Notice periods: what you owe and what you are owed

A notice period is the stretch between the day one side says the job is ending and the day the contract actually ends. In the UK it is deliberately lopsided: employee and employer owe each other different amounts of time, and the longer the service, the further the balance tips towards the employee.

How much notice must an employee give?

One week, if you have been in the job for more than a month. That is the whole statutory minimum for someone resigning, and it does not grow with service: fifteen years in the company legally owes exactly the same week as thirteen months. For anyone with a month or less of service, GOV.UK sets out no statutory minimum at all.

It is a floor, not a norm. Contracts almost always set something longer — a month, two, sometimes three. The contract governs here: the law marks the bottom of the range, not your actual obligation.

How much notice must an employer give?

This one grows with service. Between one month and two years of service, at least one week. Between two and twelve years, one week for every year worked. Twelve years or more, twelve weeks — and that ceiling does not rise any further.

The rule for choosing between the two is simple: you get whichever is longer, the notice in your contract or the statutory minimum. An employer cannot give less than the statutory minimum, but may give more.

When does the notice period start running?

Usually the day after you hand in your notice, so the day you resign does not count towards it.

Form is a separate question. Whether notice has to be in writing is set by your contract. If the contract is silent, you can give notice verbally. GOV.UK still advises putting it in writing: a verbal resignation is impossible to produce later if the matter reaches an employment tribunal.

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What if you just leave?

That is a breach of contract. Leaving without serving the notice you owe — like giving verbal notice where the contract demands it in writing — may breach the contract, and your employer could take you to court.

The reverse case is covered too. If you resigned in the heat of the moment, GOV.UK says to tell your employer immediately. Whether to accept the resignation or not is then their choice, not your right.

What are you paid during notice?

Notice pay is based on your average weekly earnings over the twelve weeks before the notice period starts. For anyone who was on coronavirus furlough during those weeks and paid less than usual, it is based on what they would normally have earned.

What is payment in lieu of notice?

It is money instead of time: the employment ends at once and you are paid for the weeks you did not work. This is available where your contract includes it. You receive the basic pay you would have had during the notice period plus any contractual extras — pension contributions or private health insurance, for example.

An employer may also offer it where the contract says nothing about it. If you accept, you should receive full pay and any contractual extras, not just the bare rate.

When is no notice owed at all?

Some situations allow immediate dismissal with no notice. GOV.UK gives violence as its example. That is the exception: by default the employer owes either the contractual period or the statutory minimum, whichever is longer.

Two things that sit next to notice

Garden leave is a notice period served at home — the pay continues, the access to the work does not. Restrictive covenants are contract terms limiting a move to a competitor. GOV.UK covers both on their own pages, and both are worth reading before you sign a resignation letter rather than after.

One last practical point: when you hand in your notice, ask straight away when you will get your P45. Without it your next employer will put you on an emergency tax code.