Continuity of service

Q: I have been working for the same company doing the same job for three years and have just been taken on permanently. But the company has said that I will not get continuity of service for the three years I was on contracts. Is this right?

A: Continuity of service is calculated in accordance with section 210 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA). The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has established (in Collison v BBC [1998] IRLR 238) that it is a "statutory construct", meaning that employers cannot "contract out" of the calculation method set out in the legislation - so your continuous service began on the date set out in the ERA, even if your contract says otherwise.

As long as you can show that there was no break in continuity of service except for any of the reasons given in section 212 of the ERA (sickness, temporary cessation of work or established custom), your service began from the day you started the first contract.

Under the Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002, if an employee has been employed on a series of fixed-term contracts for four years or more, their contract is deemed to be permanent unless the employer can justify why a permanent contract should not be given. However, any employment before 10 July 2002 (the date when the regulations should have come into force to comply with the relevant European Directive) is disregarded .