UK Employment Law - Contract question?

I have just been offered what I believe is a "Permanent" position within a company. After studying the agreement I have come across this section (detailed below).

Is this a permanent position or a rolling contract?
How does it effect my legal status / rights as an employee?
Is this normal?


3.Term of Employment.

The Employment Period shall be deemed to have commenced as of 6th November 2006 and shall continue for a period of one year until 5th November 2007, and renew automatically for one year at a time unless sooner terminated as provided herein, under Section 19a, or by breach of contract.

Thanks everyone for your answers so far. Judging by the responses I am indeed in a grey area.

David g. This role is supposed to be a perm role. If I new it was a rolling contract why would I have posted the question? U monkey.

It looks like they are trying to avoid various employment law rights which kick in after 12 months - they aren't by the way, there has to be a proper break in service. Your protection against unfair or constructive dismissal starts after 12 months service but you are protected from harassment and discrimination (in all its various forms) from day 1.

Also temporary workers now have the same rights as permanent workers, so it could be an outdated clause in their contracts which they previously used to offer different terms to different employee groups.

If I were you I would ask them to clarify this clause, particularly the reason for its inclusion. If they don't have a good reason or you feel it is unreasonable then ask for it to be removed - remember they need you as much as you need them, so make sure you are happy before signing up to anything.

Good luck!

To the best of my knowledge, it's not a permanent position, but a rolling contract. Nowhere near as secure :(

It basicly meen that every year your contract gets refreshed every year on the stated day (5th nov) You company may choose to do an appraisal around this time, or at least change your rate of pay, hopefully for a raise!

Its deemed to be a ermanent role, renewable at the end of each year, or not, as both parties have the right to terminate.

In any permant job, both sides have the right to teminate with 4 weeks during a probationary period, 3 months, and by agreement thereafter, by 12 weeks notice.

So, no permanent role lasts longer than 4 weeks and one day, in reality. However, as the job is a rolling and renewal one, every 12 months, thus consiered a new job, you may lose all enmployees rights as a permanent member of staff.

this is a grey area you've fallen into i'm afraid.

there are some strange laws surrounding temporary workers and them becoming permanent workers and the benefits the company is obliged to offer them

often contracts are offered like this so the company is able to offer you a different benefit package to someone else such as a different pension scheme.

you are in effect a permanent employee though and are entitled to all the statutory benefits such as sick pay, maternity (or paternity leave), redundancy payments etc.

i assume that the reference to 19a is all about notice period. what they have to give to you and what you must give to them if you part company with them. you are entitled to leave and they are entitled to make you redundant or sack you just as they are any other employee.

simply have a chat with their HR dept they wont mind explaining to you what this means in their terms.

my father has been on a one year renewable contract with his company for 23 years and is leaving next year to retire - he has been treated exactly the same as anyone with a normal contract and has been given sick leave and has a good pension awaiting him

chat with the company before making the decision but i doubt there is anything sinister in here

the one thing to be careful of though is that by renewing your contract each year they can easily reduce your wages and benefits with a new contract. An ongoing contract makes this almost impossible.

Interesting issue.

This looks like a fixed term contract for 1 year that is subject to be re-newed.

As has been pointed out, if the employment is continuous then you will have statutory rights after 12 months anyway.

I would have liked to see the other clauses that you refer to though.

Hope this helps.

its not permanent is it, its only for a year, no-one would put the clause in if you were being employed on a perm basis. Surely even u can see that ???

I'm sorry but not being a lawyer having read what was written geeeees lawyers who are written this cra.....p it may apply to you some day ......be aware we ordinary people are getting well up on the legal jargon legal speak so to speak we are not daft for what its worth ...do you want the job then go for it .....how many of u read the wee print forget it who knows