Kilraine v Lion Academy Trust

A fixed-term employment contract expires on the agreed date by effluxion of time and does not require notice of termination. A contractual notice provision applies where the contract is terminable only by notice; it does not, without clear wording, convert fixed-term employment into a contract terminable only on notice. General references to termination, including termination for reasons other than gross misconduct, do not necessarily include automatic expiry. The desirability of advance warning cannot create a formal notice obligation. The appeal was dismissed.

The appellant was employed as a teacher under a signed letter providing for a fixed-term contract ending on 31 August 2014. The Burgundy Book was incorporated into the contract and required teachers to be under specified periods of notice. The Employment Tribunal held that the notice provisions applied to the expiry of the fixed-term contract and awarded compensation. The Employment Appeal Tribunal, on the respondent’s cross-appeal, held that the contract expired according to its terms and that paragraph 4.1 was inapplicable. The appeal concerned whether the Burgundy Book required three months’ notice before the expiry of a fixed-term contract. Other unfair dismissal and whistleblowing issues were no longer before the Court.

1. Appeal dismissed. The Court of Appeal, in the judgment of Underhill LJ with which Henderson LJ agreed, upheld the Employment Appeal Tribunal’s construction of the contract and the Burgundy Book.
2. A fixed-term contract ends on the expiry of the agreed term by effluxion of time. It does not require notice of termination. The Court applied the principle stated in Department for Work and Pensions v Webley [2004] EWCA Civ 745, reported at [2005] IRLR 288. Describing the end date as notice given at the beginning of the employment was unnecessary and artificial.
3. Paragraph 4.1 of the Burgundy Book was directed to contracts which were terminable only on notice, generally permanent contracts. Read with paragraph 4.4 and the surrounding provisions, it did not apply where notice was unnecessary because the contract was for a fixed term, or because the parties had agreed to termination without notice or on shorter notice.
4. The word termination was context-dependent. In the relevant provisions it referred to a positive act of termination by one of the parties, rather than every circumstance in which a contract came to an end. The general collective provisions could not, without much clearer language, reverse the specific agreement for a fixed-term contract and convert it into a contract continuing until terminated by notice.
5. The factual context, including the importance of school terms and the desirability of advance warning of non-renewal, did not justify implying a formal notice requirement. The appellant was ordered to pay the respondent’s costs, summarily assessed at £25,000 inclusive of VAT, within 14 days.

• Court of Appeal (Civil Division) — The appeal on the contractual notice issue was dismissed. The appellant was ordered to pay £25,000 in costs within 14 days: [2020] EWCA Civ 551.
• Employment Appeal Tribunal — Lavender J, sitting alone, allowed the respondent’s cross-appeal and held that the Burgundy Book notice provision did not apply to expiry of the fixed-term contract.
• Employment Tribunal, East London — Employment Judge Jones held that the notice provision applied and awarded compensation for lost notice.