Custom Pharmaceuticals Ltd

Case Summary

The claimant submitted a resignation letter on 29 July 2025 but attempted to withdraw it two days later via email. The respondent refused to accept the withdrawal. The respondent applied to strike out the claim as having no reasonable prospects of success, arguing that an unambiguous resignation normally cannot be withdrawn. The tribunal refused the strike-out application, holding that the question of whether special circumstances existed to justify departure from the normal rule required exploration at a full hearing rather than determination on the papers.

The tribunal refused the strike-out application because although the general rule is that unambiguous words of resignation bring the contract to an end with no obligation on the employer to accept withdrawal, the Court of Appeal in Sovereign House Security Services Ltd v Savage recognised exceptions in special circumstances. It is not clear from the papers whether such special circumstances exist in this case, and this matter requires exploration at a full hearing rather than being decided on the papers, given the relatively high threshold for striking out claims.

Use these claim-type pages to compare this decision with other published tribunal cases, outcome patterns, and visible award data.

• •Whether resignation was validly communicated
• •Whether employer was obliged to accept withdrawal of resignation
• •Whether special circumstances existed to justify departure from normal rule that unambiguous resignation brings contract to an end
• •Applicability of Sovereign House Security Services Ltd v Savage exceptions

The full source document is available from the official publication page.