Continuous employment in the UK when HR systems count your service

Many employment rights depend on length of service: notice, redundancy pay, unfair dismissal protection and more. In practice the number usually comes from an HR or payroll system, and systems get it wrong. A migration to a new platform, a rehire after a short gap, a move to another company in the group or an outsourcing transfer can all reset a "start date" field. The law does not follow the field. Chapter I of Part XIV of the Employment Rights Act 1996 sets out how continuous employment is computed.

The short answer: continuity is decided week by week. Any week in which the employee's relations with the employer are governed by a contract of employment counts, and some weeks without a contract also count, such as absence through sickness or injury (up to 26 weeks) or a temporary cessation of work (s212). Employment is presumed to be continuous unless the contrary is shown (s210(5)). A change of employer usually breaks continuity, but not on a transfer of the business or a move to an associated employer (s218).

How the period is counted

References in the Act to a period of continuous employment mean a period computed under this Chapter, unless a provision expressly says otherwise (s210(1)). A month is a calendar month and a year is twelve calendar months (s210(2)). Whether a week counts, and whether separate periods join up into one, is decided week by week; the length is then computed in months and years (s210(3)). A week that does not count breaks continuity, subject to sections 215 to 217 (s210(4)).

The period begins with the day the employee starts work and ends with the day by reference to which the relevant right is measured (s211(1)). Where some periods do not count towards the length but do not break continuity either, the start date is treated as postponed by the number of days in those periods (s211(3)).

One rule matters most in a dispute: a person's employment during any period is presumed to have been continuous, unless the contrary is shown (s210(5)). A blank or reset field in an HR system does not displace that presumption by itself.

Weeks that count, and gaps that do not break service

• Under a contract: any week during the whole or part of which the employee's relations with the employer are governed by a contract of employment counts (s212(1)). One day under contract is enough for that week.
• Sickness or injury: a week without a contract in which the employee is incapable of work through sickness or injury counts, but no more than 26 such weeks between periods under a contract (s212(3)(a) and (4)).
• Temporary cessation of work: a week without a contract in which the employee is absent on account of a temporary cessation of work counts (s212(3)(b)). This can matter where work stops for a period, for example while a process is redesigned, and the employee is later taken back.
• Arrangement or custom: a week without a contract counts where, by arrangement or custom, the employee is regarded as continuing in the employment for any purpose (s212(3)(c)).

For redundancy payments there is an extra rule: if a redundancy payment has been paid and the employee is then re-engaged or the contract renewed, by the same or another employer, continuity is broken for working out a later redundancy payment (s214(1) and (2)). See statutory redundancy pay when AI changes the work.

Change of employer

The Chapter relates only to employment by one employer, subject to the exceptions in section 218 (s218(1)). The main exceptions:

• Transfer of a business: if a trade, business or undertaking is transferred from one person to another, the employee's period of employment at the time of the transfer counts as employment with the transferee, and the transfer does not break continuity (s218(2)). For outsourcing of work to a technology provider, see TUPE when AI work is outsourced.
• Associated employer: if an employee is taken into the employment of another employer that is an associated employer of the first at that time, service carries over and continuity is not broken (s218(6)). Two employers are associated if one is a company controlled, directly or indirectly, by the other, or both are companies controlled by a third person (s231).
• Other cases: substitution of one body corporate for another by or under an Act, the death of an employer, a change of partners, personal representatives or trustees, moves between a maintained school's governing body and the local authority, and certain moves between health service employers (s218(3) to (10)).

Why HR systems get this wrong

Software tends to store one start date per employment record. When a record is closed and a new one opened, for a rehire, a transfer between group companies or a platform migration, the new record often carries a new date. If the statutory tests say the weeks in between count, or the change of employer falls within section 218, the employee's continuous employment runs from the earlier date regardless. Calculations of notice, redundancy pay or qualifying periods built on the newer date can then understate an employee's rights.

Practical steps

• Employers: keep a "continuous service date" separate from the date a record was created, and carry it over on rehires within short gaps, group moves and business transfers where the statutory tests are met. Check it before calculating statutory notice or redundancy pay, and audit the field after any HR system migration.
• Employees: keep your offer letters, contracts and payslips. If a letter or system shows a later start date than you expect, write to the employer setting out your dates and any breaks, and ask them to confirm your continuous service date. Remember that employment is presumed continuous unless the contrary is shown.

These provisions extend to England, Wales and Scotland. This page is general information on the law in Great Britain as at 1 November 2026, not legal advice.