Can you change your resignation date

Click here to access our directory of all other UK employment law rights. Free employment law advice. No win- no fee option. A resignation can be either verbal or in writing, and is a clear statement by you to your employer that you are going to leave your job.

This is usually set out in your contract of employment. An average notice period is between months, but for senior employees, if could be 6 or 12 months. If there is no notice clause, or you do not have a written contract of employment, then the statutory minimum period of notice will apply. The statutory minimum period of notice where you have been employed one month or more is 1 week.

If you have been employed less than a month, then you do not need to provide any notice. A much longer notice period may, however, may be implied if it is reasonable in all the circumstances i. Where you are resigning based on a constructive dismissal situation, you would not usually be expected to work your notice as this would form part of your claim.

If you resign with immediate effect unwittingly, your employer may accept this, and you would then forgo your notice payments that you were otherwise expecting under your contract.

This could represent a valuable loss, so you need to make sure you really intend to resign with immediate effect, rather than making it clear that you are providing the appropriate notice under your contract of employment. In any event, a resignation with immediate effect could put you in breach of your contract. Your employer may then decide to make a claim against you for losses suffered as a result of your breach.

This is a worse case scenario, and you would expect a sensible dialogue to take place during any resignation process. The point is that you do need to be careful.

This will depend on how good the relationship is with your employer. This would mean you could be leaving earlier than you had intended. Also, your employer may not be predisposed to treat you in the same way as before, after stating an intention to leave without formally handing in your notice. This could work against you at a time when you want a smooth transition into your new job. Most employment contracts require employees to give written notice of their resignation.

If you chose not to do so in these circumstances, the notice period will not begin to run until you give your employer written notice unless they are prepared to accept a verbal notification. In your letter of resignation you should set out the fact that you are resigning, together with how much notice you are giving and when your last day will be.

If you want to leave before the last day of your contract, check if the contract says you can give notice. You should get your full normal pay if you work during your notice period. This should include any work benefits you get, such as pension contributions or free meals. For example you might only get statutory sick pay if you are off sick. Your employer should pay you as usual until the end of your notice period when your contract ends.

This is sometimes called garden leave. You should keep all your perks and benefits, such as pension contributions or personal use of a company phone.

This is called your statutory holiday entitlement. If you get more than 28 days a year including bank holidays , this is called contractual holiday. Check what your contract says about leftover contractual holiday.

Find out more about when you can take holiday - including what to do if you have any problems. Your employer can tell you to use up any holiday you have left over. Check your contract to see how far in advance your employer should tell you to take holiday. However, the opposite it true if the resignation period is greater than two weeks. In addition, an employee may request a date change in the hopes of extending benefits, such as health insurance. Granting such a request will result in the company spending more on benefits for this departing employee.

Accepting a change in the resignation date may offer you more time to look for a replacement or more time to train a one. Another advantage occurs if the new resignation date coincides with the end of a pay period, which would make the process easier for the payroll department. Jamie Lisse has been writing professionally since She has published works with a number of online and print publishers.

In some cases, the employer may want to accept the notice immediately and send the employee out the door. First, it may help to understand why a two-week notice period is typical. Despite a common misconception, there is no state or federal law that requires an employee to give notice of a resignation. One reason that a two-week notice period is often adopted has to do with unemployment benefits. However, if an employee is terminated, the person usually can collect unemployment.