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The leaver pack: resignation to final pay

The fortnight after a resignation is the only time you will get a straight answer about why somebody is going, and most practices spend all of it arranging cover. This pack handles the administration so there is room left for the conversation.

Editable Word document, free, emailed to you.

What is in it

• Resignation acknowledgement letter that confirms the last day in writing on the day you receive it, which prevents the most common and most avoidable dispute.
• Leaver checklist, seventeen items including the system access lines practices miss for months.
• Final pay checklist, covering accrued holiday, training cost repayment and the deductions that are only lawful if they were authorised in writing.
• Exit interview form with the one question that produces a useful answer.
• Guidance on counter offers, references, notice and garden leave.

The question that finds the real reason

Not “why are you leaving”, which produces the polite answer about a new opportunity. The question is: was there a specific moment or period when you started looking?

People decide to leave months before they apply, and the trigger is almost always concrete. A rota published late. A holiday request refused without a reason. A difficult client nobody dealt with. That is the fixable thing, and no other exit question surfaces it.

Where final pay goes wrong

Deductions. A deduction that is not expressly authorised in the contract or a signed agreement is an unlawful deduction from wages, however reasonable it feels. Clawing back training costs under an agreement signed after the course began is very hard to enforce.

There is also a record-keeping point that is new. Since 6 April 2026 employers must keep annual leave records for six years, and that expressly includes any payment made in lieu of untaken leave on termination. The final pay checklist prompts you to record it rather than just pay it.

Read exit interviews together, not one at a time

One exit interview is an anecdote. Four read side by side are a pattern, and the pattern is usually the rota, one particular manager, or a development promise that never materialised. Diarise a read through every six months.

In a profession this small the person leaving today is a candidate in three years, and is talking to your future applicants tomorrow. Use it with our guides to exit interviews and staff turnover.