Exit & Leaver Procedure template
An exit and leaver procedure is the written sequence an organisation follows whenever someone leaves — acknowledging the resignation, running the notice period and handover, recovering property and revoking access, settling final pay correctly, and closing the record.
Leavers are where loose ends become liabilities: the ex-employee whose email login still works months later, the final payslip missing accrued holiday, the handover that existed only in someone's head. A standard procedure run for every leaver — friendly or otherwise — closes each of those gaps on a known date.
This template gives you a complete, ready-to-edit procedure: resignation handling, notice-period steps including handover and the exit interview, a last-day checklist, final pay and paperwork, and what to do when a departure gets complicated.
Full text, ready to adapt.
Highlighted fields are placeholders — replace them with your organisation's specifics. A starting point, not legal advice.
Exit & Leaver Procedure
SOP · HR & People
1. Purpose and scope
This procedure sets out how {{org.name}} manages every departure, whatever the reason, from notification to closed file. It applies to employees and workers at all levels. The decision or process that leads to the departure — resignation, redundancy, dismissal — is governed by its own policy; this procedure handles everything after that point.
2. When to use this procedure
- Resignations, including during probation.
- Retirements and the end of fixed-term contracts.
- Redundancies, after the redundancy process concludes.
- Dismissals, after the disciplinary or capability process concludes.
- [Adaptation: for dismissals without notice, run the last-day and final-pay steps immediately and skip the notice-period section.]
3. Roles and responsibilities
- Line manager: acknowledges the resignation, plans and oversees the handover, runs the last day.
- [HR/office manager]: owns the leaver checklist, coordinates payroll, IT, and paperwork, and conducts the exit interview.
- [IT/systems owner]: schedules and executes access revocation for the agreed date and time.
- Payroll ([role/provider]): calculates final pay, including accrued holiday, and issues the P45.
4. On receiving a resignation
- 1Acknowledge the resignation in writing within [number] working days, confirming the last day of employment based on the contractual notice period.
- 2Ask for the resignation in writing if it was given verbally — do not rely on a corridor conversation.
- 3Notify [HR/office manager], payroll, and [IT/systems owner] of the leaving date the same week.
- 4Open the leaver checklist in [system] and assign owners and dates for every item.
- 5Agree how and when the departure is announced to the team and any customers — the leaver hears the plan before anyone else does.
5. During the notice period
- 1Agree the handover plan in the first week of notice: what will be documented, what will be handed to whom, and by when.
- 2Have the leaver write or update handover notes covering live work, key contacts, logins held (for transfer via [IT/password system], never by sharing passwords), and where everything lives.
- 3Reassign live work and introduce successors to key contacts before the final week.
- 4Book the exit interview with [neutral role, e.g. HR rather than the line manager] for the final week — attendance is invited, not compelled.
- 5Confirm any post-employment obligations that continue after leaving — confidentiality and [any restrictions in the contract] — in the leaver letter.
- 6Agree the treatment of remaining annual leave: taken during notice by agreement, or paid in the final pay if it is accrued statutory leave.
6. The last day
- 1Collect all {{org.name}} property against the checklist: [keys, pass, laptop, phone, uniform, vehicle, card equipment].
- 2Revoke systems access at [time] on the last day: email, [systems list], remote access, and shared account credentials that the leaver knew, which are rotated.
- 3Remove the leaver from rotas, on-call lists, building access, and internal directories.
- 4Confirm forwarding contact details and where the P45 and final payslip will be sent.
- 5Set up mailbox and phone handling: [auto-reply and monitored forwarding per the IT acceptable use policy].
- 6Sign off the leaver checklist and file it — an unchecked item is an open risk, not a formality.
7. Final pay and paperwork
Final pay is made on [the normal payday / date], itemised on a payslip, and includes pay to the last day, payment for accrued untaken statutory holiday, and [any contractual items: bonus, commission, pay in lieu of notice where agreed]. Deductions — for excess holiday taken, unreturned property, or training costs — are made only where the contract or a written agreement clearly permits them.
Issue the P45 promptly after the final pay run, confirm the position on pension contributions with [provider], and send the leaver letter confirming the end date and any continuing obligations.
8. If something goes wrong
If a leaver stops attending during notice, contact them, record events, and take advice before withholding anything — deductions still need lawful authority. If property is not returned, follow the deduction terms in the contract, or [escalation route] where there are none. If a resignation is retracted, {{org.name}} is not obliged to accept the retraction once the resignation is clear and communicated — [senior role] decides, quickly and in writing. Departures involving a live grievance or dispute are handled with advice from [role/adviser] before the leaver letter is sent.
9. Records and review
The leaver file — checklist, handover confirmation, exit interview themes, final pay records, and correspondence — is kept in [system] for [retention period, set in line with the data retention policy and current guidance]. Exit interview themes are anonymised and reported to [leadership meeting] [frequency] — the pattern in why people leave is management information you already paid for.
This procedure is reviewed [frequency, e.g. annually] and after any departure that surfaces a gap. Owner: [name/role]. Next review due: [date].
How to adapt this template.
Build the property and systems checklist from a real audit of what staff actually hold — the forgotten cloud tool is the one that bites.
Agree the access-revocation handshake with IT now: who tells them, by when, and what "done" looks like.
Check final-pay mechanics with payroll, especially accrued holiday calculation and which deductions your contracts actually authorise.
Pick a neutral exit interviewer and a short standard question set so themes are comparable across leavers.
Run the checklist for the next leaver as a live test, then fix whatever the test finds.
Align the retention period in section nine with your data retention policy before publishing.
Turn this template into trained, proven behaviour
A policy in a drawer proves nothing. In TrainedTeam this template becomes assigned training with knowledge checks, e-signature acknowledgments, version history, and an audit-ready record of who completed what, when.
Exit & Leaver Procedure template FAQs
Is an exit procedure a legal requirement in the UK?
The procedure itself is not required by statute, but parts of what it delivers are: accrued untaken statutory holiday must be paid on termination, deductions from final pay need lawful authority, and notice rights apply. The procedure is how you meet those duties on time, every time.
What must be included in a leaver's final pay?
Pay up to the last day of employment plus payment for accrued untaken statutory holiday, along with any contractual entitlements such as commission or agreed pay in lieu of notice. Deductions are only lawful with statutory or contractual authority or the employee's written agreement.
Can an employee withdraw their resignation?
Not unilaterally — once a clear resignation is communicated, it stands unless the employer agrees to the retraction. The sensible exception is a resignation given in the heat of the moment: allow a short cooling-off check before treating it as final.
Are exit interviews worth doing?
Yes, if someone neutral runs them and the themes actually reach leadership. Individual interviews are optional for the leaver and rarely change their departure — the value is the pattern across leavers, which tells you why people really go.
How long should we keep leaver records?
There is no single statutory answer — different records carry different legal and tax retention needs, and UK GDPR requires you to keep personal data no longer than necessary. Set defined periods in your data retention policy, check current official guidance, and apply them consistently.
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