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Continuous service

Be clear on what continuous service means, what is considered a 'break' in employment and what happens when staff move between different employers including between a maintained school and an academy.

Last reviewed on 2 March 2026
School types: All•School phases: All•Ref: 30181
Contents
  1. What is continuous service?
  2. Moving between employers
  3. Calculating redundancy payments
  4. Redundancy payments for support staff

FusionHR advised us on this article. The Key is a minority investor in FusionHR.

What is continuous service?

Continuous service is:

  • The total time an employee has worked for 1 employer without a break or
  • The total combined time spent working across different employers, following the rules of this legislation

It's calculated from the first day of work.

Some employee rights depend on length of service, including:

Certain types of time away from work still count towards a continuous employment period and aren’t counted as a break. These include:

  • Sickness leave
  • Maternity, paternity, parental and adoption leave
  • Annual leave
  • Time between unfair dismissal and an employee being reinstated
  • Military service, e.g. with a reserve force
  • When an employee moves between 'associated employers' (see the section below for details)
  • When a business is transferred from 1 employer to another, e.g. a maintained school converts to an academy

This is set out in the government's continuous employment information.

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