physically to continue attending work.

However, leaving early can still have legal and practical consequences.

The safest approach is usually to ask your employer whether it will agree to:

• Shorten the notice period
• Waive part of the notice
• Release you immediately
• Allow annual leave during part of the notice

Any agreement should ideally be confirmed in writing.

Can Your Employer Sue You for Leaving Without Notice?

Potentially.

If your breach causes the employer an identifiable financial loss, it may seek damages.

For example, an employer might argue that it incurred additional costs because it had to obtain emergency replacement staff at a higher rate.

In more serious circumstances, it might allege losses involving:

• Lost business
• Lost customers
• Project disruption

The employer would need to establish that the loss was legally recoverable and caused by your breach.

Claims of this kind are relatively uncommon in ordinary employment relationships because litigation can be costly and the financial loss may be difficult to prove.

The risk can be greater for senior employees or individuals in commercially sensitive roles.

Can an Employer Stop You Starting Work for a Competitor During Your Notice Period?

Potentially.

If you remain contractually employed during your notice period, you remain subject to your contractual duties.

These can include obligations concerning:

• Confidentiality
• Fidelity
• Conflicts of interest
• Working for competitors

If you leave early and immediately begin working for a competitor, an employer may in serious cases seek an injunction.

An injunction is a court order that can prevent particular conduct.

Whether an employer could obtain one will depend on factors such as:

• The contractual terms
• Your seniority
• The nature of the competing business
• Confidential information you hold
• Customer relationships
• The legitimate business interests requiring protection
• Whether damages would provide an adequate remedy

Injunction proceedings are relatively unusual and are more commonly associated with senior or commercially sensitive employees.

Could Leaving Early Affect Your Reference?

Potentially.

An employer does not usually have a general legal obligation to provide a job reference, subject to limited exceptions.

If it does provide one, it must take reasonable care to ensure the reference is not misleading.

An employer may lawfully provide factual information concerning your departure where appropriate.

Leaving without working contractual notice could therefore become relevant to the way your departure is recorded or described.

For further guidance, see References.

Could Leaving Early Affect Shares, Options or Incentive Awards?

Potentially.

Many:

• Share option schemes
• Restricted Stock Unit plans
• Long-Term Incentive Plans
• Deferred bonus arrangements

contain specific rules dealing with employees who leave employment.

Your rights may depend on whether you are classified under the scheme as a:

• Good leaver
• Bad leaver
• Other category of leaver

A breach of your contractual notice obligations could potentially affect your treatment under the relevant scheme.

The exact plan documentation should always be checked.

For further guidance, see Shares and Stock Options.

What Are Your Rights to Salary and Benefits During Notice?

If you continue working your notice period, your employment remains in existence until the termination date.

Your normal contractual terms therefore generally continue.

This can include:

• Salary
• Pension contributions
• Private health insurance
• Car allowance
• Other contractual benefits

The same general principle applies where you are placed on garden leave, because you remain employed during the notice period.

The position is different where your employer terminates your employment immediately and pays you in lieu of notice.

What is Payment in Lieu of Notice?

Payment in Lieu of Notice is commonly known as PILON.

Instead of requiring you to work all or part of your notice period, your employer terminates your employment immediately and makes a payment relating to the notice you would otherwise have worked.

Many employment contracts contain an express PILON clause.

The clause may allow the employer to terminate employment immediately by paying an amount calculated by reference to:

• Basic salary
• Salary and specified benefits
• Another contractual formula

The contractual wording is therefore important.

Do You Receive Benefits as Part of a PILON?

It depends on the contract.

Some PILON clauses expressly state that the payment is limited to basic salary.

Others require the employer to include the value of certain benefits.

Relevant benefits could include:

• Car allowance
• Pension contributions
• Private medical insurance
• Other cash allowances

If the contract clearly defines how PILON is calculated, that wording will normally be important.

If there is no contractual PILON clause, the position is different and damages for wrongful termination may need to reflect losses that would have arisen during the notice period, subject to normal contractual principles and mitigation.

Is PILON Tax-Free?

No.

PILON and amounts representing notice pay are generally subject to Income Tax and National Insurance contributions.

Current termination-payment rules include provisions concerning Post-Employment Notice Pay, commonly known as PENP.

An employer cannot normally turn what is effectively notice pay into a tax-free termination payment merely by describing it differently in a settlement agreement.

What if Your Contract Does Not Contain a PILON Clause?

An employer may still offer to end employment immediately and pay you instead of requiring you to work the notice period.

If you agree to that arrangement, the terms of the agreement will be important.

If the employer unilaterally terminates employment immediately without a contractual right to do so, this may technically amount to a breach of contract.

You may then potentially be entitled to damages representing what you would have received if the contract had been properly performed.

This might include, depending on the circumstances:

• Salary
• Relevant benefits
• Pension loss
• Other contractual remuneration

However, damages can be affected by the employee's duty to mitigate loss.

