My employer has given me notice of termination of my employment and has said that I am required to stay at home for the relevant period. What should I do?

This is sometimes called "garden leave". If notice of termination of employment is given by either the employee or the employer, the employer may ask the employee to stay at home during that notice. The employee continues to receive his or her normal wages during the notice period. The advantage to the employer is that during the notice period the employee still has an implied duty of confidentiality. It also prevents the employee from working for a competitor during the notice period, because the contract of employment continues until the expiry of notice. For these reasons garden leave is often used in the contracts of senior management personnel.

Whether or not there is such a restriction on the employee's freedom to work elsewhere during garden leave will depend on whether there is an express term, known as a restrictive covenant, in the contract of employment