Fixed-term workers Q&As

Fixed-term contracts are contracts which are:

• made for a specific term or
• which terminate on the completion of a task or the occurrence/non-occurrence of a specified event (other than the attainment by the employee of the normal retiring age, if any, in that position).

Even contracts which have a provision for early termination can be fixed-term contracts. In Allen v National Australia Group Europe Ltd (2004), a project manager had a fixed-term contract from 9 December 2002 until 31 July 2003. The contract contained a clause that either party could terminate the contract by giving one week's notice during the first six months of the contract. The employer dismissed the employee for incompetence in January, seven months before the contract was due to expire. The employee won his claim that he had been discriminated against under the Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002. The provision for earlier notice did not stop the contract being one for a fixed term.

Employers cannot simply dispose of employees when a fixed-term contract ends. Legislation including the Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002 (SI 2002/2034) give fixed-term employees the right:

• not to be treated less favourably than a comparable permanent employee regarding terms and conditions of employment
• to be informed of suitable permanent vacancies in the organisation
• to have their contracts automatically converted to indefinite ones after four years (the four years must start after 10 July 2002 and there must be two or more successive contracts)
• not to be selected for redundancy or be unfairly dismissed if the principal reason for the selection was because they were a fixed-term employee
• to make a complaint to a tribunal seeking a written statement which sets out the reasons for any less favourable treatment complained of
• to a written statement listing the reasons for the dismissal (after two years' service)
• not to be unfairly dismissed (after two years’ service)
• to statutory redundancy payments (after two years’ service)
• to a minimum notice period of the agreed ending of the contract
• to a minimum notice period after one month’s continuous service.

The right to no less favourable treatment applies where:

• the less favourable treatment is on the grounds that the employee is on a fixed-term contract and
• the difference in treatment cannot be justified on objective grounds.

There are some categories of worker who are excluded from the Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002. This includes apprentices, employees on certain government training schemes and students on occupational placements of one year or less as a part of a higher educational programme.

Agency workers, that is those who have an employment contract with a temporary work agency but are placed with and do their work for a third party, are also excluded from the regulations. Although agency workers must be treated in the same way as all other employees regarding entitlement to statutory sick pay, whether they are indirectly or directly employed and regardless of the length of their contract).

Unlike the Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000, the Fixed-term employees Regulations 2002 apply to 'employees' and not to 'workers'.

Although it seems confusing, an employee can be a fixed-term employee if there is a provision for notice in the contract. Really such fixed-term contracts are an agreement that both parties will work together, for example, for a six-month period, unless either of them gives notice before the end of that period.

A fixed-term contract that can be terminated earlier by notice is still a fixed-term contract falling within the Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002.

Contractual notice

Fixed-term contracts end at a specified date or on a specified event, such as the completion of a specific job. Any termination by the employee or employer before the ‘end event’ occurs could be a breach of contract. Therefore, it is common for fixed-term contracts to include notice clauses. This means that either party can give notice to end the contract before the expiry of the fixed term.

An employer who wishes to end a fixed-term contract may either wait until the end of the contract or give notice in accordance with the notice provision, if there is a clause permitting early termination (for example on one month's notice). They can also agree an early termination with the employee if that becomes necessary or end the arrangement early anyway, which will constitute a breach of contract if there is no provision for early termination. (An employee in this position could claim damages for the whole unexpired portion of the fixed term).

Therefore, early termination of a fixed-term contract will be a breach of contract unless the contract contains an early termination clause allowing either party to give notice. Once a fixed-term employee has one year's (or two years' if their employment starts on or after 6 April 2012) continuous service, either from a long fixed-term contract or on two or more successive contracts, then there may be a breach of contract claim and an unfair dismissal claim if the employer decides to terminate the contract early.

Employers should also remember that as fixed-term employees have the right not to be treated less favourably than comparable permanent employees, if fixed-term employees have shorter notice periods, this constitutes prima facie less favourable treatment of the fixed-term employees. An employer who uses different notice periods would therefore have to justify the different treatment on objective grounds.

Statutory notice

Fixed-term employees are not usually entitled to the statutory minimum period of notice given by Section 86 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996). However, it is good practice for employers to provide contractual notice as explained above.

