UK implementation of fixed-term work Directive delayed

Following consultation on government proposals, ministers have decided to delay UK measures to give effect to the EU fixed-term work Directive. Implementation of the Directive was due by 10 July 2001 but the government is relying on a provision in the Directive which allows Member States up to one year beyond this date to take account of "special difficulties".

The government has postponed the UK's implementation of the Directive fixed-term contracts Directive (1999/70/EC), due by 10 July 2001, stating that its consultation exercise on draft Regulations "revealed particular problems with implementation in the UK". According to the Department of Trade and Industry, the timetable for UK implementation "should become clearer once responses to the consultation [which closed on 31 May 2001] have been fully analysed. When it lays Regulations to implement the Directive, the government will make sure business and employees are given ample time to prepare before they come into force."

The EU Directive, adopted on 28 June 1999, puts into effect the framework agreement on fixed-term work concluded earlier that year by the European Trade Union Confederation, the Union of Industrial and Employers' Confederations of Europe and the European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation and of Enterprises of General Economic Interest. This aims to:

• prevent fixed-term employees from being less favourably treated than similar permanent employees;

• prevent abuses arising from the use of successive fixed-term contracts; and

• improve access to training for fixed-term employees; and

• ensure fixed-term employees are informed about available permanent jobs.

Implementation of the Directive's provisions in the UK will represent a considerable extension of the legal regulation of fixed-term work. In October 1999, the Employment Relations Act 1999 outlawed the practice of waiver clauses in fixed-term contracts whereby employees forgo unfair dismissal protection when the contract terminates (UK9912145F).

The Directive requires Member States to comply with its provisions by 10 July 2001 but states that "Member States may have a maximum of one more year, if necessary, and following consultation with management and labour, to take account of special difficulties ... They shall inform the Commission forthwith in such circumstances."

Press reports suggest that ministers decided to postpone the UK Regulations "for legal reasons", apparently reflecting differences between the Directive's meaning of "fixed-term" and the UK's approach to the issue. Trade unions have argued for amendments to the draft Regulations issued by the government and are thought to have to have favoured a delay in their implementation to give longer for unions to lobby for changes. Some lawyers, however, are critical of the delay, arguing that the government has had two years within which to iron out any difficulties in the UK context, and that meanwhile employees on fixed-term contracts will continue to be treated unfavourably.

Based on information from the Labour Force Survey, the government estimates that the number of people working on fixed-term contracts in the UK is between 1.1 and 1.3 million, with the number rising by approximately 7% between 1994 and 2000.