Notice Period Calculator

Statutory notice periods in the UK are based on length of continuous service. Employees who have worked for at least one month but less than two years are entitled to one week's notice. After two years, entitlement increases by one week for each complete year of service, up to a maximum of 12 weeks' notice after 12 or more years. That ceiling applies however long the service runs beyond it.

Your contract may specify a longer notice period than the statutory minimum, and the longer period always applies. Many professional roles specify one to three months, with junior posts commonly on one month, senior posts on three and executives on anything from 6-12 months. Notice running the other way is shorter, since an employee owes one week once they have a month's service, regardless of how long they have been there. Throughout the notice period, employees keep all their normal employment rights, including pay, holiday accrual and benefits.

Both figures matter, so the calculator works out the statutory and contractual notice from your length of service and contract terms, then shows which one governs and the earliest date on which employment can end. Pay across the notice period is worked out alongside it, and payment in lieu of notice is covered where your contract allows it.

Garden leave and payment in lieu of notice are the two ways an employer keeps you away from the workplace while notice runs. Garden leave means you stay employed and paid but do not work, which keeps you out of competitive activity, and restrictive covenants after employment ends typically last 3-12 months. PILON pays the salary equivalent instead of you working the notice. Since April 2018 all PILON is taxable for income tax and National Insurance, whatever the contract calls it, which is quite different from the £30k tax-free treatment of redundancy pay.

Probation changes the arithmetic at the start of a job. Most UK contracts include a probation period of 3-6 months, during which notice is typically one week each way, sometimes reduced to a single day in the first month. Once probation ends, the normal contractual notice applies. Failing probation does not remove your statutory entitlement, so anyone with more than a month's service is still owed the statutory minimum. Discrimination protections apply from day 1, and a dismissal linked to a protected characteristic is unlawful at any stage.

Where an employer fundamentally breaches the contract, by failing to pay wages, demoting you or allowing harassment, you can resign and claim constructive dismissal, with an entitlement to notice pay and possibly compensation for unfair dismissal. Timing is unforgiving here. You need to resign quickly rather than carry on for months, the grievance procedure should be followed first, and a tribunal claim has to be brought within 3 months of resignation.