Leaving an Employer of Record in the UK: notice periods and exit costs

We read the customer terms that one of the best-known Employer of Record platforms publishes on its own website, on 23 October 2026. We don't name the platform here, and other platforms' terms differ. This is what those terms say.

What to check in your terms and order form

The figures that decide your exit cost are in your own contract, not on a pricing page. Before you pick a date, find these:

• The notice period to end the service, how it has to be given, and the date it runs from.
• Any minimum term, renewal date or minimum contract value, and whether ending early is charged.
• Any deposit or reserve: how much you paid, what it can be used for, and when the balance comes back.
• What you are billed for after you give notice: the monthly fee, the employee's notice pay, holiday owed, and any severance.
• Who tells the employee, and when, so that the person doesn't hear it from the platform first, or from you in breach of the terms.
• Any fee for taking the employee onto your own payroll. We found no separate fee for that in the published terms we read, which doesn't mean your order form has none.

The UK notice rules underneath

However the platform's contract with you ends, the employee's employment with the platform ends under UK rules. On GOV.UK's rules, an employee must be given at least the notice in their contract or the statutory minimum notice period, whichever is longer.

If the employment contract has a payment in lieu of notice clause, the employer can end the employment with no notice and pay for the notice period instead, with tax and National Insurance taken off that payment. If it is the employee who resigns, they must give at least a week's notice once they've been in the job for more than a month. When they leave, the platform as their employer must give them a P45.

The new contract with you, and how the employee's existing rights carry across, is a question for an employment adviser, not a payroll one.

Have your own payroll route ready first

With no UK company, there are three places to move the employee to, and which one fits depends mainly on where your company is based. The employee sets up a DPNI and pays both their income tax and their employee National Insurance to HMRC under one PAYE reference. When someone works in the UK for an employer based in the EU and UK National Insurance is due, it is due on both sides, the employee's and the employer's, so the scheme is an NI-only scheme in the employer's name and not a DPNI or DCNI. A company with no UK presence doesn't have to run UK PAYE, but it can choose to run it in its own name. We will ask HMRC for the scheme that fits your facts, and they may suggest a different one once they have the full facts.

We'd allow four to eight weeks for HMRC to set the scheme up, and that's our own estimate, not a figure from HMRC. Nothing goes to HMRC until the engagement is signed and our identity checks are done, so our four to eight weeks starts then, not today. If pay starts before the scheme is in place, payroll still runs every payday and is reported to HMRC late once the scheme exists.

The workplace pension (auto-enrolment) duties also start on the employee's start date, not when HMRC open the scheme.

A DPNI costs £157 a month. An NI-only scheme costs £157 a month for one employee, and £150 a month plus £7 per payslip for two or more. A UK PAYE scheme in the company's own name starts at £225 a month plus £8 per payslip, and setting it up costs £350. We are not VAT registered, so no VAT is added. The step-by-step move is in our guide to switching from an Employer of Record to your own UK payroll.

Leaving an Employer of Record: common questions

How much notice do I have to give an Employer of Record?

It depends on your contract. The published terms of one of the best-known Employer of Record platforms, read 23 October 2026, let either side end a service at any time with at least 30 days' prior written notice. Other platforms' terms, and the order form you signed, can differ, so read your own.

Can I tell my employee I am moving them off the Employer of Record?

Check your contract before you do. The same published terms say you ask for changes through the platform, and that you may not tell the employee without the platform's prior consent.

How much notice does the employee get?

On GOV.UK's rules, an employee must be given at least the notice in their contract or the statutory minimum notice period, whichever is longer. GOV.UK gives the statutory minimum as at least a week for one month to two years' service, a week for every year employed from two to twelve years, and 12 weeks after 12 or more years.

Is there a fee for taking the employee onto my own payroll?

We found no separate fee for that in the published terms we read. Those terms do refer to invoices for ending an order form and for a minimum contract value, so check whether your order form has either.

What should be in place before I give notice?

Your own UK payroll route. We'd allow four to eight weeks for HMRC to set the scheme up, and that's our own estimate, not a figure from HMRC. Nothing goes to HMRC until the engagement is signed and our identity checks are done, so our four to eight weeks starts then, not today.

Read next

• Switch from an EOR to your own UK payroll, how the move works, step by step.
• The hidden costs of an Employer of Record, beyond the monthly fee.
• Employer of Record cost vs your own payroll, with an interactive comparison.
• Setting up a direct payment scheme, the steps and our timeline estimate.
• Employer of Record UK: the complete guide, every EOR guide in one place.