Working for council

EMMA89_2

My partner applied for a permanent job with the council and got offered it but the contract says its a fixed term appointment does the council only offer fixed term incase of cutbacks or should he contact them and tell them that thay have made a mistake.
He has spoken to them on the phone on a few occasions in the past week and they have not mentioned its fixed term only its the original job he applied for.
Would anyone be able to shed any light.
Thanks.

loonywitch

Contact them and do not sign the contract. Fixed term contracts are effectively temporary contracts that can be made into permanent contracts should business require, however this is not guaranteed. If the job was advertised and offered as permanent then the contract should state permanent. They often have probationary periods but this is to only ensure you are capable of doing a job and they can dismiss within this period. Your husband needs to contact them

KiKi

Just to clarify for the OP, a FT contract is a contract for a fixed period of time, end of. You have the same rights under FT as under permanent, so please don't think that 'temporary' means casual; it really doesn't.

Also to clarify, a you can be dismissed any time in the first two years, regardless of probationary period, so please don't think that this means anything in law! The only time a probationary period would hold a different status is if there was a contractual term allowing a change in T&Cs once a period of time / review has been passed.

OP, there is no way anyone can know whether the role is permanent or FT - he will have to call them and check under what conditions they are offering the role. But as I said, a FT contract is the same as a 'permanent' contract in terms of rights; the only difference is that it has an end date. And don't forget, permanent roles can end for a number of reasons as well, so there's nothing guaranteed anyway.

KiKi

loonywitch

The original advertisement should specify Permanent, Fixed Term or Temporary. I worked as a fixed term and yes I had the same rights has permanent but little in long term job security. My contract stated fixed term for 6 months with a view to permanency. I got extended for an additional year, and when I applied for a permanent the contract it stated permanent. I also had a temporary secondment during the permanent contract which stated the words temporary secondment and specified an end date.

I am not sure of the exact policies/laws around FT but this is my personal experience. I worked within both the DWP and LA

EMMA89_2

Thankyou. the job is saved on the councils website and says full time permanent contract no mention of fixed term or an end date. He took this job believing this and then received a letter with the medical form etc, saying fixed term appointment which is the first he heard of this.
I will get him to ring to clarify and asked why they haven't said anything to him before this letter.
Thanks again.

LittleVoice

EMMA89 wrote: »

Thankyou. the job is saved on the councils website and says full time permanent contract no mention of fixed term or an end date. He took this job believing this and then received a letter with the medical form etc, saying fixed term appointment which is the first he heard of this.
I will get him to ring to clarify and asked why they haven't said anything to him before this letter.
Thanks again.

Take a screenshot.