Almost every argument about notice periods comes down to one confusion: there are two separate sources of notice in UK employment, and they do not cancel each other out. One comes from the Employment Rights Act 1996. The other comes from your contract. Whichever gives the longer period is the one that applies, and knowing which is which tells you what your last day is and what you should be paid until then.
The statutory minimum from your employer
Section 86(1) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 sets a floor that grows with service. GOV.UK repeats the same figures on its redundancy and dismissal pages.
| Continuous service | Minimum notice from the employer |
|---|---|
| Under 1 month | None required by statute |
| 1 month to under 2 years | 1 week |
| 2 years to under 12 years | 1 week for each complete year |
| 12 years or more | 12 weeks |
So five complete years earns you five weeks. Nine years earns nine. At twelve years it stops climbing and stays at twelve weeks however long you stay after that.
The statutory minimum from you
Here is where the symmetry breaks. Section 86(2) requires an employee with one month or more of continuous service to give at least one week's notice, and that is it. It never increases. Someone who has been in post for eighteen years still owes a statutory minimum of one week.
In practice this rarely matters, because contracts ask for more, and the contract binds you. But if your contract is silent, or you never received one, one week is the statutory floor for you and GOV.UK confirms it.
What a contract can and cannot do
A contract can give more notice than the statute. It cannot give less. A clause promising you two weeks after ten years' service is not clever drafting, it is simply unenforceable to the extent it undercuts section 86, and the statutory figure applies instead.
It can also be asymmetric, and often is. A contract that requires three months from you and gives one month from the employer is perfectly lawful, provided the employer's month is not below the statutory floor for your length of service.
If the contract says nothing at all, the statutory minimum applies. For senior or specialist roles, a court may imply a longer period of reasonable notice, which is a matter of common law rather than statute and depends heavily on the role. That is a question for a solicitor, not for a template.
The rule almost nobody knows about Notice pay
Sections 88 to 91 of the Employment Rights Act give you a right to be paid a week's pay for each week of statutory notice, even if you are off sick, on maternity leave or on holiday during it. That right exists because notice is a period in which you are supposed to be earning your normal wage.
But section 87(4) switches those protections off entirely when the employer's contractual notice is at least one week more than the statutory minimum. This produces a result that feels backwards, so here it is with numbers.
Employee A has four years' service. Statutory minimum notice from the employer is four weeks. Their contract also says four weeks. Because the contract does not exceed the statutory minimum by a week or more, sections 88 to 91 apply. If they are signed off sick for the whole notice period, the employer must still pay a week's pay for each of those four weeks, not Statutory Sick Pay.
Employee B also has four years' service, so the same four week statutory minimum, but their contract says three months. That is well over a week more than the statutory floor, so section 87(4) disapplies the protection. If Employee B is signed off sick for their notice, they get whatever the contract provides for sickness, which for many people is SSP alone.
The employee with the more generous contract can end up with less money in their pocket. It is worth checking which side of that line you fall on before you plan around a long notice period.
When Notice starts and how it is given
GOV.UK is clear that your notice period usually runs from the start of the day after you hand your notice in. Hand a letter over on a Tuesday with a one month notice period and the clock starts Wednesday.
Whether notice has to be in writing depends on your contract. GOV.UK says that unless the contract requires writing, you can give notice verbally, but it also warns that giving notice verbally when the contract requires writing can put you in breach. Since notice normally takes effect when it is received rather than when it is sent, get proof of delivery whichever route you take.
Working out your actual leaving date
Take someone with six years' service on a contract requiring two months' notice, who resigns on 14 September.
- Statutory minimum from them: one week.
- Contractual: two months.
- The longer one wins, so two months applies.
- Notice runs from 15 September, giving a last working day of 14 November.
Now flip it. If the employer dismissed the same person on 14 September, their statutory minimum would be six weeks and their contractual entitlement two months. Two months is longer, so the employer owes two months, ending 14 November as well. Comparing both directions is the only reliable way to get the date right, and it is exactly what the calculator does.
Where to Check
Your written statement of employment particulars, which every employee must receive on or before their first day, has to state the notice periods. If you cannot find it, ask HR for a copy. If the figure in it looks lower than the statutory table above, the statutory figure is the one that counts.
This is general information about the law in England, Wales and Scotland, not legal advice, and Northern Ireland differs on several points. If there is money or a leaving date genuinely in dispute, ACAS runs a free helpline on 0300 123 1100 and an employment solicitor is the right next step.