Notice Periods at Work

The Employment Rights Act 1996 sets out the minimum notice an employer must give to an employee. The length depends on how long the employee has worked for that employer:

• Less than 1 month: No statutory notice required (though contractual obligations may still apply)
• 1 month to 2 years: 1 week's notice
• 2 years to 12 years: 1 week per complete year of service (e.g. 5 years = 5 weeks)
• 12 years or more: 12 weeks' notice (the maximum statutory entitlement)

Employees must give their employer a minimum of one week's notice once they have been employed for one month or more, regardless of their length of service. However, most employment contracts specify longer notice periods — a month is common, and senior roles may require three months or more.

Your contract may specify a longer notice period than the statutory minimum. If so, the contractual period applies. Your employer can never lawfully give you less than the statutory minimum, even if your contract says otherwise.

Payment in lieu of notice (PILON) means your employer ends your employment immediately and pays you a lump sum equivalent to the wages you would have earned during your notice period. Whether your employer can exercise PILON depends on whether there is a PILON clause in your employment contract. Since April 2018, PILON payments are always subject to income tax and National Insurance.

Garden leave is different: you remain an employee for the duration of your notice period and continue to receive your salary and benefits, but you are instructed not to come into work. Employers use garden leave to protect confidential information and prevent departing employees from immediately working for competitors. During garden leave you continue to accrue holiday and receive all contractual benefits.

Key differences:

• Garden leave: still employed, paid normally, not working
• PILON: employment ends immediately, lump sum paid, no longer an employee
• Working notice: still employed, still working, paid normally

If you are on garden leave, you should still receive your normal pay including any regular bonuses or benefits. Check your contract carefully as garden leave provisions vary.

During a working notice period, you are entitled to your normal contractual pay. This includes your basic salary and any benefits you regularly receive, such as a company car, health insurance, or regular bonus payments that form part of your normal remuneration.

Additionally, if your employer fails to give you the statutory minimum notice (or gives you less than the statutory minimum), you may have a claim for wrongful dismissal. This is a contractual claim — not unfair dismissal — and compensates you for the financial loss caused by the inadequate notice. You can pursue this in the Employment Tribunal or through the civil courts.

Note that notice pay is separate from redundancy pay. If you are made redundant, you are entitled to both your notice pay and any redundancy payment you qualify for.

If an employee leaves without giving the required notice, the employer may be able to sue for breach of contract to recover any losses caused by the early departure, such as the cost of temporary cover. In practice, this is rare for lower-paid roles but more common for senior positions where the loss is quantifiable.

If an employer dismisses an employee without proper notice (and without a valid PILON clause), this is called wrongful dismissal. You can claim compensation for the wages and benefits you would have received during the notice period. This claim is separate from an unfair dismissal claim and has a six-year time limit in the civil courts (or three months at the Employment Tribunal).

The exception is summary dismissal: if you have committed an act of gross misconduct, your employer may dismiss you without notice and without pay. Common examples of gross misconduct include theft, violence, serious breach of confidentiality, or fraud. The employer should still follow a fair disciplinary process before dismissing summarily.