Does a PILON Without a Contractual Clause Automatically Cancel Restrictive Covenants?

No.

This should not be treated as an automatic rule.

A serious repudiatory breach of contract by an employer can potentially affect its ability to rely on certain post-termination contractual restrictions.

Historically, wrongful summary termination without a contractual PILON right has created important enforceability issues.

However, whether a particular restrictive covenant remains enforceable will depend on matters such as:

• The contractual wording
• Nature of the employer's breach
• How the employment terminated
• Whether the breach was accepted
• The drafting of the restrictive covenant
• General principles of enforceability

An employee should therefore not begin competing, soliciting clients or breaching restrictions merely on the assumption that an invalid PILON has automatically released them.

Professional advice should normally be obtained first.

For further guidance, see Restrictive Covenants.

Are You Still Entitled to a Bonus After Giving Notice?

Whether you remain entitled to receive a bonus will depend on the terms of:

• Your employment contract
• The bonus scheme
• Any relevant incentive rules

Some schemes require the employee to:

• Remain employed on the payment date
• Not be under notice
• Meet particular performance conditions

The wording and exercise of any contractual discretion should be examined carefully.

For further information, see Bonuses.

Can You Take Holiday During Your Notice Period?

Yes, subject to the normal rules for requesting annual leave.

You can ask your employer to take accrued holiday during your notice period.

Your employer may refuse your requested dates where it has a legitimate reason and complies with the applicable holiday rules.

If statutory holiday remains accrued and untaken when employment ends, you should generally receive a payment in lieu for that outstanding entitlement.

For further guidance, see Holiday Entitlement and Holiday Pay.

Can Your Employer Require You to Take Holiday During Notice?

Yes.

Employers can require workers to take annual leave at particular times, including during a notice period.

The employer must comply with the applicable notice requirements unless a relevant agreement provides otherwise.

As a general rule, when an employer requires an employee to take holiday, it should give notice of at least twice the length of the leave it is requiring.

For example, requiring four days of annual leave would generally require at least eight days' advance notice unless different valid arrangements apply.

Your employment contract or holiday policy should also be checked.

What About Stock Options During Your Notice Period?

Stock and share rights can become particularly important when employment ends.

Whether stock options continue to:

• Vest
• Remain exercisable
• Lapse
• Become forfeited

will depend primarily on the relevant scheme rules.

The employment contract alone may not contain all the relevant terms.

You should check:

• The share plan
• Award documentation
• Vesting dates
• Exercise periods
• Leaver provisions
• Good-leaver provisions
• Bad-leaver provisions
• Treatment during notice or garden leave

Already vested or exercised rights may be treated differently from unvested awards.

What if Your RSUs Would Have Vested During Your Notice Period?

Restricted Stock Units commonly contain provisions requiring you to remain employed until a specified vesting date.

If your employment ends before that date, unvested awards may lapse.

However, if your employer wrongfully terminates your employment before the contractual termination date, a question can arise about losses connected with awards that would otherwise have vested during the proper notice period.

Whether such losses are recoverable depends on:

• The employment contract
• Share-plan rules
• Leaver provisions
• Exclusion clauses
• Identity of the company granting the award
• Circumstances of termination

These claims can be legally complex, particularly where the share plan is operated by a parent company rather than the contractual employer.

What About Deferred Bonuses?

Deferred remuneration should also be reviewed carefully when notice is given.

Relevant issues can include:

• Whether awards have already vested
• Future vesting dates
• Whether being under notice affects eligibility
• Whether resignation causes forfeiture
• Whether dismissal affects leaver status
• Malus or clawback provisions

The scheme documentation will usually determine your rights.

What Are Your Notice Rights While on Sick Leave?

Your notice rights continue to exist while you are absent because of sickness.

However, the amount you receive during the notice period can depend on:

• Your contractual notice entitlement
• Your statutory notice entitlement
• Whether you are entitled to contractual sick pay
• Whether you are entitled to Statutory Sick Pay
• The statutory notice-pay rules

It should not automatically be assumed that every employee will receive full normal salary throughout a notice period simply because notice has been given.

For further guidance, see Notice During Sick Leave and Sickness Absence.

What is Garden Leave?

Garden leave is a period during which you remain employed and continue through your notice period, but your employer requires you not to perform your normal duties.

You may be asked:

• Not to attend the workplace
• Not to contact clients
• Not to contact suppliers
• Not to contact particular colleagues
• Not to access company systems
• Not to carry out some or all of your normal duties

You remain employed throughout garden leave.

Your contractual obligations therefore generally continue.

Are You Paid During Garden Leave?

Yes, normally.

Because your employment continues, you should generally continue to receive your contractual:

• Salary
• Benefits
• Pension contributions
• Other contractual entitlements

subject to the particular terms of your employment contract.

