Breach of contract during notice period

[beatleuk]

Thanks to everyone for all of your replies. I am so tempted to jack it in and take the risk but I have no warchest to fall back on in the event of not finding a contract.
I am looking to employ the shortened (2 weeks) notice period or even to mention I'm moving to a competitor and hope they put me on gardening leave straight away!

[SueEllen]

It will come down to whether the contract says something about only being paid on the receipt of a signed timesheet, or only being paid for the days that work is done etc. etc.

Some contracts allow for an immediate termination, usually on the lines of a vague "if the client isn't happy" line, which would exclude them from paying you.

Rather than it being a payment for not doing any work, there are ways to word it so that it's a cancellation without notice fee. Some posters here have mentioned always including one, but I haven't seen anyone produce any decent wording of how to ensure it is valid without becoming an IR35 pointer.

Your confusion comes from reading contracts as a whole.

Unless clauses are clearly linked in a contract they can be interpreted independently. Linked clauses usually reference each other by number. Which is why there is a statement in contracts stating something like if a clause isn't valid the entire contract isn't void just that clause.

Then there is the issue of whether a clause is legally enforceable if you are not opted-out.

A couple of my recent contracts have had a clause in them that state that the agency isn't liable for any costs if the contract is cancelled before it starts.

This indicates that agents have been pursued for compensation in this event and have had to pay out. You would interpret this as MOO if the clause wasn't in the contract but the courts obviously don't.

Vague terms like "client not happy" help no one. The agent can find themselves liable for things they wouldn't be liable if they had clearly defined the clause and vice versa.

[curtis]

I am so tempted to jack it in and take the risk but I have no warchest to fall back on in the event of not finding a contract.

Unless you got made redundant I would not even consider starting contracting till you have a war chest to fall back on. What if they wait a month for you and you start your contract then they say they don't need you after a few weeks and the contract ends what will you fall back on?

When I decided to go contracting I had a year plan to save as much money as I can and then hand my notice in.

[Scrag Meister]

I handed in my 3 month permie notice without a contract to go to.

You just have to set yourself adrift from the permie land onto contractor waters.

There's nothing guaranteed in contracting. That's what being a contractor is all about...

I did exactly this, then took another 3 months to start my first contract.

Was quite nice having a few months off, having been permie for the previous 20 years.

[vwdan]

I handed in my 3 month permie notice without a contract to go to.

You just have to set yourself adrift from the permie land onto contractor waters.

There's nothing guaranteed in contracting. That's what being a contractor is all about...

Yep - this is what I'm doing. In 5 weeks I'll be jobless for the very first time in 10 years - if nothing else, it's a giggle to say "Yeah, I'm leaving my job" "Oh, where you off to?" "Nowhere, yet." It's really not the done thing, apparently!

I think there comes a point where if you want to do something, you have to just take a gamble and jump the **** in.