The law is there to protect you.  As an employee, it affords you numerous rights and claims; many of which are complex. When your employment ends, many of those claims crystallise and there is a short window for you to pursue them.

It’s very difficult for lay individuals to fully understand and appreciate the position they are in and all the possible claims they may have.

Therefore, in order to protect you, the law provides that settlement agreements are only binding and effective if certain conditions are met, including, that you take independent legal advice.  Without the benefit of such advice, you may not appreciate nor understand the claims you may have and are signing away.

The employer-employee relationship is often seen as one where the employer is in a position of strength and so this is required to ensure that you are protected.

We regularly deal with people who are very pleased to be leaving with some payoff and/or who want to accept the offer that has been made (and quickly).

If you are in this position, that’s fantastic news and we can help – just call us now on 01483 388 904.

In this situation, our view is that you should not be incurring any legal fees as terms are agreed. We will typically agree to sign off your settlement agreement for the legal fee contribution from your employer meaning there will be no fees for you to pay.  

We are also able to undertake the work very promptly; usually the same working day so please contact us if you are in this situation.

We regularly deal with people in this situation. Either, their employer is not making a reasonable contribution and/or many solicitors impose a minimum fee for such advice.

We take a different view and work with all clients with all budgets so will be able to assist you. Just call us on 01483 388 904 so we can help you.

If the offer is not that reasonable then then there may follow a degree of negotiation with your employer and, as part of that, we will seek to ensure that a more reasonable contribution towards your legal fees is made.

In our experience, the quality of the solicitor can vary greatly.  Obviously, we would be delighted to assist you, but if not then we recommend you look for someone who is perhaps recommended to you. You may know local professionals (accountants, bankers, IFAs) who are probably know your local legal community. If one name keeps being given to you, then that’s probably a good place to start.

If not, you can rely on directories, but the transparency of these is often hard to know as some lawyers and firms secure their place through paid advertising.

Failing everything else, we suggest you contact, at least, two local solicitor firms to talk to the solicitor and this will give you a good insight. If they are not available, if they are slow to return your calls or emails or if you don’t think they are right for you when you speak to them then we suggest you find somebody else. 

This is probably the most common question people have.  Please click here to read a summary on this topic.

Having dealt with thousands of settlement agreements, it’s fair to say there is no standard size or type. Some we are asked to advise on are four pages long others are 40. It partly depends on your position within the organisation, the size of your organisation as to the extent to which your employer wishes to deal with matters.

There are, however, some standard clauses which we have gone into detail and which you can read by clicking here.

Essentially, yes. If your situation is one where there is a delay between notice being served and you signing a settlement agreement (now) and when your employment will end then it’s common for employers to ask you to sign two settlement agreements; one when notice is served and a second at the end of your notice period.

The logic behind this is that between notice being served and your employment ending, additional claims can transpire, so by asking you to sign a second settlement agreement / reaffirmation letter or agreement shortly after your employment ends means that your employer knows that any claims that may arise after signing the first agreement will also be settled by virtue of you signing the second agreement.

Therefore, this structure is very normal in certain circumstances and one we will be happy to explain further.

If you are in this position, then it’s important you agree the terms of the reaffirmation letter or agreement/ second settlement agreement when you sign the first settlement agreement.  By signing the first settlement agreement, you will be contractually bound to sign the second agreement so there will be no opportunity for any further negotiation. Also, all the payments and benefits are generally loaded into the second settlement agreement, so if you fail to sign that, you probably won’t get the terms you are expecting.

Potentially, yes. There is scope for the first £30,000 of any compensation to be paid tax free, but your individual situation will need to be reviewed by your employment solicitor. You also need to ensure that all contractual payments are being made so that no payment of salary or wages appears within any tax-free settlement offer.

However, while your employer may say you’re being paid a tax-free sum, you will be taking the risk and providing a tax indemnity to your employer; more information about which can be found here. 

Your employer is not under any obligation to provide a reference, but if it does so it needs to ensure that any reference is true and fair.

One of the benefits of a settlement agreement is that you can agree the wording of a reference and ensure your employer is contractually bound to provide that reference. 

In the settlement agreement, you should also deal with verbal references as well as what will be provided in writing. You want to ensure that any reference request; verbal or written, is are dealt with in line with the agreed terms.

This is a common additional benefit of a settlement agreement. Outplacement support usually involves your employer paying for an external provider to help and support you in looking for a new job.

Often your employer will engage the services of a large outplacement support provider and we have received mixed feedback about these. Therefore, we often raise with our clients the option of securing a lump-sum contribution towards such services so that you can engage a provider of your choice.

Alternatively, some clients wish to retrain, and we can often negotiate with your employer to either include an amount towards the retraining costs and/or seek to convert any money towards outplacement to go towards training.

The general rule is that your benefits will cease upon your employment ending. However, there can be some negotiation to this.

Occasionally, it’s possible for health benefits to be extended where your employer will renew its policy annually. In our view, this doesn’t necessarily guarantee cover as, ultimately, it’s for the health insurance provider to agree cover and if it becomes aware that you left your employment it may refuse to provide cover.

If you have commission or bonus payments as part of your terms, these need to be dealt with as part of the overall settlement because once those terms are agreed there will be no obligation on your employer to make any further payments to you. It may be that you agree that a bonus will be paid, but you will not know the amount until the company has finished its financial year and calculated all bonuses. It’s here that staying in contact with colleagues to try and find out how much they’ve been paid can help ensure you’ve been treated consistently.

You may have a long-term incentive plan schemes or share scheme. Your employer will have detailed scheme rules that govern your rights and entitlements under these schemes. They often require you to be treated as a “good lever”.  It’s very rare that your employer will agree to re-write those scheme rules as part of your settlement agreement exit, as it will affect numerous other staff and have potential tax implications. Therefore, there is often little you can do to renegotiate the scheme rules, but your settlement agreement should be used to try and ensure you secure as much as possible in line with those rules. However, as we say above, generally once your employment ends your entitlement to such benefit also ends.

We provide a summary of the usual clauses you should be aware of here. 

If your settlement agreement is agreed, then we should be able to complete your agreement within the sum offered by your employer.

If your situation is more complex and you need detailed employment law advice or help with negotiating a better package then we will tell you how much it might cost before the work is undertaken. 

In our experience, most employers offer a minimum sum of £350 plus VAT, but some employers will offer a far more reasonable amount of, say £1,000 plus VAT. For senior executive settlement agreements, usually, the offer is higher; between £3,000 to £5,000 plus VAT. 

Whatever your budget, we can help you, so please call us on 01483 388 904.