Payslip Checklist Before You Quit: 12 Things to Check Before Resigning

Resigning is exciting, terrifying, and a bit boring all at once. The boring bit - the payroll mechanics of leaving - is where money quietly slips through the cracks. Untaken holiday, the timing of your last payslip, the P45, and the way HMRC handles your next job all need to line up. This 12-point checklist walks you through what to verify before, during, and after you go. Figures use the 2026/27 tax year.

Last updated: 5 May 2026.

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Before you hand in notice

Three checks first - they are easy and they shape the rest of the conversation with HR.

1. Confirm your contractual notice period

Your contract specifies notice on both sides. The statutory minimum is one week if you have been there a month or more. Most professional contracts are between 1 and 3 months. Check:

Length of notice in your contract
Any "garden leave" clause (you stay on payroll but stop working)
Any "pay in lieu of notice" (PILON) clause
Whether you can take annual leave during notice

PILON is taxed and NI'd as normal earnings since 2018 (no more "30,000 tax-free bonus on the way out"). Read our P45 guide for how this all reports.

2. Calculate your accrued, untaken holiday

UK law gives 5.6 weeks of holiday a year (28 days for full-time, including bank holidays). On leaving, you are entitled to be paid for any leave accrued but not taken.

The pro-rata calculation is:

(Your annual entitlement / 365) x days worked in the leave year - days taken = days owed

If your employer rounds down, that is unlawful. They must round at half-day or whole-day units consistently. Read more on holiday pay rules at acas.org.uk.

3. Get your P11D / payrolled BIK reconciled

If you have a company car, private medical, or any other BIK, the value will be apportioned to your leaving date. Ask HR for a year-to-date BIK statement so you can spot if the wrong amount is being clawed back from your final pay.

During notice

Five things to verify on every payslip during the notice period.

4. Notice pay calculation

If you are working your notice, your normal pay continues. If you are placed on garden leave, the same. PILON should be calculated on your normal salary for the unworked notice plus benefits.

Worked example: salary £45,000, three-month notice, PILON taken in lieu.

Three months' pay: £45,000 / 4 = £11,250
Tax (40% on the slice above £50,270 cumulative; mostly 20%): roughly £2,300
NI (8% / 2%): roughly £780
Pension salary sacrifice: usually paused on PILON (saving lost)
Net PILON: roughly £8,170

If you have BIKs, the cash-equivalent value for the unworked period is also taxable.

5. Holiday pay paid out

Untaken holiday must be in the final payslip. The rate is your normal earnings at the time of payment. If you have variable pay (commissions, regular overtime), recent case law requires the average of the last 52 paid weeks to be used.

6. Check the YTD figures

Your final payslip's year-to-date totals must match the cumulative payments across all payslips that tax year. Add up:

Gross YTD
Tax YTD
NI YTD
Pension YTD
Student loan YTD

If anything does not reconcile, raise a query before you receive your P45 - it is much harder to fix afterwards.

7. Confirm pension contribution timing

Your final salary contribution should be processed in the final pay run. If your scheme uses salary sacrifice, employer contributions are typically paid for that month. Check your pension provider's portal in the following week to verify the money landed.

8. Check your expenses are reimbursed

Outstanding expense claims should be paid in the final payslip or as a separate non-taxable payment. They should not be in the taxable pay column.

Worth knowing

A common error: the employer adds your final mileage claim to gross pay, increasing tax and NI. Mileage at HMRC's 45p / 25p rates is not taxable. Read our expenses vs benefits guide for the rules.

On your last day

9. The P45

Your employer is required to issue a P45 "at the time of leaving or without unreasonable delay". In practice this means within a few days of the final pay run, occasionally up to a fortnight if the payroll cycle is awkward.

The P45 has four parts:

Part 1 - sent by the employer to HMRC
Part 1A - your copy (keep for records)
Part 2 - for your new employer
Part 3 - your new employer fills in and sends to HMRC

Most P45s are now electronic, often delivered as a PDF in your payroll portal. Save the file and the figures to your records.

10. Final tax code

Your final payslip will show whatever tax code applied during your last pay period. When you start a new job, this code is normally carried across.

If you do not have a P45 ready when you start the new job, you will likely be put on a BR or 0T emergency code. This is fixable but you may overpay tax in months 1-2 of the new role until HMRC reconciles. Read our emergency tax codes guide.

After you leave

11. Verify HMRC has reconciled

Within a few weeks of your final RTI submission, your personal tax account at gov.uk/personal-tax-account should show your year-to-date pay and tax. If the figures look wrong:

Compare against your P45 Part 1A and final payslip
Raise discrepancies with HMRC on 0300 200 3300
Ask the employer for a corrected FPS submission if the data is wrong at source

12. Watch for the P800

If you leave mid-year with no immediate next job, HMRC will reconcile at year-end and may issue a P800 showing a refund or a balance owed. Refunds are usually paid by bank transfer within 21 days; balances under £3,000 are collected through a future tax code.

If you start a new job in the same tax year, the P800 may show a refund through the new employer's payroll instead.

Common mistake

If you leave the UK altogether, complete a P85 form at gov.uk to claim any tax refund and confirm your residency status. Without it, HMRC will continue to assume you are UK-resident and you will not receive any overpaid tax for the partial year.

Bonus check: starter checklist for the next job

If you have a P45, hand it to the new employer's payroll team straight away. If you do not (P45 delayed, second job, or just left a long break), complete a starter checklist instead:

Statement A: this is your only or main job since 6 April
Statement B: this is your only job, but you have had another since 6 April
Statement C: you have another job or pension

Statement A gives you 1257L cumulative. Statement B gives 1257L Month 1 (non-cumulative). Statement C gives BR. Read our PAYE cumulative vs non-cumulative guide for what each means.

Quick reference checklist

For when you are skim-reading on the day:

Notice period read from contract
Holiday accrual calculated and paid out
PILON correctly taxed (no 30k exemption)
BIK reconciled to leaving date
YTD totals match across payslips
Final pension contribution processed
Expenses reimbursed (not in taxable pay)
P45 received within days of leaving
P45 saved for new employer
New job starter checklist completed if needed
Tax account shows correct figures
P800 monitored if leaving the country

Run the figures through PayslipIQ's free payslip checker to be sure, or compare your expected take-home with our take-home calculator.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if my employer is late with my P45?

Raise it in writing first. If still no P45 after two weeks, HMRC's online checker will eventually pick up the missing FPS submission. You can start your new job on a starter checklist in the meantime - you will not lose money long-term.

Can my employer deduct from my final pay for things like training costs?

Only if it is in your contract or you agreed to it in writing. Generic clauses like "we may recover training costs" are usually enforceable for a sliding scale but cannot leave you below the National Minimum Wage for the period.

Do I lose holiday I did not take?

Untaken statutory holiday must be paid out on leaving. Contractual holiday above the statutory minimum may be lost depending on policy. Check your handbook.

Do I need to tell HMRC I have left a job?

No - your employer's RTI submissions handle this. You only need to act if you are leaving the UK (P85) or moving to self-employment (Self Assessment registration).

What if my final payslip looks lower than expected?

Check the cumulative tax line. Sometimes a leaving payslip triggers extra deductions if HMRC is recovering a previous underpayment. Use our free checker to identify the missing piece.