What is Garden Leave in the UK?

What is Garden Leave?

Garden leave (also called gardening leave) is an arrangement where an employee who has resigned or been given notice remains on the payroll and under contract but is instructed not to come to work. The term comes from the idea that the employee has nothing to do but tend their garden.

During garden leave, the employee:

• Remains employed and receives full pay and benefits
• Is bound by all contractual obligations (confidentiality, non-solicitation, etc.)
• Must not work for another employer or start a competing business
• Must remain available if the employer needs them
• Must not contact clients, customers, or colleagues on business matters

Why Employers Use Garden Leave

Garden leave serves several strategic purposes:

Protecting Business Interests

• Client relationships: Prevents the departing employee from influencing clients to move with them
• Confidential information: Allows sensitive knowledge to become stale before the employee joins a competitor
• Team stability: Reduces the risk of the employee recruiting colleagues to follow them

Practical Reasons

• Avoids the disruption of a disengaged employee working their notice
• Prevents access to systems, data, and current project information
• Allows a clean handover without ongoing involvement

Legal Basis

Garden leave is not a statutory right for either party. It must be supported by a contractual garden leave clause. Without such a clause, putting an employee on garden leave could constitute a breach of contract because:

• Employees may have an implied right to work (especially in roles where skills atrophy or reputation matters)
• The leading case is William Hill Organisation Ltd v Tucker [1999], where the court held that certain employees have a right to be provided with work

What a Garden Leave Clause Should Include

• The employer's right to require the employee not to attend work during all or part of the notice period
• Confirmation that full pay and benefits continue
• The employee's obligation to remain available and not work for anyone else
• The right to exclude the employee from premises, systems, and client contact
• How garden leave interacts with post-termination restrictive covenants

Garden Leave and Restrictive Covenants

Garden leave and post-termination restrictive covenants (such as non-compete clauses) work together but are distinct:

• Garden leave: Applies during the notice period while the employee is still employed
• Restrictive covenants: Apply after employment ends

Courts may reduce the enforceability of restrictive covenants if the employee has already served a lengthy garden leave period, on the basis that business interests have already been protected.

Employee Rights During Garden Leave

• Full pay: Base salary, contractual bonuses, and benefits must continue
• Annual leave: Holiday continues to accrue. The employer can require the employee to take accrued holiday during garden leave (with proper notice)
• Pension and benefits: Employer pension contributions and benefits like private medical insurance continue
• References: The employee remains employed, so reference requests should confirm current employment

Garden Leave Pay and Deductions

Practical Considerations for Employers

• Revoke system access, email, and building passes on the first day of garden leave
• Collect company property (laptop, phone, keys, files)
• Inform clients and colleagues that the employee is no longer handling their work
• Assign a point of contact for the employee during garden leave
• Monitor compliance (but do not surveil excessively)

How Grove HR Helps

Grove HR manages the garden leave process with automated system access revocation triggers, leave tracking during garden leave, payroll continuation, and off-boarding task checklists that ensure all company property is collected and handover is completed.