Garden Leave Explained – Your Rights and Restrictions
Garden leave is one of those employment terms that sounds almost pleasant — but it can have serious implications for when you can start your next role, whether your restrictive covenants hold up, and what your employer can and cannot require of you in the meantime. This guide explains everything clearly, from pay entitlements to the legal nuances.
Garden Leave Calculator
Enter your salary and dates to see the total value of your garden leave, your daily rate, and a full week-by-week breakdown.
Calculate My Garden Leave →What Is Garden Leave?
Garden leave — sometimes written as gardening leave — is when your employer tells you not to come into work during your notice period, while keeping you on the payroll as a full employee. The name comes from the idea that you have nothing to do but tend to your garden while you wait for your employment to formally end.
In practice, garden leave is used by employers to:
- Prevent you from immediately joining a competitor while still being employed
- Protect confidential information and client relationships during the handover period
- Remove your access to systems, data and contacts before you leave
- Reduce disruption in the workplace after a resignation or dismissal
From your perspective, garden leave means you are paid in full but not required to work. That sounds straightforward — but the restrictions that come with it can significantly affect your next career move.
Does Your Employer Have the Right to Put You on Garden Leave?
This is the most important question — and it depends entirely on your employment contract.
Your employer can only place you on garden leave if your contract contains a specific garden leave clause giving them the right to do so. Without this clause, you are entitled to attend work and perform your duties during your notice period. Your employer cannot simply send you home and refuse to let you work.
If your employer has no garden leave clause but tries to prevent you from working your notice, this is a potential breach of contract — particularly relevant if you have a right to earn commission, bonuses, or other performance-related pay during the notice period.
Check your employment contract carefully. Garden leave clauses are common in senior roles, financial services, sales, and any position with significant client contact or access to sensitive information.
Pay and Benefits During Garden Leave
You must receive your full contractual pay and benefits throughout garden leave — this is non-negotiable. Your employer cannot:
- Reduce your salary during garden leave
- Withhold a contractual bonus that falls due during the period
- Remove a company car, private health insurance, or other contractual benefits
- Stop making pension contributions that are part of your contract
Any reduction in pay or benefits during garden leave is an unlawful deduction from wages under the Employment Rights Act 1996, and a breach of your employment contract. You can recover the withheld amounts through an employment tribunal or the civil courts.
Use the Garden Leave Calculator to work out the exact value of your entitlement.
What Your Employer Can Require During Garden Leave
| Your employer CAN require you to | Your employer CANNOT |
|---|---|
| Stay away from the workplace | Reduce your pay or remove contractual benefits |
| Return company equipment and access cards | Require you to work without pay |
| Not contact clients or customers without permission | Prevent you from looking for a new job |
| Maintain confidentiality about business matters | Keep you on garden leave beyond your notice period |
| Not work for a direct competitor (if contract says so) | Stop you from taking up employment in an unrelated field |
| Comply with post-termination restrictions from your contract | Enforce unreasonable or overly wide restrictions |
Garden Leave and Restrictive Covenants
This is where garden leave gets legally interesting — and where understanding your position matters most.
Many senior employment contracts contain post-termination restrictive covenants — clauses that restrict what you can do after your employment ends. Common examples include:
- Non-compete clauses — preventing you from working for a competitor for a defined period
- Non-solicitation clauses — preventing you from approaching your employer's clients
- Non-poaching clauses — preventing you from recruiting your former colleagues
Garden leave and these restrictive covenants interact in an important way. Courts assess whether post-termination restrictions are reasonable partly by considering how long the employee has already been out of the market. A 6-month garden leave period followed by a 12-month non-compete clause may be considered excessive — the employee has already been kept away from the industry for 6 months, so the additional 12 months may be disproportionate.
This means a long garden leave period can actually work in your favour when challenging restrictive covenants. Conversely, your employer may use garden leave specifically to ensure restrictions have maximum effect by keeping you away from the market for as long as possible under your contract.
Garden Leave vs Post-Termination Restriction Timeline
The chart shows total time out of the market. A 6-month garden leave plus a 12-month restriction means 18 months away from your field — courts have found this excessive in several employment cases.
Garden Leave vs Pay in Lieu of Notice (PILON)
Garden leave and PILON are often confused — they are quite different.
| Garden leave | Pay in lieu of notice (PILON) | |
|---|---|---|
| Employment status | Remain employed throughout | Employment ends immediately |
| How paid | Normal monthly salary continues | Lump sum on day of termination |
| Tax treatment | Normal PAYE — taxed as salary | Always fully taxable as earnings |
| Benefits | Continue throughout | End on day of termination |
| Post-termination restrictions | Start from end of garden leave | Start immediately from termination |
| Holiday accrual | Continues throughout | Ceases at termination |
From a tax perspective both are taxable — but the timing and structure differ. PILON may appear more attractive as a lump sum, but garden leave keeps benefits running and delays the start of post-termination restrictions.
Holiday During Garden Leave
You continue to accrue holiday entitlement throughout your garden leave period. Your employer may require you to take holiday during garden leave — this is permitted provided they give you proper notice (at least double the length of the holiday they want you to take, unless your contract says otherwise).
Any accrued holiday that remains unused at the end of your employment must be paid out in your final pay. If your employer fails to pay accrued holiday on termination you can recover it through an employment tribunal claim for unlawful deduction from wages.
Negotiating an Early Release from Garden Leave
If you want to start a new role before your garden leave ends, you will need your current employer to agree to release you early. This is a negotiation — your employer has no obligation to agree, but they may do so if:
- Your replacement is already in post and your early release causes no disruption
- They have no ongoing concern about you joining a competitor
- You agree to waive a portion of your remaining pay in exchange for early release
- Early release is being structured as part of a settlement agreement
Never resign from garden leave without securing your new employer's offer in writing and taking advice first. Resigning without cause during garden leave could affect your pay entitlement for the remainder of the period.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Do I get full pay on garden leave?
Yes — your full contractual salary and benefits must continue throughout. Any reduction is unlawful deduction from wages and a breach of contract.
Can my employer force me onto garden leave without a contract clause?
Generally no. Without a garden leave clause your employer cannot prevent you from attending work and performing your role during your notice period. This can be a useful negotiating point.
Does garden leave delay my post-termination restrictions?
Yes — restrictions start from the end of employment, not from when garden leave begins. A long garden leave followed by lengthy restrictions may be challenged as unreasonable.
Can I work for someone else during garden leave?
Only if your contract permits it. Most garden leave clauses prohibit working for a competitor. Working in an unrelated field may be allowed — but check your contract first.
What happens to my holiday during garden leave?
You continue to accrue it. Your employer can require you to take it during garden leave with proper notice. Unused holiday must be paid out at termination.
Summary
- Garden leave means you remain employed and receive full pay while staying away from work
- Your employer needs a contractual right to put you on garden leave — check your contract
- Full salary and all contractual benefits must continue — any reduction is unlawful
- You cannot work for a competitor, but you can look for new work
- Post-termination restrictions start from the end of employment — a long garden leave can make them easier to challenge
- Garden leave is taxed as normal salary — unlike PILON, there is no difference in tax treatment
- You can negotiate an early release, but need your employer's agreement
- Use the Garden Leave Calculator → to see exactly what you're owed