Civil Service notice periods and leaving

When you resign from the Civil Service, the length of notice is set by your department, so the figure is in your contract or your department’s HR handbook. The law sets a floor of one week once you have been in a job for more than a month. Most departments ask for more, so read your own terms before you plan a start date elsewhere. The central rulebook for departments is the Civil Service management code on GOV.UK. For related reading, see Civil Service reserve lists and general notice periods.

What the management code says about resigning

The code covers recruitment, pay, hours, redeployment and leaving. On resignation it is short: departments may decide the minimum notice their own staff must give, and staff cannot withdraw their notice unless the department agrees. Members of the Senior Civil Service must give at least three months’ notice in writing.

The code on GOV.UK is the November 2016 text, and departments have since written their own detail on top. Your contract carries the actual figure. If it seems to disagree with the code, ask HR which applies to you.

The legal minimum

GOV.UK says you must give at least a week’s notice if you have been in your job for more than a month. Your contract says whether it must be in writing. Written notice is the safer choice if you might need to prove the date later. Your notice period usually runs from the start of the day after you hand it in.

You will usually be paid your normal rate during notice. Pay can differ if you are off sick, on holiday or on a form of family leave, and it depends on what your contract says. How to resign properly covers the letter itself.

Notice when the department ends your job

The code also sets notice the department must give. Civil servants cannot demand notice as of right because of the Crown’s position as employer, but departments normally apply the periods in the code. These include:

• a scale that rises with service, for staff retired on age grounds, dismissed for inefficiency, dismissed after disciplinary proceedings where summary dismissal is not justified, or whose probation ends
• six months’ notice for most other compulsory terminations
• three months’ notice on compulsory termination for staff recruited on or after 9 November 2016

If a department does not give the full notice, the code points to compensation under the Civil Service Compensation Scheme. For advice on a dismissal or redundancy, speak to your union, Acas or your HR team.

What your department must remind you of

The code says departments must remind leavers about several things:

• the Official Secrets Acts and the duty of confidentiality continue after you leave
• you need permission before publishing memoirs
• the business appointment rules apply, which matter if you move to a role connected with your old work
• you may be able to transfer the value of your pension to a new scheme, if you meet the time limits

Pension transfers have deadlines, so ask early. Our guide to the Civil Service alpha pension explains the scheme.

References and moving to another department

Departments must provide references for former employees on request. Moving to another department is different from leaving, because your Civil Service employment can carry on. See promotion, transfers and moving departments before you resign for a post elsewhere in government.

What to check before you hand in notice

• the notice period in your contract or handbook, and whether it must be in writing
• whether you have annual leave or flexi credit to use up
• any provisional job offer: an offer from a reserve list or a new campaign is conditional on pre-employment checks, so wait for the formal offer before resigning
• your pension options, with the dates by which you must act
• confidentiality and business appointment rules if your next job is in a related field