If the contract does allow the employer or employee to end the contract early by giving contractual notice, that notice must be at least the statutory minimum notice period. However, the normal statutory notice does not apply at all if the employee is employed under a fixed-term contract of one month or less. For an employee who has been continuously employed for between one month and one year, the statutory minimum notice period is one week. (If a fixed-term employee has a contract for one month or less which becomes extended by periods of one month or less at a time until three months is reached, the ERA 1996 provides that the statutory notice provisions apply in the normal way anyway).

Fixed-term contract employees can be made redundant before or at the end of their term. If the non-renewal of the contract means there will be fewer employees overall, the fixed-term employee is probably redundant.

If the fixed-term employee has the requisite qualifying period of continuous employment, then an employer may have to make redundancy payments equivalent to those payable to permanent employees when a fixed-term contract expires (unless the employer can objectively justify the difference in treatment).

Contractual redundancy schemes should not differentiate between permanent and fixed-term employees, although they often do.

Redundancy pay

Although it may seem illogical to give fixed-term employees redundancy payments, the reasoning can be stated as follows:

• The statutory definition of redundancy is basically a reduced requirement for employees to carry out a particular kind of work. Fixed-term contract workers who are no longer required, fall within the classic definition of redundancy.
• Fixed-term employees have the right not to be treated less favourably than comparable permanent employees because of their fixed-term status.
• A non-existent or less generous redundancy payment will be less favourable treatment unless it can be objectively justified.

Employers who provide less favourable redundancy terms to fixed-term employees must therefore be able to justify objectively their policy. The argument by an employer that there is a need to save costs is insufficient.

Employers obligations

In many cases then the non-renewal of a fixed-term contract will amount to a redundancy and the employee must be treated like any other redundant employee. This means that employers must make a statutory redundancy payment (if the employee qualifies with more than two years’ service), look for suitable alternative employment for the employee, and consult individually with the employee.

From 6 April 2013 where an employer proposes to dismiss 20 or more employees (within a 90-day period) who are on fixed-term contracts which have reached their agreed termination point then there are no collective redundancy consultation obligations. However fixed-term employees dismissed before the expiry of the period may trigger collective consultation.

If there is no provision for early termination under the fixed-term contract, compensation for loss of remuneration for the rest of the fixed-term period may be payable as well.

This all seems perplexing when it can be argued that, by definition, a fixed-term employee has no expectation of continuing employment anyway. The case X v SOS for Education and Skills (2005) shows how the law is applied.

Four senior advisers worked under fixed-term contracts with a government department. Under the Civil Service rules, they received modest compensation if they faced redundancy. Permanent colleagues received significant redundancy payments.

The employees won their tribunal claim that the difference in treatment breached the Regulations. When their contracts expired, they were entitled to substantial redundancy payments (provided they had the two years’ service required) on a par with those payable to permanent employees, or to be kept on under new contracts.

For more detailed information on redundancy, see our Redundancy Q&As and Redundancy collective consultation Q&As.

The expiry of a fixed-term contract is a redundancy in many cases. Employers do not have to count employees on expiring fixed-term contracts for the purposes of a collective redundancy consultation but it is only those employees on fixed-term contracts which have reached their agreed termination point that are entirely excluded when considering whether collective redundancy consultation obligations apply.

Essential points for employers

• Collective redundancy consultation is triggered where there are proposals to dismiss 20 or more employees at any one establishment within a period of 90 days or less.
• Many terminations at the end of a fixed term will be redundancies requiring redundancy payments, but this does not mean that collective consultation is necessarily required.
• Fixed-term contracts which end at the point it was agreed they would end are excluded from assessing whether collective consultation legislation applies.
• This means that where fixed-term contracts reach their natural end, collective consultation may not be needed concerning the non-renewal of those contracts.
• Employers must consult individually with fixed-term employees, and employers cannot just treat the expiry of a fixed-term contract as the end of a contract without the need for any other processes.

