My employer said I now have to go permanent

You've had a (very) good gig for a decade and honeslty a bit "spoiled"
I dont want to work after it gets dark, I never want to work over Christmas... its veryyyyy unusual to have these terms and Its now at an end...

Decline and try your luck in the job market (which let me tell you.... has radically changed... its brutal. Our contractors contracted 9-5 are regularly working late nights and weekend to stay in their temp role/ pray for conversion for FTE)

Or
Take the perm role and start looking for another temp role....

Exactly.

This organisation is clearly wasting (other peoples) money by having poor employment practices. I’d have expected the temp cover to work over Christmas! The OP has a cosy job but it seems a very unfair allocation of work and expectations. Of course it should be a written permanent contract - because it is! Just not written down. Good luck to the op finding something better!

So

1. you are an employee (they pay and NI and pension you) with very very flexable working conditions (no booking needed for holidays).

2. they have no written contract with T&C for you (correct??) or what did you get when you started 10 years ago.

3. they were unlawfully not paying holiday pay.

4. your contract for your work start and finish time was established by work custom.

5. they want to change your contract and have said they will sack you if you dont agree.

6. they cant make you redundant as the role still exists.

They cant say they have a right to make you change your hours unless and until they produce a contract which has that as a term.

You can say no thanks my current contract works for me and I dont agree to any changes.

They can tell the other employee that the business need means the employee must continue to work their agreed hours (likely or unlikely). Or organise other staff to cover that change to the other employees work rota.

You can ask the director for their contract and amend it to match your current contract for start times to how quickly you book days off or that you will have fixed dates as unpaid non-work days and hand it back and start a discussion on what works for you or not.

This is the better option for you long term.

The Director is doing her job trying to sort out the mess created by others. But you are not im charge of solving the Manager/Directors understaffing and historic poor staff management problems.

Unless you go legal first you will likely be sacked (unlawfully) and then its down to what documentation they have to prove they could change your work times and holidays per T&C.

Or the Director is professional enough to carry out a legal reorganisation of the workplace with redundencies and work role changes.

After 10 years you aren’t really a temp …..

Agree the new manager sounds like she's doing things properly rather than 'throwing her weight around' and your 'best manager ever' has let things slide too long. You just want things to suit you but that's not the company's purpose, especially a not-for-profit which sounds like it's there to help it's service users. It sounds like you should probably go as you're not on board with the changes, but equally there's absolutely nothing stopping you taking the permanent role and then looking for other temp jobs. If you get on with it and are as employable as you believe, you could get another gig before the evenings darken.

The market is tough out there. You should take the offer while you look for alternative work. You might find there isnt much out there there will suit your hours and holiday needs.
I have been contracting for the last 4 years for various companies and have never had the kind of flexibiliy that that you are after.
I think you will be hard pushed to find somrthing again like that to be honest.

Surely this is a benefit for you as you now get paid leave?

But yes, if you were on my team, you’d be lowest priority now for Christmas leave allocation after 10 years of having what you want.

I don’t think this is the new director throwing their weight around so much as the new director having an understanding of employment law and realising that what you’re doing doesn’t comply with the law. Plus, whilst it might suit you, it probably doesn’t suit the business (who may effectively be paying you an inflated salary if the agency is taking a cut) or your colleagues who see you doing what you want, when you want whilst they have to work as a team.
However, that doesn’t mean that you have to accept what they’re offering. It might be worth posting this in legal - or getting advice from a lawyer - as, given how long you’ve been doing this pattern for, it might be that these are deemed to be your hours and so the company may not be able to just change them. Even if they can, you could put in a flexible working request to only work a nine day fortnight with the day off being taken as needed by you rather than a fixed day or for additional annual leave. After all, you’ve proved you can do the job with these arrangements in place. Where I previously worked, we had a few established staff who had caring responsibilities and were on similar arrangements. We trusted them to keep an eye on their hours and make sure it balanced out. They rarely took a whole day off a fortnight but might take a longer lunch break a few days or leave early or take an afternoon or morning off for a medical appt.

