Continuous service meaning

Preparatory steps Secure the employee’s most recent employment contract, together with any variations, related correspondence forming part of the contract, and any company handbook considered contractual Verify the employee’s continuous service particulars, including the employment start date and the dates of any contract amendments during employment Gather pension details: whether the scheme is defined benefit or defined contribution, and whether all employer contributions are fully up to date Identify the basis for the settlement-e.g., in respect of a Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) claim, a redundancy payment, a personal injury claim, or another legal claim Where multiple claims are being resolved, ensure agreement with the employer on how the overall settlement is apportioned to each claim, and that both parties clearly understand the tax treatment of each amount Ascertain any shares or share option schemes held by the employee, paying close attention to any definitions relating to leaver status that apply...

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has acknowledged it owed a duty of care to ex‑forces personnel who sustained hearing loss, yet it disputes the criteria for establishing that the loss arose during service and the quantum of damages. A so‑called matrix agreement between the parties means the MoD will not challenge this group of claims as being out of time. It has also agreed not to contest the levels of noise to which personnel were exposed. The ten‑week High Court trial, which started on 6 October 2025, will consider multiple test cases from different branches of the armed forces, covering a range of ages and varying severities of hearing impairment. Simon Ellis, partner and head of the specialist military department at Hugh James, represents around 5,000 ex‑servicemen and women. He said the result of the trial is expected to influence the compensation available to many thousands more. Military noise exposure is generally divided into two categories—weapon fire and steady‑state noise, the latter referring to continuous, long‑duration and often high‑intensity sounds...

In this issue: Practice and procedure Public children Private children Financial provision International children Daily and weekly news alerts New Q&As Useful information Practice and procedure New FPR 2010, PD 27A on bundles—what are the main changes? The sixth Practice Direction Update 2025 unveiled a replacement Practice Direction to the Family Procedure Rules 2010 dealing with court bundles, namely FPR 2010, PD 27A (Family proceedings: court bundles). It takes effect on 2 March 2026 and supersedes the earlier PD 27A in full. Strict adherence to FPR 2010, PD 27A is required to secure uniformity across England and Wales, both in the Family Court and the Family Division of the High Court, when preparing and lodging bundles. From 2 March 2026, compliance is compulsory for every hearing, with no transitional arrangements. The text has been structurally overhauled and has grown to more than twice its former length. Before 2 March 2026, PD 27A existed as a...

In a statement, the General Court explained it reached this outcome despite endorsing most of the European Commission’s findings, as the Commission had failed to consider all of the pertinent circumstances in its assessment of the length and duration of the contractual clauses it had deemed abusive. The Court additionally concluded that the Commission made mistakes in defining the market covered by the 2016 clauses in agreements with Google’s online advertising brokering service, AdSense for Search. In its summary of the decision, it observed that the Commission had not shown that the three identified clauses each amounted to an abuse of a dominant position, or that together they formed a single, continuous infringement. Consequently, the Court found the Commission had not proved that the clauses in those contracts stifled innovation...

What is the ? The , or TSC, forms part of the NEC3 and NEC4 suites of contracts (see Practice Note: NEC contracts—introduction). It is intended to appoint a contractor for a defined period to manage and deliver a service—this may include construction activities, but it is equally applicable to other service provision Maintaining highways within a specified area Providing security personnel for a site Maintaining a nuclear power station Delivering ambulance services for a group of hospitals These examples, drawn from the NEC Guidance Notes, show that it covers both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ facilities management services (see Practice Note: What is Facilities Management Contracting?). As with other NEC forms, it can be adopted in both the public and private sectors and is suitable for services of any value It is not intended to operate like the NEC3/NEC4 Framework Contract, under which there is no guarantee of work. Instead, the Contractor undertakes work on a continuous basis as set...

