Thinking of leaving your job

Citizens Advice offers some guidance on giving notice

If you want to leave your job you’ll normally need to give your employer some warning. This is called your notice period. If there’s nothing in your contract or terms and conditions, or if you don’t have a written contract, you should give at least 1 week’s notice.

It’s best to resign in writing. Send a letter or email saying how much notice you’re giving and when you expect your last day to be.

You can give more notice than your contract says, if you want - your employer can’t make you leave earlier.

You can ask your employer to agree to reduce your notice period. Reassure them that leaving early won’t cause them any problems - for example, agree to finish any urgent work –and may save them money. If your employer doesn’t agree, but you want to leave early anyway, think about whether this would cost them any money. For example, if they’d need to get expensive agency staff to replace you at short notice, they could take you to court for compensation.

If you have a fixed-term contract you don’t need to give notice if you want to leave on the last day of your contract. If you want to leave before the last day of your contract, check if the contract says you can give notice. If it doesn’t say anything, you should give at least 1 week’s notice.

You should get your full normal pay if you work during your notice period. This should include any work benefits you get, such as pension contributions or free meals. If you leave early, your employer still has to pay you for work you’ve done.

If you’re off sick or on maternity leave, paternity leave or adoption leave you’ll only get whatever you would have been normally paid in those circumstances. However, you’re entitled to full pay for 1 week of your notice period, whether you give notice of only 1 week or more than 1 week.

If your employer tells you not to work in your notice period you should get the same amount of pay. Your employer might either pay all your notice pay at once and dismiss you straight away - this is called pay in lieu of notice or PILON - or pay you as usual until the end of your notice period when your contract ends. This is sometimes called garden leave.

You can ask to take holiday in your notice period, but it’s up to your employer to decide if you can take it. If you go on paid holiday in your notice period you’re entitled to your usual wage. When you leave you’ll be paid for any holiday you have accrued but not taken, up to your first 28 days of holiday entitlement. This is called your statutory holiday entitlement. If you get more than 28 days a year (including bank holidays), this is called contractual holiday. Check what your contract says about leftover contractual holiday. You might still get paid for any days you don’t use.

Your employer can tell you to use up any holiday you have left over. They’ll also need to tell you when to take it. Check your contract to see how far in advance your employer should tell you to take holiday. If there’s nothing in your contract, they need to give you at least 2 days’ notice for each day of holiday.

For more information on leaving a job, go to our website: www.citzensadvice.org.uk.

Source: Paul Stockton