In Duncombe & Others v The Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (formerly the Department for Education and Skills) UKEAT/0433/07, the EAT allowed an appeal by former employees who were employed to work abroad under fixed-term contracts by an emanation of the state. The EAT held that the employment tribunal had jurisdiction to hear their claims for breach of contract, for pay in lieu of notice, but such claims were dependent on the application of regulation 8 of the Fixed-term Employees (Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002, that is, the claimants had to be permanent employees as declared by an employment tribunal.

The EAT held that the territorial scope of the Fixed-term Employees Regulations extended to the claimants who worked solely abroad, but only because the EAT felt compelled (whilst expressing its reservations) to follow the decision of the EAT President in Bleuse v MBT Transport Ltd UKEAT/0339/07. In Bleuse it was held that the test for jurisdiction set out by the House of Lords in Lawson v Serco [2006] ICR 250 should be modified to ensure that directly effective rights can be enforced by the English courts.