Notice period calculator: end date, statutory minimum and notice pay

On the same date in the following month as the day notice was given. Notice runs from the day after it is given, so a month's notice given on 3 November ends on 3 December, unless the contract or the notice letter says otherwise (Wang v University of Keele UKEAT/0223/10). If that month has no matching date, notice ends on the last day of the month: a month's notice given on 31 January ends on 28 February, or 29 February in a leap year (Dodds v Walker [1981] 1 WLR 1027).

No. Four weeks is exactly 28 days, so four weeks' notice given on Monday 2 November ends on Monday 30 November. In a contract, a month means a calendar month unless the context shows otherwise (Law of Property Act 1925, s61), so a month's notice given on 2 November ends on 2 December. The difference matters once an employee has five complete years' service. The statutory minimum is then five weeks, which is 35 days and longer than any calendar month, so a contract that says one month gives way to the five weeks (Employment Rights Act 1996, s86(1) and (3)).

No. Unless the contract or the notice letter says otherwise, notice starts to run on the following day, whether it is given in person, by letter or by email (West v Kneels Ltd [1987] ICR 146; Wang v University of Keele UKEAT/0223/10). One week's notice given on a Monday ends on the following Monday.

Unless the contract says otherwise, written notice is given when it actually comes to the employee's attention and they have read it or had a reasonable opportunity to read it, not when it is posted, sent or delivered (Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust v Haywood [2018] UKSC 22). Handing it over in a meeting, or asking the employee to confirm when they have read an email, removes the doubt.

An employer must give one week's notice to an employee with between one month and two years' service, then one week for each complete year of service, up to 12 weeks after 12 years (Employment Rights Act 1996, s86). Under one month's service there is no statutory minimum.

At least one week once they have been employed for one month, whatever their length of service. The contract can require more, and usually does.

Whichever is longer. A contract can give more notice than the statutory minimum but never less (s86(3)).

No. The weekly pay cap in s227 does not apply to notice pay, so it is based on the employee's full weekly pay.

Where pay varies, a week's pay is based on the average over the 12 weeks before notice is given (ss221 to 224).

Yes. Since 6 April 2018, payment in lieu of notice, or the post-employment notice pay HMRC works out on a termination payment, is taxed and subject to National Insurance as earnings. It never falls within the £30,000 tax-free amount.

It depends on the notice the employer must give under the contract. If it is less than a week longer than the statutory minimum, the employee must get at least their normal pay for the statutory notice period while sick, injured, on holiday or on family leave, with sick pay or SSP counting towards it (ss88 and 89). If the contractual notice is at least a week longer, those protections fall away and pay follows the contract and any statutory sick pay scheme (s87(4)). Any notice beyond the statutory minimum is always paid as the contract says.

Not necessarily. A payment in lieu of notice is whatever the PILON clause says, which may include benefits, pension contributions or allowances. The calculator gives a basic-pay estimate only.