A SCOTTISH university broke the law by axing fixed term staff without consulting trade unions, the Supreme Court has ruled.

The court found Stirling University was wrong not to include the staff in a wider redundancy consultation when their contracts came to an end in 2009.

The University and College Union, which pursued the action, had always argued it should have been consulted because staff were effectively being made redundant.

After a lengthy legal battle, the Supreme Court backed the union and the matter will now be referred back to an employment tribunal where the university may have to pay compensation.

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the UCU, said: "The ruling is vindication of the union's determination that fixed-term workers should be on an equal footing with their permanent colleagues.

"It has taken six years, but now the highest court in the land has agreed with us that these workers should not have been subjected to the hire and fire culture that Stirling University believed was appropriate for them at that time.

"We are optimistic the decision will have financial implications for fixed-term staff at other universities who were part of claims we have lodged and we will continue to campaign to have the law reversed so casual staff in our universities are afforded much better protection."

A spokesman said the university was "disappointed" by the judgement, particularly after successful outcomes at both the Employment Appeal Tribunal and the Court of Session in Edinburgh.

He added: "This refers to the law prior to April 2013 which then changed to exclude all fixed term contracts from consideration under legislation on collective consultation on redundancy.

"The legal process will now require both parties to return to Employment Tribunal to establish the facts and outcomes of two claims lodged prior to the change in the law."

Under the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act of 1992, an employer which wishes to "dismiss as redundant" 20 or more staff within 90 days must consult trade union representatives of the affected staff.

While dealing with a £4.4 million budget deficit in 2009, Stirling University proposed making 140 of its permanent staff redundant and accepted 134 applications from staff in a voluntary severance scheme.

The university undertook collective consultation with trade unions, including the UCU, during this process, but ended the consultation when it became clear no compulsory redundancies were needed for permanent staff. However, it did not include a number of employees on limited-term contracts which came to an end during the consultation period.

In her judgement, Deputy President Lady Hale said the dismissals were due to the "needs of the business" rather than with the staff members personally or anything they had done or the contracts they had agreed to. As such, she ruled that the staff had been dismissed as redundant, and the union should have been consulted.