Garden leave is therefore fundamentally different from PILON.

With garden leave, employment continues until the notice period expires.

With PILON, employment normally ends immediately.

Why Do Employers Use Garden Leave?

Garden leave is particularly common for:

• Senior executives
• Sales employees
• Employees with important customer relationships
• Employees with confidential commercial information
• Employees with knowledge of business strategy

An employer may use garden leave to protect legitimate business interests while the employee remains contractually unable to join a competitor.

For example, the period may allow:

• Confidential information to become less current
• A successor to establish customer relationships
• Clients to become accustomed to a new contact
• Current projects to move away from the departing employee

For further guidance, see Senior Executives.

Can Your Employer Put You on Garden Leave Without a Garden Leave Clause?

An express contractual garden leave clause puts an employer in a stronger position.

Without such a clause, requiring an employee to stop performing all duties can sometimes create contractual difficulties, particularly where the employee has a genuine contractual interest in continuing to work.

This can be especially relevant to roles where continued work is important for:

• Maintaining professional skills
• Public profile
• Earnings
• Reputation

Whether an employer can impose garden leave without an express clause depends on the contract and circumstances.

What Restrictions Can Apply While You Are on Garden Leave?

While on garden leave, you remain an employee.

You may therefore continue to be bound by duties including:

• Confidentiality
• Fidelity
• Avoiding conflicts of interest
• Obeying lawful and reasonable instructions
• Remaining available where the contract requires it

A garden leave clause may also specifically prevent you from:

• Contacting clients
• Contacting suppliers
• Contacting colleagues
• Entering the workplace
• Accessing systems
• Starting another job
• Carrying out competing business activity

The exact contractual wording should be reviewed.

Can You Work for Another Employer During Garden Leave?

Usually not without permission where doing so would breach your existing employment obligations.

Because your first employment has not yet ended, joining another employer can potentially breach:

• Exclusivity provisions
• Duties of fidelity
• Conflict-of-interest obligations
• Express garden leave terms

This is particularly serious where the new employer is a competitor.

If you want to begin your new position early, you should normally ask your existing employer to agree to an earlier termination date.

Can Your Employer Block Your Work Email During Garden Leave?

Usually, yes, where this is consistent with the contract and the garden leave arrangements.

Employers frequently withdraw access to:

• Email
• Customer databases
• Internal messaging systems
• Shared drives
• Commercial systems

This can help protect:

• Confidential information
• Customer relationships
• Internal records
• Business strategy

An express garden leave clause allowing duties to be withdrawn or access restricted will strengthen the employer's position.

However, the employee should still be given an appropriate way to communicate with the employer about matters such as:

• Pay
• Benefits
• HR matters
• Termination arrangements

Does Garden Leave Automatically Reduce Your Restrictive Covenants?

No.

This depends on the drafting of the employment contract.

Some contracts expressly state that any period spent on garden leave will reduce the duration of post-termination restrictions.

For example, a six-month non-solicitation restriction might be reduced by three months if the employee has already spent three months on garden leave.

However, this offset is not automatic.

If the contract does not provide for it, garden leave and post-termination restrictions may potentially operate consecutively, subject to the general rules governing whether those restrictions are reasonable and enforceable.

For further guidance, see Restrictive Covenants.

What Happens if You Breach Garden Leave?

If you breach your contractual garden leave obligations, your employer may potentially take legal action.

For example, problems can arise if you:

• Begin working for a competitor
• Contact restricted customers
• Take confidential information
• Solicit employees
• Carry out another prohibited competitive activity

The employer may potentially seek:

• Damages
• An injunction
• Other appropriate contractual remedies

An injunction may be sought where financial compensation would not adequately protect the employer's legitimate interests.

Whether the court grants an injunction will depend on the particular circumstances.

Is an Injunction Against Working for a Competitor Rare?

Court proceedings of this kind are relatively uncommon compared with ordinary employment disputes, partly because they can be expensive and commercially intensive.

However, they are a genuine risk in cases involving:

• Senior employees
• Significant confidential information
• Important customer relationships
• High-value business interests

A court will consider the contractual rights involved and whether the employer has a legitimate interest requiring protection.

It should therefore not be assumed that damages will always be the only remedy available.

When Should You Seek Professional Advice About Notice?

Advice can be particularly useful where:

• Your employer is terminating employment without proper notice
• You are being offered PILON
• Your contract does not contain a PILON clause
• You want to leave before your notice period ends
• You have a long contractual notice period
• You are being placed on garden leave
• You want to join a competitor
• Restrictive covenants apply
• Significant bonuses or shares are at risk
• You are off sick during the notice period
• Your employer disputes when notice became effective

Notice disputes can involve contractual rights, statutory notice rules, benefits, bonus arrangements, shares and restrictive covenants at the same time.

The precise employment contract should therefore be checked carefully before either party assumes that a particular notice arrangement is valid.