Search all content on GOV.UK

Career breaks - eligibility and notice periods, contract terms and conditions.

Employment status (worker, employee, self-employed, director or contractor) affects employment rights and employer responsibilities in the workplace

• Overview

  In employment law a person’s employment status helps determine: their…

• Worker

  A person is generally classed as a ‘worker’ if: they have a contract or…

• Employee

  An employee is someone who works under an employment contract. A person…

• Employee shareholders

  An employee shareholder is someone who works under an employment contract…

• Self-employed and contractor

  A person is self-employed if they run their business for themselves and…

• Director

  Company directors run limited companies on behalf of shareholders.…

• Office holder

  A person who’s been appointed to a position by a company or organisation…

• Legal decisions on employment status

  A court or employment tribunal (known as an industrial tribunal in…

Probation is when you serve a court sentence in the community, and can include unpaid work or being supervised after coming out of prison

• Overview

  Probation means you’re serving your sentence but you’re not in prison. You…

• Meetings with your offender manager

  When you’re on probation you may have meetings with your offender manager.…

• If you break the rules of your probation

  You could go back to court if you break any rules of your probation. For…

• Being taken back to prison

  You can be taken straight back to prison if you have been released on…

• Ask to be released again on probation

  If you have been taken back to prison and think you should be released on…

Landlords need to follow certain procedures when evicting tenants - find out about eviction notices, harassment and illegal evictions, and going to court

Guidance for employees and employers: employment rights when on maternity, paternity, adoption, neonatal care or parental bereavement leave - keeping in touch days, annual leave, returning to work, redundancy.

How to end a commercial lease early, what happens if you break the terms of your lease, use a clause in your agreement

Your Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) and Leave - what you get, how to claim, maternity rights and extra help

• Updated: 8 November 2023

Research looking at the effect of short break provision for disabled children and their parents, carers and siblings.

• Updated: 24 November 2011

Report of the lessons learned from the short breaks for disabled children innovation fund to help local authorities improve their services.

• Updated: 26 February 2026