@user1471867483 i had exactly the same deal and the same situation - I went perm and it’s been two years of scrapping over any time off. Getting unpaid time off is a nightmare if you have a difficult director.

take the job (try and negotiate for your current hours or something not so bad, lay out your caring issues) and look for something more flexible.

can you ask for flexible working contract?

I love being temporary. I wasn't even looking for any other work as I'd assumed I could carry on working forever like this!

Erm...

You've been there 10 years. You want to be there forever. That is not temporary.

You've been lucky to have been in this grey area so long, having security of permanent but the freedom of temp. It's right that you should choose now and if you're so unable to cope with Christmas rotas then the choice is clear that you should walk away, but I'd be surprised if it's all that easy to walk into another nice secure temp gig. The idea you could've done if you'd only had a heads up seems far-fetched - and also ignores the very core of your premise. The company didn't need to give you any kind of notice... because you're a temp! If you want to be treated like a permanent employee, choose to go permanent.

My immediate boss knows my circumstances and I asked her if I could even do just the one hour earlier, but she said no, all because of this new flaming director who's been throwing her weight around.

It sounds like the new director is trying to rectify illegal work practices, after 10 years you aren’t a temp but by calling you a temp they don’t pay you holidays or possibly sick pay and you have no security of employment.

I don’t get the issue of going home in the dark, where I am it’s often dark by 3.00pm in the winter.

I take it you’ll receive half the wage you’ve been used to getting as a perm member of staff?

If so you’ve had 10 years of inflated wages so be grateful.

"My company is now doing what it should do legally and trying to make it fair for all staff and I'm annoyed because I can't just take off when I want to any more, including sod everyone else at Christmas"
That's what it boils down to

You've happily being taking advantage and leaving your colleagues in the lurch, do what you want regardless of if it's best for the business, and now someone new has come in and reassessed they've realised what a piss take you're on and is trying to fix it

Surely getting home in the dark is hardly unusual?

Essentially you want the perks of permanent employment but without the commitment. Surely you can't just take off on holiday whenever you want to anyway if you are a carer for your mother?

I'd take the permanent post, and look for something else if that's what you want

@user1471867483 , I’d try for a flexible working request on the basis of your caring obligations. They can refuse it on the basis of business needed, but if you set out in your application that you have been doing it for x years without negative impact on the business it should be hard for them to justify the business can’t accommodate you. Don’t talk about going home in the dark, it isn’t legitimate and makes you sound silly.

Are they offering her permanent now too? Your company sounds a bit dodgy really. It makes total sense that they put an end to this temporary stuff.

"I cannot understand why anyone would prefer to temp rather than the security of permanent?"

I worked with people who had 'temped' in the same place for years. For one, it was because it was difficult to get accepted as permanent there (ironic because she could obviously do the job), another was terrified of job interviews.

Some people probably don't want to be locked in by notice periods, which in some jobs are longer than they need to be for the type of job making it difficult to get any new job.

I would take the deal and see if there is room for some flexibility between you and your manager. You’re not actually a ‘temp’ now, you’re probably an employee under employment law, with your conditions being amended.

You will probably have unfair dismissal rights and other useful things that you wouldn’t have if you move to another job or true agency work.

By "internal agency" do you mean that they're the ones who pay you or are you paid by an external third party?

If so you automatically become a permanent employee after 4 years so you're perm anyway. Basically all they're doing is skimping on paying you your holiday pay which is illegal.

That being said custom and practice will come into play here after 10 years so you shouldn't need to be changing your hours.

I agree they are simply acknowledging the reality of your working situation contractually. Being permanent should give you more stability. I don’t see why it needs to come with a change of shifts and suggest you discuss these with your manager, plus the fact you may need unpaid leave to look after your mum. If they’ve catered for this for the past 10 years I don’t see why they should stop now. Say yes to the change of contract (I don’t think you have much choice) and look for another job if it doesn’t work out. Good luck.