A settlement agreement is the document your employer wants signed — which is exactly why you shouldn't sign it as offered. The law requires you to take independent legal advice before it binds, and your employer usually pays for that advice. Connaught Law's settlement agreement solicitors act for employees across London and the UK: reviewing, valuing and negotiating agreements before signature.
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How We Can Help
What a Settlement Agreement Is
A legally binding contract in which you waive employment claims — unfair dismissal, discrimination, notice, and more — in exchange for a payment and agreed terms. Under section 203 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 it only binds if you've had advice from an independent adviser, which is why your employer proposes one and pays a contribution towards your legal fees. That advice requirement is your leverage — used properly, it's a negotiation stage, not a formality.
What's a Reasonable Offer?
Reasonable is relative to the claims you're giving up. The baseline is what you're owed anyway — notice, accrued holiday, any statutory redundancy — none of which is generosity. The real question is the ex gratia payment on top: it should reflect the strength and value of the claims being waived, from unfair dismissal to discrimination or unpaid bonus. The first £30,000 of a genuine termination payment is usually tax-free, which shapes how a deal is best structured.
Review & Negotiation
We don't just certify the agreement — we price it. That means assessing the claims you'd be waiving before advising whether the number is right: our employment tribunal awards guide shows what tribunals actually award, and that benchmark is where negotiation starts. Where the offer is short, we go back with reasons employers take seriously — and most improved offers come from exactly that exchange.
Terms That Matter Beyond the Money
The payment is half the deal. The rest lives in the clauses: an agreed reference, the announcement wording, confidentiality that doesn't overreach, restrictive covenants that could limit your next job, bonus and share treatment, pension contributions and tax indemnities. We review all of it — the clauses employers rely on are usually the ones employees didn't read.
Protected Conversations
Employers often open with an off-the-record chat — a "protected conversation" — proposing exit terms. The protection has limits: it generally can't be used in ordinary unfair dismissal proceedings, but improper behaviour loses the protection, and discrimination claims sit outside it. Handled well, these conversations are an opportunity; the ACAS guidance sets the ground rules, and we coach you before you respond.
Redundancy & Restructures
Settlement agreements travel with redundancy — usually offering an enhanced payment for signing away claims about the process. Before advising you to sign, we check whether the redundancy is genuine, the selection fair and the consultation real, because a flawed process is worth money on top of the enhancement. If the deal is good, we say so plainly; if it's short, we negotiate.
How We Work
Settlement agreements run on employer deadlines, so we move fast without letting speed become the employer's advantage: same-week review of the agreement and your circumstances, a clear view of what the waived claims are worth, and advice you can act on — sign, negotiate, or in rare cases walk away and claim instead.
The employer's fee contribution covers straightforward advice in most cases; if negotiation is worth pursuing beyond it, we tell you the position on costs before doing anything. Nothing is signed, and nothing is spent, without you seeing the whole picture first.
Why Connaught Law
01Valuation before signatureWe price the claims you're waiving against real tribunal awards — so "reasonable" means something, not just what was offered.
02Fast without being rushedEmployer deadlines are usually softer than they look. We work at speed while protecting your negotiating position.
03Senior attention throughoutYour agreement is handled by our experienced employment team, not passed down — with direct access to the person advising you.
04The whole agreement, not just the numberReferences, covenants, confidentiality, tax — the clauses that follow you into your next job get the same scrutiny as the payment.
Fee structures are set out on our fees page — and in most settlement agreement cases your employer's contribution covers the advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a settlement agreement in employment law?
A binding contract ending or resolving an employment relationship: you waive specified legal claims against your employer in return for a payment and agreed terms. It's only valid once you've received advice from an independent legal adviser — a statutory safeguard that exists because you're giving up real rights.
What is a reasonable settlement agreement?
One that pays what you're owed anyway — notice, holiday, any statutory redundancy — plus an ex gratia sum that fairly reflects the strength and value of the claims you're waiving. An offer that only covers your entitlements is not a settlement; it's your contract with a signature page. We benchmark offers against what tribunals actually award.
Who pays for the legal advice?
Almost always your employer, through a fee contribution written into the agreement — because without independent advice the agreement can't bind you. In most straightforward cases that contribution covers the advice in full, so checking the agreement costs you nothing.
Do I have to sign, and can I negotiate?
You never have to sign, and yes — settlement agreements are negotiable far more often than employees assume. Deadlines in covering letters are pressure, not law. Taking a few days for proper advice and a counter-proposal rarely loses a deal and frequently improves one.
Been handed a settlement agreement?
Don't sign yet. Send it to us — we'll tell you what the offer is really worth, what the clauses commit you to, and whether to negotiate. Your employer usually pays for the advice.
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