Ending of fixed-term contracts

Since 2013, dismissals that result from the expiry and non-renewal of fixed-term contracts must be ignored when calculating whether 20 or more redundancy dismissals have been proposed in a 90-day period. The ending and non-renewal of a fixed-term contract only counts as a dismissal for the purposes of the 20-employee threshold if the employer plans to end the contract prematurely, in other words, before its expiry date, for a reason related to redundancy (that is, a reason unrelated to the individual), such as a funding cut, or the premature ending of a project.

This change to the law overturned an important victory by the higher education union UCU in Lancaster University v UCU [2010] UKEAT/0278/10/2710, in which the union won a substantial protective award for members when the university failed to consult collectively over the non-renewal of fixed-term contracts. UCU says 68% of research staff in higher education are now on fixed-term contracts, with many more dependent on short-term funding for continued employment. Casualisation has been a key issue for UCU’s higher education strikes throughout 2019. The latest details can be found on the union’s website.