Leaving Employment, Termination, Resignation and Retirement

Acknowledge the resignation in writing as soon as possible, confirming the leaving date, how the notice period will be served (working notice, garden leave or payment in lieu), any outstanding holiday pay and arrangements for returning company property and completing a handover. After the final pay run, issue the employee's P45. Simply-Docs provides resignation acknowledgement letters and related documents in the Resignation and Termination of Employment Letters sub-folder.

When you dismiss an employee, give the statutory minimum under the Employment Rights Act 1996 or the contractual notice period, whichever is longer. The statutory scale is: no notice for less than one month's service; one week for one month to under two years; then one week per complete year up to a maximum of twelve weeks. Contractual notice can exceed but never fall below these minimums, and the longer period always applies. An employee who resigns must give at least one week's notice once they have worked for you for at least one month, unless their contract requires more. Summary dismissal without notice is lawful only in genuine cases of gross misconduct.

Yes, but only if their contract contains an express garden leave clause: without one, requiring the employee to stay away from work can itself be a breach of contract. Even with a clause, a garden leave clause is not automatically enforceable in every case. Acas guidance notes that if the employee is to go on a significant period of garden leave, for example several months, there are some important legal issues to consider and you should get legal advice, so the length of leave in particular may be subject to legal limits. During their notice period you keep them on full pay and benefits while away from the workplace, clients and confidential information. Garden leave is most commonly used for senior staff with access to sensitive commercial information and is often paired with post-termination restrictive covenants. Simply-Docs contracts of employment include garden leave and restrictive covenant provisions for this purpose.

Redundancy is a dismissal arising when a role is no longer needed due to business closure, workplace closure or reduced need for particular work, triggering statutory consultation, fair selection and, for employees with at least two years' service, a statutory redundancy payment. A settlement agreement is a separate negotiated contract in which the employee waives employment claims, including unfair dismissal, for an agreed payment; it requires independent legal advice from a qualified adviser to be binding. Use it in redundancy situations for a quicker exit, or to resolve a dispute or part with a senior employee by mutual agreement. The Simply-Docs Redundancy Documents and Settlement Agreements sub-folders contain templates for each process.

Choose by exit type across six areas. Use Resignation and Termination of Employment Letters to confirm a resignation or dismissal in writing, Settlement Agreements to agree a negotiated exit and prevent future claims, Redundancy Documents for a formal redundancy process, Providing Employment References for reference letters and policies, Retirement Documents to manage a retirement and Some Other Substantial Reason (SOSR) Dismissals when dismissing for a business reason that is not misconduct, poor performance or redundancy, such as a reorganisation or irreconcilable breakdown in working relationships.

Always confirm the leaving date and notice arrangements in writing, then agree and document the notice period (working notice, garden leave or payment in lieu), arrange a proper handover and the return of company property, and ensure final pay including accrued holiday is calculated and paid correctly. For senior employees, check the contract for garden leave provisions and post-termination restrictive covenants and remind them of those terms in writing. Issue the P45 after the final pay run. Simply-Docs documents in this group support all of these steps.