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Settlement agreement solicitors

Our experienced settlement agreement solicitors provide thorough, in-depth advice on settlement agreements, from initiation through to completion.

What is a settlement agreement?

A Settlement Agreement (formerly known as a Compromise Agreement) is a legally binding agreement between an employer and an employee under which the employee gives up his or her rights to pursue or bring future claims against their employer.

Usually, the employee will receive a sum of money in return and, at the same time, leave the employment of the employer under terms which are agreed and set out within the Settlement Agreement.

What are the benefits of a settlement agreement?

A Settlement Agreement is often a clean, dignified and quick way to end an employment relationship. As businesses are increasingly looking to downsize and save costs in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and the closing of the Furlough Scheme, we are seeing a significant increase in the numbers of employers using Settlement Agreements to exit employees from the business.

Why is it important to get independent expert advice on a Settlement Agreement?

Settlement Agreements are often lengthy and complex agreements that address a number of issues that arise out of the employment relationship and its termination.

The following are just some of the key issues you will need to consider when entering into a Settlement Agreement:

  • The termination date.
  • Outstanding salary and holidays. When will any outstanding salary be paid? Will you be required to take your holidays during your remaining period of employment?
  • Benefits. How will any benefits you received be dealt with under the Settlement Agreement? For example, company car, private health insurance.
  • Notice period/pay. Will you be required to work out your notice period (or part of that), or will you be leaving the employment of the employer with immediate effect (or partway through) and receiving a payment in lieu of your notice (or the unexpired part of that notice)?
  • Deductions. Is the employer proposing to make any deductions from your final salary/compensation payment? For example, travel loan, training costs.
  • Pension. You will need to understand what impact leaving your employment will have on any pension.
  • Tax. It is important that any payments made under the Settlement Agreement are structured as tax-efficiently as possible. Outstanding salary, notice pay and holiday pay will be subject to tax and national insurance contributions in the normal way. However, under current HMRC rules, the general rule is that the first £30,000 of any compensation payment for loss of employment, inclusive of any statutory redundancy payment, can be paid tax-free. In complex termination arrangements, you may well need specialist tax advice.
  • Claims. It is important you fully understand what claims you are actually signing away as you may well want to exclude certain claims from being ‘settled’ (such as an existing personal injury claim).
  • Restrictive covenants. Your contract of employment may already contain restrictive covenants and the Settlement Agreement may well deal with how these will apply moving forwards. If not, you may want to try and seek to limit the scope of any existing restrictive covenants as part of any agreement. It is also quite common for the employer to look to introduce new restrictive covenants via the Settlement Agreement. Any new restrictions will therefore need to be carefully considered. Any new restrictions may also give rise to tax issues.
  • Directorships. The Settlement Agreement will often require you to resign any directorships at the same time as leaving your employment. You will need to understand the impact, if any, that resigning any directorships will have.
  • Shareholdings/share options. If you are a shareholder, you will need to carefully consider how your shares will be dealt with as you may well be required to sell your shares back on the termination of employment. If you have any share options, your reason for leaving will also be important because this may well determine what, if anything, you receive in consideration for your share options (for example as a ‘good leaver’).
  • Confidentiality. The Settlement Agreement may well simply refer to any existing confidentiality provisions in your contract of employment or, alternatively, seek to introduce new confidentiality provisions. You will need to understand what information is confidential and what is not.
  • Reference. The provision of a good reference is often a key issue and may well involve a certain amount of negotiation.

Our settlement agreement solicitors can provide expert advice on each of these points.

How our settlement agreement solicitors can help you

Settlement agreements require careful, expert handling to achieve an outcome that works for both parties, based on sound legal advice.

A failed settlement scenario helps no one and leaves the door open for tribunal proceedings to be initiated — precisely the outcome both parties would wish to avoid.

We can provide you with advice on all the legal issues which can arise out of a Settlement Agreement as well as how to progress any negotiations

We cover the whole of the United Kingdom from our offices in Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Newcastle, regularly acting in the course of concluding Settlement Agreements for employers and also employees, especially at the Senior Executive level.

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