An employer may tell an employee not to work some or all of their notice period while continuing to employ and pay them. It may be used to protect client relationships or confidential information. It is not payment in lieu of notice (PILON), which normally ends employment at once. Acas says an employee on garden leave must be paid as usual during notice, including contractual work benefits.
Check your contract, any policy incorporated into it and any agreement made with your employer. An express garden-leave clause makes the position clearer, but the absence of that exact wording does not always create an unconditional right to attend the workplace or automatically invalidate an instruction not to work. Whether there is a right to work and whether an employer can enforce garden leave depend on the contract, role and circumstances. Seek advice before refusing instructions.
Your employment continues during garden leave, so ordinary contractual pay, benefits and applicable pension contributions should continue, and statutory holiday continues to accrue. Check contractual holiday terms and whether you have been given valid notice to take leave; holiday is not always something you can choose freely during garden leave. If pay or a benefit stops, raise it promptly in writing and seek advice. Non-payment does not automatically establish a successful constructive-dismissal claim.
You can normally look for another job or study, but while still employed you remain subject to employment duties including confidentiality and any lawful restrictions on other work or client contact. Do not start a competing role without checking the contract and securing any needed agreement. After employment ends, separate post-termination covenants may apply only if enforceable; garden leave does not automatically reduce their length unless the contract or circumstances provide for it.
Garden leave normally counts as worked notice and does not itself deduct money from statutory redundancy pay. Entitlement depends on qualifying service, age and weekly pay, with caps varying by jurisdiction and date. Check enhanced terms too. For more: https://myredundancyrights.co.uk/calculator