Editing Lecturer (section)

====Tenure and permanent lectureships{{anchor|Tenure}}====
Since the Conservatives' 1988 Education Reform Act, the ironclad tenure that used to exist in the UK has given way to a less-secure form of tenure.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/memories-of-jobs-for-life/104896.article?storyCode=104896&sectioncode=26|title = Memories of jobs for life|work = Times Higher Education (THE)|last = Court|first = Stephen|date = 5 December 1997|url-status = live|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160201042445/https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/memories-of-jobs-for-life/104896.article?storyCode=104896&sectioncode=26|archive-date = 1 February 2016}}</ref> Technically, university vice-chancellors can make individual faculty members redundant for poor performance or institute departmental redundancies, but in practice, this is rare. The most noted use of this policy happened in 2012 at [[Queen Mary University of London]] where lecturers on permanent contracts were fired. The institution now has a stated policy of firing and replacing under-performing ''teaching'' staff members. This policy is complicated by the 2008 ''[[Ball v Aberdeen]]'' tribunal decision, the distinction between teaching and research faculty is blurring—with implications for who can and cannot be made redundant at UK universities, and under what conditions.{{cn|date=November 2024}}

Despite this recent erosion of tenure in the UK, it is still practised in most universities. Permanent contracts use the word "tenure" for lecturers who are "reappointed to the retiring age". This is equivalent to a US tenure decision—references are sought from world-leading academics and tenure and promotions committees meet to decide "tenure" cases. There is normally no title elevation in such instances—tenure and title are independent.