Additional points for employers

• Expiry or non-renewal of a fixed-term contract is classed as a dismissal. This means that employers must ensure that there is a fair reason and fair procedure at the end of a fixed-term contract, otherwise qualifying employees may claim unfair dismissal over the non-renewal of their contract.
• If the fixed-term employee is dismissed after the requisite qualifying period of one or two years then they can bring an unfair dismissal claim; but some fixed-term employees will be able to bring an automatically unfair dismissal claim without any qualifying period, for example where dismissal is related to union membership or activities.
• There may also be union negotiated collective agreements which give rise to an obligation to consult about the termination of fixed-term contracts.
• If a fixed-term contact ends prematurely then those fixed-term employees do count towards the threshold for collective consultation.
• Managers must be trained to understand the issues relating to the non-renewal of fixed-term contracts (including unfair dismissal liability).

Examples

An example would be a large music and DVD retailer, ABC Ltd, wishes to make 22 office staff redundant. Collective consultation applies where there are proposals to dismiss 20 or more employees. However, if three of those employees were IT staff who were employed on fixed-term contracts which are coming to an end anyway, then the employer does not fall within the collective redundancy consultation provisions at all. However, there is still a redundancy for those three employees and individual consultation would have to take place with the affected employees as normal.

A case law example is University of Stirling v University and College Union (2015). This leading Scottish test case reached the Supreme Court which ruled that dismissals at the end of a fixed-term should be taken into account in assessing whether the collective redundancy consultation legislation applies. While this case was still being decided, the government made changes to collective consultation which were introduced on 6 April 2013 anyway. This made it clear that fixed-term contracts reaching their agreed end point will not trigger collective redundancy obligations.

Acas has non-statutory guidance for use in collective redundancy situations.

There is no specific procedure that applies when a fixed-term contract is not being renewed. The most important thing that an employer must do in this situation is follow their own dismissal or redundancy procedure as applicable. Some employers will have a specific procedure for the non-renewal of a fixed-term contract.

A fixed-term contract will usually terminate on a specified date, or on the occurrence of a specified event, such as the completion of a task. However, before it elapses, employers must communicate with the employee about the expiry.

Dismissal at the end of a fixed term

Some employers may not remember that non-renewal of a fixed-term contract can constitute a ‘dismissal’ for unfair dismissal purposes. Under the Employment Rights Act 1996, the non-renewal of a fixed-term contract is treated as a dismissal. It will therefore be necessary for the employer to:

• consider why it is not planning to renew the fixed-term contract;
• assess whether the worker meets the relevant qualifying criteria – for example, that they are an employee with one year’s continuous service (or two years’ for employees starting employment on or after 6 April 2012);
• decide which of the fair reasons for dismissal in the Employment Rights Act 1996 applies (for example, conduct, capability, redundancy or some other substantial reason) – in many cases the reason will be redundancy, as a specific piece of work has come to an end;
• follow fair procedure in selecting and dismissing the fixed-term worker.

If, for example, there is a reduction in the need for the work of the type that the fixed-term worker carries out, there will be a potentially fair reason for dismissal (that is, redundancy). However, it will be necessary to go through a fair selection process to identify which employees will be dismissed as redundant. It is not enough just to let the fixed-term contract end and assume that the worker has no further rights. (Section 95(1)(b) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 covers the dismissal of fixed-term workers.)

Notice

Employees are not usually entitled to the statutory minimum notice under section 86 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, although it would be good practice for employers to provide some notice to the employee.

Procedural steps

The fair steps for employers to take when dealing with the end of fixed-term contracts should include at least the following stages as part of a redundancy or dismissal procedure, although the procedure may be adapted to different circumstances, for example for a shorter fixed-term contract.

