Advice on fixed term contract renewal

[Markyb1888]

Hi all,

I would greatly appreciate your advice on my situation.

What seemed a rather straightforward question to find an answer to online has proven to be difficult to get much clarity on.

I started working for an employer (a further education college in Scotland), on a fixed term contract, on November 2017.

My contract was renewed last summer until the end of June this year.

I have been told, repeatedly, that my employers are very happy with my work performance.

My employer said they wanted me to continue and that there would be plenty of hours available after this contract expired.

My employer then said they were investigating whether they could just extend my contract for another year or whether they would have to interview applicants.

I was told the following week and it was announced, in front of other staff members, that my contract would be renewed for another year on a full time basis and that I would not need to interview.

Three weeks passed and now my employer says they are going to have to interview for the position but have indicated that they do not see any problem with me being able to continue and that I should get through the interview okay.

I am now thrown into uncertainty, made all the worse by the fact I am in the process of arranging a mortgage based on having my contract renewed.

This all seems at best rather unfair and at worst, well...

Would appreciate any advice you can offer.

[ULA]

My experience is based on the English and Welsh legal system and I know there are some variations with Scottish employment law but I believe contract status are the same.

I think this is going to hinge on whether you have already received a new contract extending your current contract for a further period of time? If you have then the contract is already in place and if they wanted to rescind it I.e. after the interview process for whatever reason, they would need to do so in accordance with the contract. If you do not have anything in writing then at the moment what you have is a verbal intention to extend your contract.

I wonder whether your college/department have in fact fallen foul of some policy in regard to extending contracts?
Have you asked your employer why they have suddenly taken the decision to have to go through an interview process despite publicly announcing to your colleagues this would not be the case and your contract would be extended?
Did this happen last summer or was your contract automatically renewed?

[Markyb1888]

My experience is based on the English and Welsh legal system and I know there are some variations with Scottish employment law but I believe contract status are the same.

I think this is going to hinge on whether you have already received a new contract extending your current contract for a further period of time? If you have then the contract is already in place and if they wanted to rescind it I.e. after the interview process for whatever reason, they would need to do so in accordance with the contract. If you do not have anything in writing then at the moment what you have is a verbal intention to extend your contract.

I wonder whether your college/department have in fact fallen foul of some policy in regard to extending contracts?
Have you asked your employer why they have suddenly taken the decision to have to go through an interview process despite publicly announcing to your colleagues this would not be the case and your contract would be extended?
Did this happen last summer or was your contract automatically renewed?

Thanks for the reply Ula,

The contract last summer was extended after the positions were advertised internally and then interviews held. This year they wanted to avoid this hence they investigated if they could just extend it without the need for more interviews and they then informed me this was possible and was going to happen.

I had not received a new contract in writing this year. I was however as mentioned told that in no uncertain terms the job was mine, I was being extended and I would not have to interview. I was even informed of my work patterns for the next year. This was all announced in public before the backtracking today.

Their reasoning was along the lines of... There are even more hours and employment positions available than there were when we told you it was being extended and due to this we have to interview for them.