Continuous service is the length of time an employee has been with an organisation without a break.  Continuous service begins on the first day of employment.  It is important to calculate this carefully as it has implications for various employment rights,  For example redundancy pay and unfair dismissal rights are applicable after two years, notice periods increase according to statutory limits of one week per year of service and maternity pay applicable if a woman has 26 weeks service at the 15th expected week of confinement.  A fixed term worker is deemed to be permanent after being issued with successive fixed term contracts for four years.

Staff on fixed term, temporary and as and when contracts all accrue continuous service when contracts are renewed or a new contract is issued.  All contracts whether permanent or not should contain the continuous service date provided there has been no break of at least a statutory week.  A statutory week runs from Sunday to midnight on Saturday as outlined in the Employment Rights Act 1996.

However, some breaks in normal employment still count towards a continuous employment period. These are:

• sickness, maternity, paternity, parental or adoption leave
• annual leave
• employment overseas with the same company
• time between unfair dismissal and an employee being reinstated
• when an employee moves between associated employers
• military service, eg with a reserve force
• temporary lay-offs
• employer lockouts
• when a business is transferred from one employer to another
• when a corporate body gets taken over by another because of a legal change