The right to notice means the right for the employee to remain in employment for the period of notice, not simply to be paid for it. An employer will therefore often include in the contract an express right to make a payment in lieu of notice (PILON) as an alternative to giving notice, to ensure they have the option of terminating the employee's employment with immediate effect and removing the employee from the workplace at any time.

See the Contractual terms guidance note.

However, even in the absence of such an express right, an employee may be willing to bring their employment to an early end and accept a 'non-contractual' payment in lieu of the notice to which they are properly entitled (or, more likely, the employer might simply terminate the employment and make such a payment, which in many cases will effectively extinguish the employee’s wrongful dismissal claim).