• Remind employees – a reasonable period before a fixed-term contract is due to end it is advisable to remind the employees in writing of the potential end date. A six-month period may be sensible, depending on the length of the contract.
• Arrange a meeting – well in advance of the end date a meeting should take place with the employee in which they are reminded that the contract is due to end on the given date and the prospect of the contract being renewed or extended is discussed. If the existing contract cannot be renewed or extended, the employee should be warned of this or any alternative positions discussed. The employee should say if they wish to be redeployed if an appropriate position can be found. If there is uncertainty over the future of the work, the employee should be given as much information as possible on the prospects of the contract being renewed or extended. The employee should be warned of the risk of dismissal at the end of the term. This meeting should be followed up by a letter which confirms the risk of dismissal at the end of the fixed term.
• A further reminder before the contract is due to end – a further meeting with the employee, say three months before the end of the contract, may be appropriate. The employee should be updated on the situation regarding the possibility of renewal, extension or termination of the contract. It should be explained that if the existing contract cannot be renewed or extended or an alternative position secured, the employee will be dismissed on the given date. Again, this meeting should be followed up by a letter.
• Suitable alternative work ¬– any suitable alternative work should be considered and offered to the employee before the end of the employee’s current employment.
• Dismissal – a reasonable time (at least a month) before the scheduled end of a fixed-term contract, a dismissal notice should be sent confirming the expiry of the fixed term and including information on redundancy pay and the right to appeal. There is normally no notice period if employment is expected to end on the date specified in the contract.
• Redundancy payment – employees on fixed-term contracts which end are entitled to a statutory redundancy payment if they have worked continuously for the employer for the requisite qualifying period of two years. Whenever a redundancy payment is made, the employee must be given a written statement showing how the payment has been calculated.
• Appeal – fixed-term employees have the right to appeal against notice of dismissal on grounds of redundancy. Although this may seem odd, they may have identified another role that they can do or they may disagree that the role is redundant.

It may also be necessary to consult staff representatives on collective redundancies.

Employers can also choose to follow the structure contained in the Acas Code of practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures. Although the Code does not specifically apply to non-renewals of fixed-term contracts (or to redundancy dismissals), following the Acas procedure when a fixed-term contract expires has some benefits. Employers need to be careful; and the prudent employer will continue to follow a procedure which encompasses at least the three main steps applicable under most procedures (that is letter, meeting, appeal) to try to minimise the risk of any claims. In many cases, the employee will be aware that the employment may not be renewed and may waive their right to a formal meeting under the procedure offered by the employer.

Other claims

If the fixed-term worker is automatically selected for redundancy, then in addition to a potential claim for unfair dismissal, this could also amount to less favourable treatment contrary to The Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002 (SI 2002/2034).

Expiry of multiple fixed-term contracts

Some larger employers may have a number of employees on fixed-term contracts. Employees on fixed-term contracts which reach their agreed termination point are excluded from collective redundancy obligations (Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (Amendment) Order 2013).

However, the early expiry of such contracts before their agreed termination point may potentially attract the collective consultation obligations under section 188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULCRA).

The following points are worth remembering:

• Employees on fixed-term contracts which are coming to an end are now no longer counted towards the total number of employees to be made redundant for the purposes of assessing if the collective consultation legislation applies.
• Fixed-term contracts of under three months are also expressly excluded from the collective consultation provisions.
• Employers have to hold a collective redundancy consultation under section 188 of the TULCRA only if a minimum of 20 employees are made redundant and some fixed-term employees can count towards this threshold.
• Failure to consult on the expiry of those fixed-term contracts can result in protective awards being made.

This area of law is complex and legal advice should be taken.

At the very least, employers should be aware that using fixed-term contracts does not necessarily make their life any easier than using ‘normal’ open-ended contracts which are te

There are three main claims available to fixed-term employees whose rights have been infringed under the Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002, the unfair dismissal legislation and the common law. Of course, all employees pursuing claims in the employment tribunal from May 2014 onwards will have to take the initial step of contacting Acas early conciliation anyway.

Fixed-term claim

An employee on a fixed-term contract can complain to an employment tribunal if they feel their rights under the Regulations have been infringed. If the tribunal upholds the employee's complaint it can order compensation, make a declaration as to the employee's rights and recommend that the employer takes certain action to remove the adverse affect on the employee.

Unfair dismissal

An employee on a fixed-term contract may also be able to claim unfair dismissal if their contract is not renewed. To qualify, the employee will have to meet the requisite qualifying period (of one or two years) and also have the right not to be unfairly dismissed (that is, they must not be in an excluded category). The employer must show a fair reason for the dismissal and that they acted reasonably. If the reason for not renewing a fixed-term contract is redundancy, as the role was no longer required, then the employer must follow the organisation’s redundancy policy. Failing to do so would more than likely make the dismissal unfair.

