You may recall that the bizarrely-named PFFED contracts—Permanent with Fixed Funding End-Date contracts—were finally ended last year as a result of sustained negotiations between BUCU and the University of Birmingham management.

In September 2024 we were told by the University’s HR office that “No new PFFED contracts will be issued from the new academic year. The vast majority of employees currently employed on PFFED contracts will be written to by the end of September advising them that their contract will now be deemed to be on an open basis, but supported by external funds.”

What anyway is the PFFED?

The PFFED contract is the University’s way of avoiding it’s legal obligation to transfer fixed-term employees from fixed term to permanent contracts, once they have been employed for more than four years on fixed term contracts.

For all eligible staff members, the University uses a cunning trick whereby it takes staff on fixed term contracts and transfers them to permanent contracts—but renamed as “Permanent with a Fixed Funding End date”—or PFFED.

You might wonder how can “permanent with a fixed end date” be any different to simply fixed-term. That is exactly what any of the staff who encounter these bizarre and legally dubious contract types also wonder.

Why did the PFFED end?

As a result of our ongoing efforts to highlight the bizarre, potentially unlawful, and clearly unfair nature of PFFED contracts—and also no doubt due to the University’s concerns that these would be in breach of the various legislation which prohibits the use of fixed term contracts for more than four years—the University decided to end the use of PFFED contracts in September 2024. This was announced with much fanfare and we in BUCU were pleased to see it. This, we thought, represented a significant improvement in the employment conditions for staff employed on a succession of fixed term contracts. It was also a significant advance in our anti-casualisation campaign.

What replaced the old PFFED?

Indeed. The new PFFED now seems to look almost identical to the old PFFED. The only difference is that it is now termed “permanent”, but even the use of this new label is closely followed by the caveat that the contract is “reliant on external funding”.

What’s the difference?

Unfortunately now that we have had a chance to see the new PFFED system (or PREF? Permanent but Reliant on External Funding?), it appears that the new PFFED is identical in all but name (and sometimes, when concentration slips, also in how it is called as well) to the old PFFED.

BUCU are understandably extremely unhappy that, after several years of negotiation and a big announcement by the University of a change of policy and an improvement in casualisation, this has all apparently produced no concrete change whatsoever.

Is this management gaslighting?

The University senior management continue to insist that there is a significant improvement in moving from old PFFED to new PFFED. On 5 December, in our regular negotiation meetings, the new Director of HR, Andrew Page, promised to provide us with clarification in writing, of what exactly is the difference between the old PFFED and the new PFFED. This would at least allow us to examine the small print and make sure that staff members on fixed term contracts know the situation they face.

Sadly, it seems that even establishing this distinction between the old and new PFFED has defeated the University’s HR team. Despite persistent reminders, we still have received no such written clarification of what the new PFFED contract amounts to.

If and when we do get some clarity, we will keep you updated. In the meantime, if you are currently on a new PFFED contract and require union support, we can be contacted at casework@birminghamucu.org .