If your employer has just put a settlement agreement in front of you, it can feel less like a choice and more like a statement of account. The figures look tidy. There is often a date by which they want it back. Plenty of people in that position ask whether they need a settlement agreement lawyer: you do need independent advice from someone who acts for you, not your employer, and firms such as Settlement Advice review these documents for employees only, remotely, across England and Wales.

In England and Wales, the agreement only does the job your employer wants if you take independent advice first. A settlement agreement is a contract. In return for a payment and any other promised terms, you usually agree not to bring employment tribunal claims, such as unfair dismissal or discrimination. For that waiver to be valid, you must receive advice from a relevant independent adviser on the terms and on how they affect your right to claim. The adviser has to be independent of your employer and insured. A qualified solicitor is the route most employees use.

You do not have to use a firm your employer names. The choice of adviser is yours.

The cost is usually less of a hurdle than it first appears. Your employer is not legally required to pay for the advice, but most drafts include a contribution towards it. That sum is often enough to cover a straightforward review, so many employees pay nothing themselves. If the contribution is missing, ask for it in writing. If the document is messy, or you want changes negotiated, the contribution may not stretch as far, and you should ask about any extra cost before work begins.

Treat the money in the draft the way you would treat any other payout or refund: check what each line actually is. Statutory redundancy pay, notice pay, holiday pay, bonuses and any extra ex-gratia sum are not interchangeable. They are calculated on different rules and they are not all taxed in the same way. GOV.UK sets out how redundancy pay works, including the point that statutory redundancy pay is usually paid without tax, up to the usual exemption. Notice pay and holiday pay are generally treated as earnings. If a large slice of the package has been labelled as compensation when it is really notice, the amount that reaches your account may be lower than the headline figure suggests.

The rest of the document matters as much as the payment. Look at the reference you would receive, any announcement about your leaving, and clauses that stop you criticising the business or working for a competitor. Some of those terms are reasonable. Others go further than you expect and can follow you into the next job, which has a cash cost of its own if they delay your next salary. Outstanding expenses, commission or share awards are easy to miss if you only read the front page.

You do not have to sign. If you refuse, the underlying process continues, whether that is a redundancy consultation, a performance procedure or a dispute. Signing too quickly to “get it over with” is how people give up claims they did not realise they had, including discrimination claims that do not depend on two years’ service.

You should be given a reasonable time to consider a written offer and get advice. As a general rule, that means at least ten calendar days unless you agree otherwise. If you are being pressed to sign in 48 hours, say so to your adviser. A short deadline is not, by itself, a reason to skip the review.

It also helps to match the document against promises made in conversation. If a manager said you would be paid through to a certain date, or that a bonus already earned would be honoured, that should appear in the draft. Verbal assurances are hard to rely on once you have signed. The same applies to benefits that quietly end on your leaving date, such as private health cover, pension contributions or a work phone you still need for a few weeks.

A settlement agreement can be a clean way to leave, with money in the bank and a reference you can use. It can also ask you to surrender rights that are worth more than the sum on offer. The lawyer’s job is not to block a deal you want. It is to tell you, in plain terms, what you are signing and whether the package matches the situation you are actually in.