Pay in lieu of notice means your employer pays you for your notice period instead of having you work it. Your employment ends immediately and you receive the money you would have earned.
It is taxed in full as earnings, with income tax and National Insurance, and the £30,000 termination payment exemption does not apply to it. That has been the position since April 2018, and it applies whether or not your contract mentions PILON.
The first £30,000 is free of both income tax and National Insurance. Only the excess is taxed — and employee National Insurance is not charged on any of it, however large the payment.
Can your employer just do it?
Only if your contract contains a PILON clause.
Without one, ending your employment immediately and paying you off is technically a breach of contract. In practice most people accept it — you get the money now and are free to start elsewhere — but it does have consequences worth knowing:
- Without a PILON clause, restrictive covenants in your contract may become unenforceable, because a party in breach generally cannot rely on them
- Your termination date is the date employment actually ends, which affects continuous service
Most modern contracts include a PILON clause precisely to avoid the first problem.
Why all PILON is taxed now
Before April 2018 there was a genuine distinction. Contractual PILON was taxed as earnings; non-contractual PILON could sometimes be treated as damages and sheltered under the £30,000 exemption.
That created an obvious incentive to leave PILON clauses out of contracts and label notice pay as compensation. The post-employment notice pay rules closed it.
HMRC’s own manual puts it plainly: post-employment notice pay represents payments in lieu of notice not otherwise chargeable as earnings, is chargeable to income tax as general earnings, and does not benefit from the £30,000 threshold.
How post-employment notice pay is calculated
The formula, in HMRC’s terms:
PENP = ((BP × D) ÷ P) − T
- BP is your basic pay in the last full pay period before notice was given, including anything given up under salary sacrifice
- D is the number of calendar days in your unworked notice period
- P is the number of calendar days in that last pay period
- T is any termination payment already taxed as earnings, such as a contractual PILON
The result is the amount of your termination package that must be treated as earnings. Anything above it can then use the £30,000 exemption.
If the result is nil or negative, it is treated as nil and no extra tax arises.
Two details that trip up calculations. Basic pay includes salary sacrifice amounts — so a pension sacrifice arrangement pushes the PENP figure up, not down. And basic pay means basic pay: bonuses, commission, overtime and benefits in kind are excluded.
A worked example
Jo is made redundant with a 6-month notice period and no PILON clause. Her gross basic salary is £6,750 a month. She receives £50,000, including £4,000 of statutory redundancy pay.
- Relevant termination award: £50,000 − £4,000 = £46,000
- PENP: (£6,750 × 6) ÷ 1 = £40,500
- The £40,500 is taxed in full, with employee and employer National Insurance
- The £4,000 statutory redundancy is tax free
- The remaining £5,500 falls within the £30,000 exemption
So of a £50,000 package, £40,500 is taxed as ordinary earnings. That is a very different outcome from the one most people expect when they hear “£30,000 tax free”.
PILON and untaken holiday
Accrued but untaken holiday is paid separately and taxed separately. It is not part of your PILON and does not use the £30,000 exemption either.
Whether holiday continues to accrue during a notice period you are paid for rather than working depends on your contract and on whether your employment has actually ended.
PILON and redundancy pay
If you are paid in lieu rather than working your notice, your employment ends earlier. That can matter, because statutory notice counts towards continuous service.
Someone with 9 years and 10 months of service and 12 weeks’ notice would reach 10 years by working it — and 10 years rather than 9 changes the redundancy calculation. Being paid in lieu instead can cost you a year’s worth.
Statutory redundancy pay should be calculated on the basis that statutory notice was given, so this should be handled correctly. It is worth checking that it has been.
Check when your notice would end
What to check on an offer
- Does your contract have a PILON clause?
- Is the offer broken down into elements, or given as a single figure? Ask for the breakdown.
- How much is being treated as notice pay?
- Does your notice period take you past a service anniversary?
- Is untaken holiday shown separately?
For anything substantial, take advice. The sums involved usually dwarf the cost of an hour with an employment solicitor.
Sources
- EIM13876: post-employment notice pay — HMRC Employment Income Manual
- Handing in your notice — GOV.UK
- Notice periods — Acas
Checked against source on 30 August 2026. This is general guidance, not legal or tax advice.
Written by Nathan Cole
I built the calculators on HoursHQ and check every statutory figure against GOV.UK, Acas and the legislation itself before it goes live. Where the law is genuinely unclear, I say so rather than guessing.