UK Notice Period Rights 2025: What Your Employer Must Give You

Notice periods in the UK exist to give both employers and employees time to prepare for a departure. But the rules around what you are actually entitled to are not always well understood, and employers do not always apply them correctly. Knowing your rights means you can check whether you are being treated fairly and act quickly if you are not.

Statutory minimum notice periods

UK employment law sets minimum notice periods that employers must give employees being dismissed or made redundant. These are:

These are the legal minimums. Your employment contract may specify longer notice, in which case the contractual notice applies. It is quite common for professional and managerial roles to have three months notice in the contract when the statutory minimum might be only four or five weeks.

The notice you must give your employer as an employee is simpler. The statutory minimum is one week for anyone who has completed their probationary period and has worked for at least one month. Again, your contract may require more, with three months being common at senior levels.

Pay in lieu of notice

Pay in lieu of notice, commonly called PILON, is when your employer pays you the salary you would have earned during your notice period instead of requiring you to work it. This is common when an employer wants an employee to leave immediately, for example after a redundancy announcement, rather than having them work a three month notice period while looking for another job.

PILON is taxed as regular employment income, unlike redundancy pay. Since April 2018, even if your employment contract does not include a PILON clause, the tax treatment is the same. The post-employment notice pay rules introduced in 2018 mean that HMRC treats income tax and National Insurance as due on any payment in lieu of notice regardless of whether it was contractually provided for.

Garden leave

Garden leave means your employer asks you to stay away from work during your notice period while still paying your full salary and maintaining your employment status. You remain employed and bound by your employment contract obligations, including any confidentiality and non-compete provisions, but you do not come to work.

Employers use garden leave most commonly for senior employees or those with access to sensitive commercial information, clients, or strategies. The purpose is to keep the employee away from the business and competitors during the notice period without triggering an immediate breach of contract claim.

From the employee's perspective, garden leave can be financially advantageous if you receive full salary and benefits throughout and can spend the time job hunting. It can also be frustrating if you want to start a new role quickly. Whether your employer can legitimately put you on garden leave depends on your contract. If there is a contractual right to garden leave, they can impose it. Without that contractual basis, requiring you to stay home rather than work could in some circumstances be challenged.

What happens if your employer breaches your notice period

If your employer dismisses you without giving proper notice and does not pay in lieu, this is called wrongful dismissal. It is different from unfair dismissal, which is about the reason for the dismissal rather than the process. Wrongful dismissal is a breach of contract and you can claim the wages you should have been paid during your notice period.

Claims for notice pay can be brought in the Employment Tribunal or, if the amount is above £25,000, in the civil courts. The Employment Tribunal is generally faster and cheaper. There is no qualifying period of employment for bringing a wrongful dismissal claim, unlike unfair dismissal which requires two years service.

The limitation period for an Employment Tribunal wrongful dismissal claim is three months from the effective date of termination. For a civil court claim it is six years. Given the shorter tribunal window, do not delay in taking advice if you believe your notice entitlement has been underpaid.