The possibility of such a claim can arise if the employer handles the termination without following the requisite procedures, if there is not a fair reason to dismiss or if the dismissal is not fair in all the circumstances. For example, this may occur where there is inconsistency of treatment between several fixed-term employees whose contracts all come to an end and one is renewed but the others are not. The employer will be exposed unless it can show that there was a good reason and proper procedure was followed when selecting some employees in preference to the other. If a fixed-term employee feels that they are being treated less favourably, then before presenting the above claims in the tribunal they should usually raise a written complaint under the employer’s standard grievance procedure. Depending on the employer’s procedure they may wish to raise it with their manager informally first. They may also ask the employer for a written explanation of why the less favourable treatment has occurred.

Wrongful dismissal/breach of contract

An employee on a fixed-term contract may be entitled to damages for wrongful dismissal: this is a payment up to the end of the contract period. What many employers do not realise is that if a specific length is defined in the contract, that is a part of the contractual terms. For example, if the offer of a fixed-term contract is for one year, any attempt to end the contract early would entitle the employee to damages payment up to the end of the contract period. It is therefore very important when offering a fixed-term contract to provide for the fixed-term to be ended early by providing that the contract is until a specified date unless ended early by the employer on giving a specified period of notice.

What if the fixed-term employee has performed unsatisfactorily? In this situation, the employer should remember the following:

• Ideally there will be a provision for early termination in the fixed-term contract. 
• If the fixed-term employee has committed gross misconduct the employer may be entitled to terminate the contract early without notice, although the appropriate procedures should still be followed.
• If a fixed-term employee with one year’s (or two years' if their employment starts on or after 6 April 2012) continuous employment has an unsatisfactory performance (falling short of gross misconduct), then the employer would still have to show that the performance was bad enough to justify dismissal and that a fair procedure had been followed.

The legal effect of engaging employees on a series of fixed-term contracts will vary depending upon the redress the employees are seeking. While it is possible to employ people on a series of fixed-term contracts rather than offering them a permanent contract this will be the exception rather than the rule. If the employer is attempting to avoid the employees accruing other employment law rights, then this is unlikely to succeed. If there is no good reason to keep staff on a succession of fixed-term contracts, those staff should be made permanent.

For most practical purposes under the Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002, if an employee has four year's continuous service under a fixed-term contract (or contracts), the contract will be treated as if it were a permanent contract unless the continued use of a fixed-term contract can be objectively justified.

The Regulations state that to be entitled to the permanent contract:

• the employee must have been placed on two or more successive fixed-term contracts and
• to calculate the period of four years continuous employment the time before 10 July 2002 is discounted.

Objective justification

It is also theoretically possible to justify the continued employment of an employee under a fixed-term contract for several years on objective grounds; however, employers should not rely on this exception as it is hard to show objective justification. The employer would have to show a legitimate and genuine business objective and that it was both necessary and appropriate to achieve that objective by continuing the use of fixed-term contracts, which will rarely be the case.

Once the four years' continuous service has gone by, an employer should write to the employee confirming the conversion of the contract into a permanent one. Unless there is an express variation with the employee's consent, the terms of the fixed-term employee's contract will remain the same following conversion into a permanent contract.

Regardless of the provisions of the Regulations, perhaps the most important point is that the expiration and non-renewal of a fixed-term contract is a dismissal. If an employee has at least one year's service (or two years' if their employment starts on or after 6 April 2012), they will have a claim for unfair dismissal if the employer fails to renew the contract without a fair reason and without following a fair procedure. 

Although it may be unfair dismissal not to renew a fixed-term contract, non-renewal of a fixed-term contract does not also amount to less favourable treatment under the Regulations.

Conversion to permanent contracts

Fixed-term contracts will automatically convert into a permanent contract after four years unless the employer can objectively justify the continued use of a fixed-term contract. To be able to argue objective justification the employer should record their reasons relating to that justification in writing. 

In the case of Duncombe and others v Secretary of State for Children Schools and Families (2010), a teacher at a European School was employed under a succession of fixed-term contracts and applied to the tribunal for a declaration that he was permanently employed. 

