Fixed-term employees' rights

A fixed-term employee must be treated no less favourably than a comparable permanent colleague, and if you are kept on successive fixed-term contracts for four years or more, you normally become a permanent employee automatically. Your employer can only stop that happening if it can objectively justify continuing the fixed-term arrangement. These rights come from the Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002.

Who counts as a fixed-term employee

You are on a fixed-term contract if your employment ends on a set date, when a specific task is finished, or when a particular event happens (for example, when the colleague you are covering returns from maternity leave). In the public sector that includes:

• maternity or sickness cover in schools and hospitals
• posts funded by a time-limited grant or project budget
• temporary Civil Service roles and loans
• training posts, such as resident doctor rotations, which are often on fixed-term contracts with each employer

The regulations protect employees. Agency workers have separate protection, covered in the agency workers’ rights guide, and apprentices on apprenticeship contracts are treated differently.

Equal treatment with permanent staff

You should get the same pay and conditions as a permanent employee doing broadly similar work for the same employer, unless the difference can be objectively justified. That includes:

• pay, increments and allowances
• holiday, sick pay and family leave
• pension scheme membership
• training opportunities
• the chance to apply for permanent jobs

The last point is specific: your employer must tell you about permanent vacancies in the organisation. A notice on the intranet or staff board you can reasonably see is usually enough.

On national pay structures such as NHS Agenda for Change, the teachers’ pay framework or the NJC spine, you should be placed and progress on the same scale as permanent colleagues. A fixed-term teacher should still get pay progression and be included in appraisal.

An employer can justify a difference in one term if your package taken as a whole is no less favourable. That is rare in the public sector, where terms are mostly set nationally.

The four-year rule

If you have been employed on two or more successive fixed-term contracts, and your continuous employment reaches four years, any further renewal or extension takes effect as a permanent contract. This happens automatically. You do not have to apply.

Three conditions matter:

1. the contract must have been renewed at least once (a single contract lasting more than four years from the start does not convert)
2. you need four years of continuous employment, which breaks in service can interrupt
3. the employer must not be able to show objective justification for continuing on a fixed-term basis

Objective justification means a genuine business reason, such as funding that truly is time-limited. A collective agreement can also change the four-year limit or the conditions for it.

If you think you have become permanent, you can ask your employer for a written statement confirming it, or explaining why you are still fixed-term. The employer must reply within a deadline set in the regulations. The continuous service guide explains how gaps between contracts are treated.

When the contract ends

Letting a fixed-term contract expire without renewal counts as a dismissal in law. That has two practical consequences.

First, if you have at least two years’ continuous service, you may be entitled to statutory redundancy pay when the contract is not renewed because the work has ended or reduced. The redundancy rights guide has the amounts, including the £751 weekly pay cap for redundancies on or after 6 April 2026.

Second, you may be able to claim unfair dismissal. At present that needs two years’ service for most claims. For dismissals from 1 January 2027, the Employment Rights Act 2025 cuts the qualifying period to six months, so non-renewal will need to be fair for far more people. Your employer should follow a fair process even on expiry, including looking for alternative work.

Notice depends on the contract. If it ends on its stated date, you know when it ends. If your employer wants to end it earlier, check whether there is a notice clause. The notice periods guide has the statutory minimums.

Fixed-term contracts in the public sector

Fixed-term posts are common in schools (especially for maternity cover), in NHS research and project roles, and in council posts funded by external grants. The fixed-term contracts guide looks at whether taking one is a good route into a permanent job.

Moving between NHS employers or local authorities on a series of short contracts can still preserve some service-related rights, because many national terms count previous service with other public bodies for things like sick pay and annual leave. Check the terms and conditions handbook for your sector.

Getting help

If you think you are being treated less favourably than a permanent colleague, raise it with HR or your manager first, then through a formal grievance if needed. Your union can advise on the four-year rule and on whether a non-renewal was fair. A tribunal claim needs ACAS early conciliation first, and the time limit for most claims is now six months.