leaver-pack

---
name: leaver-pack
description: Builds a leaver pack for a departing member of staff covering handover of the jobs only they do, accrued holiday and final pay inputs, P45 and payroll order, keys and access, and an exit conversation that produces one usable fact.
---

# Nothing useful walks out of the door with them

You give me the leaver's name, their last day, how they are paid, their holiday record and your rota. You get back one document: the jobs only they do and who is taking each one, the numbers your payroll person needs for the final payslip, a keys and access list with dates, and five questions to ask them before they go. It is a working document for you, your payroll provider and your accountant to use, not a legal opinion.

## What it does

1. **Pin down the ten facts that fix every deadline in this pack, before writing anything else.** Ask for: full name, job title, start date, last day they will actually work, the leaving date (the last day of employment, which may be later if holiday is being taken at the end), whether notice was given in writing and on what date, hourly or salaried, weekly or monthly pay, the normal pay date, and the first and last day of your holiday year. Write each one on the front page of the pack. If any is not known, write "not known, ask [name]" instead of a guess, because every later calculation hangs off these dates.

2. **Write the confirmation letter the same day and put the money in it.** Acas, on responding to an employee's resignation, says "You do not have to respond formally when someone tells you they're resigning. But it's good practice to respond in writing." This pack treats it as required: in a small venue a verbal notice gets remembered two different ways six weeks later. The letter states the last working day, the leaving date, whether they are working their notice, the date final pay will land, and, in Acas's words, "what their final pay will be, including holiday pay and any deductions". Send it by email so it is dated, and keep a copy in the pack.

3. **Build the "only they know it" list from three sources, not from memory.** Source one is the rota for the last eight weeks: every shift type they covered that nobody else covered. Source two is your own walk of the building, naming the equipment, the supplier and the paperwork they personally handle, for example the cellar line clean, the coffee grinder settings, the meat supplier who only answers their mobile, the allergen matrix, the boiler that needs a knack, the Sunday delivery booking, the social media account. Source three is the leaver's own list, asked for in writing and given at least three shifts to complete. Anything that appears in only one of the three sources still goes on the list.

4. **Turn each item into half a page that says how it works and what to do when it does not.** Timothy Jones's public handover documentation checklist asks, for every system being handed over, "What do I do if it isn't working?" That is the question that separates a useful handover from a list of job titles. For each item write: what it is, when it happens, who it involves with a phone number, the steps in order, and the one thing that goes wrong and what to do about it. Aim for half a page each and no more than one page.

5. **Give every item a named successor and a date, and book the shadow shift.** Not a department, not "the kitchen", a person's name. Put the date the successor does it with the leaver watching, and the date they do it alone with the leaver still contactable. Anything with no name against it goes on a short "no successor" list on the front page, because that is the list that becomes your problem the week after they go. Where there genuinely is no successor, write the supplier or contractor you would call instead.

6. **Work out the holiday balance as three numbers that reconcile.** Entitlement for the part of the holiday year worked, days or hours already taken, and the balance owed or over-taken. GOV.UK's guidance on taking holiday before leaving a job says "Employers must pay for untaken statutory leave, even if the worker is dismissed for gross misconduct", and points you at the GOV.UK holiday entitlement calculator to work out how much, because "How much they get depends on how much of the leave year has passed or how much leave they've accrued". If they have taken more than they accrued, the same page is blunt: "If a worker has taken more leave than they're entitled to, their employer must not take money from their final pay unless it's been agreed beforehand in writing." Find that written agreement and copy the wording into the pack, or record that no deduction is being made.

7. **Assemble the final pay input sheet for whoever runs your payroll.** List: hours worked to the last day including any unsocial or overtime rates, holiday pay owed from step 6, tips or tronc still to be distributed, any payment for notice not worked, and each deduction with the contract clause or signed agreement that allows it. Acas's guidance on final pay says "it should be clear in the payslip what each payment or deduction is for", and that "A worker should get their final pay on the date they are normally paid", so do not promise an early payment you have not agreed with your payroll provider. Send this sheet to payroll at least five working days before that pay date.

8. **Run the payroll steps in this order: final pay, leaving date, FPS, P45.** GOV.UK's payroll guidance for when an employee leaves says "You must give your employee a P45 when they leave", and to "put their leaving date on their payroll record when you last pay them", reporting it on the Full Payment Submission. If anything is paid after that, for example a tronc share or a late bonus, GOV.UK says to "use tax code 0T on a 'week 1' or 'month 1' basis" and report it on the next FPS with the original leaving date and payroll ID. Keep the whole payroll file: GOV.UK's PAYE record keeping guidance says "you need to keep them for 3 years from the end of the tax year they relate to".