Forthcoming development: The Home Office has released a policy paper and consultation on its ‘Earned Settlement’ plans, set to overhaul who can qualify for settlement across all routes, including lengthening residence periods for many applicants. First trailed in the Immigration White Paper in May 2025, a 12-week consultation opened on 28 November 2025. See: Government announces consultation for earned settlement reforms. This Practice Note outlines the principal shared criteria for settlement applications within the work, business and investment (collectively, ‘economic’) routes under the Immigration Rules. All routes that have been ‘simplified’ for the post-Brexit system now describe indefinite leave to remain (ILR) simply as settlement. Note that some economic routes do not confer settlement, notably Senior or Specialist Worker, Graduate and High Potential Individual routes, as well as the Temporary Worker routes. In summary, the general requirements are: absences and maintenance of continuous lawful residence knowledge of the English language knowledge of life in the UK For guidance on how...

This Practice Note This Practice Note explores the principal provisions found in a standard outsourcing contract, including transition and transformation, service scope, service level measures, pricing structures, intellectual property, TUPE in outsourcing, benchmarking, data protection, customer obligations, governance, step-in, limits on liability, termination and exit. It also considers the impact of the UK GDPR on outsourcing arrangements... Outsourcing involves engaging a third party supplier to run certain business processes, functions or responsibilities that were previously performed by the customer in a first generation outsourcing, or by another third party supplier in a second or subsequent generation outsourcing. This Practice Note outlines the key terms relevant to most outsourcing arrangements (including information technology (IT) and business process (BPO) outsourcing)... Transition and transformation Service description Service levels Charges Intellectual property Employment and TUPE Data protection and the UK GDPR Customer responsibilities and dependencies Record retention and audit Continuous improvement, benchmarking and most-favoured customer Governance Limitation of...

Employee name: Employment commencement date and present length of service [ Insert date ] [ Insert length of service ] Job role: Division/Department Assessed by: Assessment date: Role: Approved by: Date: Role: Guidance: When using the criteria (other than disciplinary history), reasonable adjustments might be required for workers with a disability (as set out in the Equality Act 2010, s 6) where not doing so would put them at a significant disadvantage compared with non-disabled colleagues. This exception does not extend to disciplinary records. Service refers to continuous employment with the company and any linked company. Service includes transferred service within associated companies. If the worker has under 12 months’ service, convert the absence record to an annualised figure. Annualisation ensures a balanced and like-for-like assessment. Disregard the following absences: These must be excluded from absence calculations. absences linked to a disability (as defined by Equality Act 2010, s 6); maternity...

Contract of employment dated [ insert date ] Parties 1 [ Name of Employer ] [ of [ insert address ] OR a company incorporated in [ England and Wales ] (registered number [ insert number ]) whose registered office is at [ insert address ] ] (we or us); and 2 [ Name of employee ] of [ insert address ] (you). 1 Appointment 1.1 We agree to employ you in line with the terms and conditions contained in this agreement herein. 1.2 [ [ Option 1: Continuity (no previous PERIOD of employment counts): ] Your employment with us under this agreement hereunder [ will commence OR commenced ] on [ insert date ] (the 'Start Date'). Your continuous employment with us [ commenced on OR will commence on ] the Start Date, and no service with any earlier employer is treated as part of your continuous employment with us. OR 1.3 [ Option 2: Continuity...

[ TO BE TYPED ON THE HEADED NOTEPAPER OF THE EMPLOYER ] [ Employee name ] [ Employee address ] [ [ By email only ] ] [ Date ] Dear [ employee name ], Requirement to acknowledge request Under Part IIA of the Parental Leave Act 1998 (Ireland) (PLA 1998 (IRL)), as updated by the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023 (Ireland) (WLBMPA 2023 (IRL)), employers must acknowledge an employee’s request for a flexible working arrangement and reply as soon as is reasonably practicable, and in any event within four weeks of receipt. Where additional time is needed to evaluate the request, the employer may lengthen the period for responding, but any extension must not exceed eight weeks. Re: Acknowledgement of flexible working request ‘In reference to your request...’ An employee may seek a flexible working arrangement from the first day of employment (see PLA (IRL), Part IIA, s 13A). However, the arrangement may...

Statutory rights under the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) A statutory method for working out continuity applies under ERA 1996 and overrides any arrangement between employer and worker. It hinges on: when the continuous period begins when the continuous period finishes whether anything occurs that breaks continuity between start and end whether any service with a different employer is included For more detail, see Practice Note: Continuity of employment...