The Court of Appeal held that the teacher was a permanent employee. The continued use of fixed-term contracts was not justified. Justification must relate to the specific task or employment. This decision was upheld in the Supreme Court. 

Maternity cover

Fixed-term contracts are also often used to deal with maternity cover and employers must give a very clear written agreement which covers the length of, and termination of, the contract. These contracts must make it very clear that the temporary employment will end when the permanent woman employee returns from maternity leave. The same principle applies where the cover is for additional paternity or other leave. Normally section 106 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 gives the employer a potentially fair reason to dismiss if the employer informs the fixed-term employee who is doing the maternity cover that the employment will be terminated on the resumption of work by the employee who was absent because of pregnancy or childbirth. 

However, the Employment Appeal Tribunal held that in the case of Victoria and Albert Museum v Durrant (2010), the Employment Rights Act 1996, Section 106 did not apply to the employee. No clear notice had been given to him at the outset of the fixed-term contract that his employment would terminate on the return of the woman from maternity leave.

In a German case – Kucuk v Land Nordrhein-Westfalen (2012) – the European Court of Justice held that it was not a breach of the Fixed-Term Working Directive for an employer to employ a member of staff on a number of fixed-term contracts to provide temporary cover for absent staff (for example, those on maternity leave). So, an employer could objectively justify keeping the same person employed on an uninterrupted series of contracts for a number of years for maternity and other cover, provided that there is a legitimate and genuine business objective.

Yes and no. The Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002 cover all terms and conditions, including pay and pensions. Fixed-term workers have the right to no less favourable treatment than a comparable permanent employee with regard to the terms of their contract. This means that fixed-term employees should be granted the same rights of access to occupational pension schemes as permanent staff or sufficient compensation, so that the overall package of benefits is no less favourable.

However, when calculating whether there is objective justification for treating a fixed-term employee less favourably than a comparable permanent employee, the respective terms of employment can be assessed overall rather than compared item by item. Employers can therefore justify objectively different terms and conditions for fixed-term employees by demonstrating that either:

• there is a good reason for not giving the fixed-term employee a particular benefit or
• the value of the fixed-term employee's total package of terms and conditions is at least equal to the value of the comparable permanent employee's total package of terms and conditions.

For example, an employer can compensate a fixed-term employee by giving them a higher salary to replace a benefit provided to comparable permanent staff such as gym membership or health insurance.

Insurance

Employers may have income protection or replacement insurance for permanent employees, but some policies will exclude fixed-term employees. It appears this may not be a breach of the Fixed-Term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002.

For example, in Hall v Xerox UK Ltd (2014), the insurance taken out by the employer provided income protection for employees who were off work for 26 weeks. Fixed-term contract employees ceased to be covered at the end of their term. An employee was injured and his contract ended three months later. The insurer concluded that he had left the scheme when his first fixed-term contract expired, even though the contract had been renewed.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal held that the insurer may have been treating fixed-term employees less favourably, but the employer had not given fixed-term employees less favourable treatment, as there was not an act or omission by the employer.

If an employer allows a fixed-term contract to expire and the employee continues working past the specified date, then the law will imply continuation of the arrangement as an open-ended contract. This means that the employee’s contract has been extended without a fixed termination date. In the absence of any provision to the contrary, this will be subject to the statutory minimum periods of notice. Pre-existing terms and conditions from the original fixed-term contract will form part of the on-going implied agreement.

If an employee continues working past the expiry of the fixed-term contract, employers should issue a further written agreement which complies with the provisions governing written particulars and confirms the continuation of the employment and that the pre-existing terms are still applicable.

For most practical purposes, under the Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002, if an employee has four years' continuous service under a fixed-term contract (or contracts), the contract will be treated as if it were a permanent contract. The employees are automatically deemed to be permanent employees unless the continued use of a fixed-term contract can be objectively justified. The original terms and conditions are usually preserved.

The permanent contract will therefore normally follow on from the fixed-term contract: the continuous service will start on the day that work on the fixed-term contract started.

When a fixed-term contract becomes a permanent contract, then at least the notice period provisions will change and the employer must give written details of that change and any other changes. Any other changes will have to be agreed between the employer and employee.