9. **Close access on the last shift and hold the exit conversation before it, not after.** Build a table with one row per item: front door key, back door key, cellar key, alarm code, till or EPOS login, rota app, bookings system, supplier ordering accounts, company email, company phone, bank card, delivery platform logins, social media logins, Wi-Fi and router password, uniform. Each row gets who holds it, the date returned or revoked, and your initials. Deleting their user account is not enough where a code or password was shared, so change the alarm code and any shared admin password on the same day. Hold the exit conversation off the floor and before you take the keys, using the five questions in the check below, because Acas notes "Arranging an exit interview can be useful to understand why the employee is leaving".

## Then it checks

1. Every date on the front page is a real calendar date, and the leaving date is on or after the last day worked.
2. Every item on the "only they know it" list has a named person against it and a shadow shift date, with no "TBC" and no team names; anything without one appears on the "no successor" list on the front page.
3. The holiday section shows entitlement, taken and balance as three numbers that add up, and where more was taken than accrued it either quotes the written agreement permitting a deduction or states that no deduction is being made.
4. Every deduction on the final pay input sheet names the contract clause or signed agreement that allows it; a deduction with no source named is removed from the sheet.
5. The access table has a date and an initial in every row, and includes at least one shared credential being changed, not only accounts being deleted.
6. The exit conversation section records at least one specific thing in the leaver's own words plus one action with a named owner and a date; "nothing to report" only passes if the five questions asked are written out underneath it.

Any check fails: name it, redo that step once. Failed twice: say what is wrong and stop.

## Rules
- Public information only.
- Never invent a fact, a number or a quote.
- Never invent a holiday figure, an hours total, a pay rate or a date. If the record is missing, write "not known, ask [name]" and leave the arithmetic undone, because a made-up balance becomes a real underpayment on a real payslip and an unpaid wages claim you would lose.
- Never put a deduction on the final pay sheet without naming the written term that allows it, and never round one to a neater number. An unlawful deduction from a final payslip is the single most common way a quiet leaver becomes a tribunal claim.
- Never soften, summarise away or leave out what the leaver actually said in the exit conversation, including if it is about a named manager. The whole value of the conversation is the one fact you did not already know, and a tidied version is worth less than no conversation at all.
- This pack touches UK employment law, PAYE and holiday pay. It is a working document prepared for your payroll provider, accountant or employment solicitor to check and sign off before the final payslip is issued. It is not employment law or tax advice and must never be presented as it.

## Built from
- Acas, "Final pay when someone leaves a job", https://www.acas.org.uk/final-pay-when-someone-leaves-a-job, last reviewed 19 May 2026: the final pay date rule, the requirement that a payslip makes each payment and deduction clear, and the point that a deduction for notice not worked depends on the contract allowing it.
- Acas, "Responding to an employee's resignation", https://www.acas.org.uk/resignation/responding-to-an-employees-resignation, last reviewed 30 June 2026: the written confirmation of resignation, what that letter should say about final pay and holiday, and the purpose of an exit interview including handing over outstanding work.
- GOV.UK, "Payroll: what to do when an employee leaves", https://www.gov.uk/employee-leaving, no publication date shown on the page, read 13 September 2026: the P45 requirement, putting the leaving date on the payroll record at the last payment, the FPS report, and the 0T week 1 or month 1 treatment of payments made after leaving.
- GOV.UK, "Holiday entitlement: taking holiday before leaving a job", https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights/taking-holiday-before-leaving-a-job, no publication date shown on the page, read 13 September 2026: payment for untaken statutory leave, the holiday entitlement calculator as the tool for working the balance out, and the ban on deducting over-taken holiday without prior written agreement.
- GOV.UK, "PAYE and payroll for employers: keeping records", https://www.gov.uk/paye-for-employers/keeping-records, no publication date shown on the page, read 13 September 2026: the three years from the end of the tax year retention period applied to the leaver's payroll file.

# leaver-pack

## You are given

A folder from a UK hospitality business containing `leaver-facts.md`, the ten facts Claude pinned down: full name, job title, start date, last day they will actually work, the leaving date, whether notice was given in writing and on what date, hourly or salaried, weekly or monthly pay, the normal pay date, and the first and last day of the holiday year. It also carries the rota for the last eight weeks (CSV, XLSX, a rota app export or photographs of the wall rota), the holiday record in whatever state it exists, the contract or written statement, and the leaver's own list of what they do.

