[danielf]

Originally Posted by Chris

It might be legal because of regulations relating to the operation of the Civil Service - as I said, it is well known amongst those of us who do freelancing for the Government that there is an upper limit.

However, the way in which this case was handled was awful.

I wasn't complaining about the legality of an upper limit to the length of temporary contracts. I was questioning the legality of ripping up a contract that was drawn up in error. It makes a mockery of the contract which is supposed to be a legally binding document. If they were issued a permanent contract, and the employer wants to get rid of them, they should file for redundancy and the associated payouts rather than saying that the contract isn't valid as appears to be the case here. What value is there to a contract when it can simply be revoked?