UK · 2026
UK Garden Leave Calculator
Work out when your garden leave ends and — if you have a non-compete clause — when you’re free to join a competitor. Enter your garden leave start date, your notice period, and any post-termination restriction.
Garden leave calculator
Leave 0 if you have no non-compete. Common UK lengths are 3 to 12 months.
Garden leave ends
Monday, 14 September 2026
3 months from the start date. This is also your last day of employment.
Whether garden leave is available depends on your contract. Whether a non-compete is enforceable is fact-specific. See the garden leave guide for the full picture.
How garden leave dates work
Garden leave is when your employer pays you full salary to stay at home through your notice period. You’re still employed, your benefits keep ticking, and you remain bound by everything in your contract — including confidentiality, non-solicitation, and any non-compete. Garden leave ends on the last day of your contractual notice period; that’s also your last day of employment.
Why the date arithmetic matters
Restrictive covenants (non-compete, non-solicit) usually run from the end of employment. Garden leave doesn’t shift that clock forward — it pushes it back. So if you have a 3-month garden leave followed by a 6-month non-compete, you’re out of the market for 9 months total. Compare that to PILON, where employment ends immediately and the 6-month non-compete starts ticking from day one.
Worked example
James resigns on Monday 5 January 2026. He’s on a 3-month notice period; the employer puts him on garden leave from the same day. Garden leave ends on Sunday 5 April 2026 — his last day of employment. His contract has a 6-month non-compete, which runs from 6 April 2026 to Monday 5 October 2026. So although his resignation was January, he can’t start at a competitor until October — nine months out of the market in total.
What you can and can’t do
During garden leave you cannot start a new job, do consulting in the same field, contact clients on behalf of yourself or a new employer, or recruit colleagues to follow you. You can take holiday (and employers often require you to use accrued holiday during garden leave). You can travel, study, do training, look after family, or do completely unrelated work (subject to any exclusivity clause). See the garden leave guide for the full breakdown.
Garden leave vs PILON
Garden leave is generally more generous in pure cash terms (full salary plus benefits, no work done), but more restrictive on what you can do with the time, and it pushes your post-termination clock further out. PILON ends employment immediately, makes you free to work elsewhere subject to any post-termination restrictions, but loses you the salary and benefits you would have had during the notice period. If you’re moving to a competitor with a long non-compete, the date arithmetic can be the deciding factor.
Related guides
- Garden leave explained
- PILON explained
- How notice periods work in the UK
- Notice period rights UK
- Can I take holiday during my notice period?
Related calculators
- Notice period calculator — final working day from any resignation date.
- PILON calculator — payment-in-lieu alternative.
- 3-month notice period calculator — most senior-role garden leave is three months.
- Holiday entitlement calculator
- Final pay estimator
Employment law resources
Frequently asked questions
- What is garden leave?
- Garden leave is when your employer tells you to stay home during your notice period while continuing to pay you in the normal way. You're still employed throughout, and the standard contractual obligations (confidentiality, non-solicit, non-compete) all still apply.
- Does my non-compete start when garden leave begins or when it ends?
- By default, restrictive covenants run from the end of employment — which under garden leave is the end of your notice period, not the start. So a 6-month non-compete after a 3-month garden leave keeps you out of the market for 9 months in total. Sometimes courts will give credit for time spent on garden leave when assessing whether a non-compete is reasonable, but the starting point is that they stack.
- Can my employer force me onto garden leave?
- Only if your contract has a garden leave clause. Most modern mid-senior UK contracts do. Without one, the employer can request it but can't insist if you have a contractual right to work.
- Can I start a new job during garden leave?
- No. You're still employed, so taking a new job breaches your current contract. You also can't do consulting or freelance work in the same field. Unrelated work (driving Uber, helping at a friend's bakery) is usually fine but check your contract for blanket exclusivity clauses.
- Do my benefits continue during garden leave?
- Yes. Salary, pension contributions, medical cover, share scheme participation all continue until the last day of employment. Whether a bonus that falls during garden leave is payable depends on the scheme rules — most require you to be employed AND not on notice on the payment date, which garden leave technically fails.
General information about garden leave. Whether a specific non-compete is enforceable is highly fact-specific. If you’re moving to a competitor or your contract has unusual wording, contact ACAS or an employment-law solicitor.