Claude supplies `handover-items.md`: the "only they know it" list built from the three sources, with a named successor and two dates against each item, and the leaver's own words for what goes wrong on each. Claude also supplies `exit-notes.md`, the leaver's answers written down verbatim. You never decide what only they know and you never edit what the leaver said.

## Produce

Write into an `output/` folder next to the inputs:

1. `leaver-pack.md` - the front page: the ten facts as a labelled block, the "no successor" list, and a contents list linking every file below. Any fact not supplied reads `not known, ask [name]` exactly as `leaver-facts.md` records it.
2. `confirmation-letter.md` - dated today, stating the last working day, the leaving date, whether they are working their notice, the date final pay will land, and what the final pay will include. Every figure is either taken from the input or left as `[OWNER TO CONFIRM]`.
3. `handover/NN-<item-slug>.md`, one file per item in `handover-items.md`, numbered in the order given, half a page to one page each. Fixed sections: what it is, when it happens, who it involves with a phone number, the steps in order, `What to do if it is not working` copied word for word from the leaver's own wording, the named successor, the shadow shift date and the date the successor does it alone.
4. `handover-index.csv` with columns in this order: `Item`, `Frequency`, `Successor`, `Shadow shift date`, `Solo date`, `Source` (`rota`, `walk of the building`, `leaver's own list`, or more than one), `No successor` (`yes` or `no`).
5. `holiday-balance.md` - three numbers that reconcile: entitlement for the part of the holiday year worked, days or hours already taken, and the balance owed or over-taken, each showing the arithmetic and naming the file the figures came from. Where more was taken than accrued, reproduce the wording of the written agreement permitting a deduction exactly as supplied, or write `No written agreement supplied. No deduction is being made.`
6. `final-pay-input.csv` for the payroll provider, columns in this order: `Line`, `Type` (`hours`, `unsocial or overtime`, `holiday pay`, `tips or tronc`, `payment for notice not worked`, `deduction`), `Units`, `Rate (GBP)`, `Amount (GBP)`, `Source document`, `Contract clause or signed agreement permitting deduction`. Every row of type `deduction` must carry a value in the last column or it is removed from the sheet and listed in the return.
7. `payroll-order.md` - the four steps in order with a date box against each: final pay, leaving date on the payroll record at the last payment, Full Payment Submission, P45. Plus one line for any payment made after leaving, and one line giving the retention period for the payroll file as `[OWNER'S ACCOUNTANT TO CONFIRM]`.
8. `access-table.csv` with columns in this order: `Item`, `Type` (`key`, `code`, `login`, `account`, `equipment`), `Who holds it`, `Date returned or revoked`, `Changed rather than deleted` (`yes` or `no`), `Initials`. One row each for: front door key, back door key, cellar key, alarm code, till or EPOS login, rota app, bookings system, supplier ordering accounts, company email, company phone, bank card, delivery platform logins, social media logins, Wi-Fi and router password, uniform. Add a row for anything else named in the inputs. `Date returned or revoked` and `Initials` ship empty.
9. `exit-conversation.md` - the five questions written out in full, the leaver's answers copied verbatim from `exit-notes.md`, and an actions table with columns `What was said`, `Action`, `Owner`, `Date`.

## Rules

- Never invent a holiday figure, an hours total, a pay rate or a date. Where the record is missing, write `not known, ask [name]`, leave the arithmetic undone and list it in the return.
- Never put a deduction on the final pay sheet without the written term that allows it named in the same row, and never round any figure to a neater number.
- Copy `exit-notes.md` word for word, including anything said about a named manager. Never summarise, soften or leave out a line.
- Copy the leaver's own wording in the `What to do if it is not working` sections exactly. Never improve it.
- Every successor is one real person's name. Never a department, never "the kitchen", never "TBC". Anything with no name goes on the `no successor` list on the front page, and where the inputs name a supplier or contractor to call instead, put that there.
- The alarm code and every shared password must appear in `access-table.csv` with `Changed rather than deleted` set to `yes`. Deleting a user account is not enough where a credential was shared.
- Never write a password, a code, a key number or a bank detail into any file. Name the item only.
- Add no commentary on employment law, PAYE or holiday pay entitlement, and make no statement that the pack is compliant. It is a working document prepared for the owner's payroll provider, accountant or employment solicitor to check and sign off before the final payslip is issued.
- Use British English, £ and DD Month YYYY dates. No em dashes.

## Return

A list of the files written with their absolute paths, the ten front page facts and which of them read `not known`, the number of handover items and how many have no successor, the three holiday numbers and whether they reconcile, the number of final pay rows and any deduction removed for having no written term named, the number of access rows and how many are shared credentials being changed, and the number of exit conversation actions with a named owner and a date.