No Notice Clause

[DHammett]

Hi,

I have a 'No Notice Clause' in my contract that I signed back in July. I know I 'signed' it but is this actually legal for an agency to not allow a notice period?

thanks

Dave Hammett

[fiddleabout]

I've had similar contracts in the past so I assume it probably is.

Most contracts are for 6 months or less so I would need to be very desperate to quit during a period I'd signed up for. Bit of a bummer if you see a much better rate advertised just after you've signed I guess though

[tim123]

Re: Legality

"Is it legal for a contract not to have a notice period"

Yes.

It is illegal for a contract to have no way of being terminated. But if it is for a (not onerously long) fixed term and hence will terminate on some pre-determined end date, then there's nothing wrong with it not containing another method to terminate.

"Can you terminate early a contract with no notice period".

Yes, your would be in breach of contract if you did, but legally there's no shame in this (others would have you believe that there is). The remedy for a breach of contract is a requirement to pay compensation for loss due to the breach. (In the UK) Such compensation is limited to to actual loss with a requirement for the injured party to mitigate their loss (or lose their right to compensation) and if you can't reach agreement as to what is 'reasonable' then a court will decide. A made up figure that does not represent a mitigated actual loss is uncollectable as an Illegal fine.

HTH

tim

[Mordac]

Your notice period *should* be the same as the client's, so if they can serve you with a weeks notice, you *should* be able to do the same. However, this has more to do with employment law than contract law, and if you are trying to remain outside IR35, you don't want to be envoking employment legislation if you can help it. You might even be able to use the lack of notice as a pointer to being outside IR35.
This should serve as a lesson to always read the contract and question anything you aren't sure about before you sign it.
Try discussing it informally with the agency and/or client and see what they say.