Advice for employees leaving a job or handed a settlement agreement

I should say at the start that most of my employment work is for employers. I do act for employees, but in the main that is to advise on a settlement agreement before you sign it, and I don’t bring employment tribunal claims. This page explains where to go for each of those.

If you’ve been handed a settlement agreement

A settlement agreement is the document an employer offers when it wants your employment to end on agreed terms. You get a payment, and in return you give up the right to bring claims. It isn’t binding unless you’ve had advice on its terms and effect from a relevant independent adviser, usually a solicitor, which is a requirement of section 203 of the Employment Rights Act 1996.

I do that work through a separate site, settlement-agreement.co.uk, which sets out how it works and what it costs. Your employer will normally contribute to the legal fee, and in many cases that covers it. I’ll explain what you’re signing away, tell you whether I think the offer is reasonable given what has happened, and go back to the employer if the terms or the money should be better.

If you’d like to understand the employer’s side of it (why they offer these, and what they’re worried about), my page on settlement agreements for employers covers that.

If you think you have a tribunal claim

Unfair dismissal, discrimination, unpaid wages, redundancy pay and whistleblowing claims all go to an employment tribunal, and I don’t run them. If you tell me what has happened, I’ll work out which of my Nexa colleagues is the right person, taking into account the kind of claim, their capacity and their pricing, and introduce you. They’ll advise you on the merits and quote their own fee.

There are a few things which are worth knowing before you speak to anyone. They were correct at October 2026, and employment law is changing quickly under the Employment Rights Act 2025.

The first is that time limits are short, and for events on or after 1 October 2026 most claims have to be started within six months; for anything before that date the old three-month limit applies. I’ve written about the change in my article on tribunal time limits, which is aimed at employers but the dates are the same for you. Before you can issue a claim you must notify Acas, who will offer early conciliation, and that has to be done within the time limit too.

For an ordinary unfair dismissal claim you currently need two years’ service. The government’s published timetable says that will reduce to six months for dismissals from 1 January 2027. Discrimination and whistleblowing claims have no qualifying period.

It’s also worth checking your home insurance for legal expenses cover. Some policies include it, and it may pay for a tribunal claim if the insurer thinks the claim has reasonable prospects.

General reading

If you’re trying to work out where you stand before deciding whether you need a solicitor at all, I’ve written about five employee rights you should know and about redundancy at the end of a fixed-term contract. Acas also runs a free helpline, which is a sensible first call for a lot of workplace problems.

Next steps

If you have a settlement agreement, go to settlement-agreement.co.uk and send it to me from there. For anything else, get in touch with a short account of what has happened and the key dates, and I’ll point you to the right person.