Remedy
Start free

Section 86: Rights of employer and employee to minimum notice.

Employment Rights Act 1996 · 1996 c. 18View on legislation.gov.uk

Part IX: Termination of employment

The notice required to be given by an employer to terminate the contract of employment of a person who has been continuously employed for one month or more—

is not less than one week's notice if his period of continuous employment is less than two years,
is not less than one week's notice for each year of continuous employment if his period of continuous employment is two years or more but less than twelve years, and
is not less than twelve weeks' notice if his period of continuous employment is twelve years or more.

The notice required to be given by an employee who has been continuously employed for one month or more to terminate his contract of employment is not less than one week.

Any provision for shorter notice in any contract of employment with a person who has been continuously employed for one month or more has effect subject to subsections (1) and (2); but this section does not prevent either party from waiving his right to notice on any occasion or from accepting a payment in lieu of notice.

Any contract of employment of a person who has been continuously employed for three months or more which is a contract for a term certain of one month or less shall have effect as if it were for an indefinite period; and, accordingly, subsections (1) and (2) apply to the contract.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

This section does not affect any right of either party to a contract of employment to treat the contract as terminable without notice by reason of the conduct of the other party.

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.