Notice

As well as redundancy pay, employees dismissed because of redundancy are entitled to full statutory notice, or their contractual entitlement to notice, whichever is longer.

An employee is entitled to notice of at least:

• one week if their length of service is between one month and two years; or

• one week for each year if they have between two and 12 years’ service, up to a maximum of:

• 12 weeks if they have at least 12 years’ service.

(See section 86 ERA 96)

An employer who does not want an employee to work their notice (or any part of it) must make a payment in lieu of the notice entitlement. Notice pay should include the value of any contractual benefits the employee would have earned had they been employed during the notice period.

Many employers provide better than the statutory minimum notice. To be entitled to a longer notice period, it must be a clearly expressed contractual right. If a promise of longer notice is negotiated through a collective agreement, it must be incorporated into the employee’s individual contract of employment to be enforceable. In Griffiths v Buckinghamshire County Council [1994] ICR 265, the High Court held that a statement in a collective agreement that individuals should be given the maximum possible redundancy notice (which should not be less than a year) was a “recommendation” not a contractual entitlement.