ok, well thank you... and how do things stand if my contract stipulates that I must have notice in writing and i have only so far had it verbally?

I will add I even have an email from my line manager that says 'we need to discuss when your start date would be. Would you for example be able to come in and work on the 7th November'. ?????

Well...actually I spoke to ACAS this evening and they told me that continuous employment only would need to be proven with at least one fully paid day with a Sunday to Sunday week. I did two of those within those weeks. Not only that but on the days I was not working in the office was having daily email conversations discussing the purchase of new items for the office and attending a committee meeting etc..i.e. surely still working. With all the activity I was doing from the 7th until the 21st including paid activity..I think they would find it hard to prove I did not have a 'relationship' with them then

Ok so here is a rather odd dismissal question. I am working on a fixed term contract. It was due to end December 2012. However I have a clause in my contract that says they can dismiss me with a weeks notice. Today they called me into the office and they told me that they no longer thought I had the 'all round skills' to do the job and that they were therefore giving me my notice. They were going to be kind to me though (yeah right!) and give me 3 weeks notice so my position would end on 9th November. I found out that they did this knowing that my contract started on 21st November 2011, so they would be getting rid of me before 12 months (to avoid an unfair dismissal charge I'm sure as they have no reasons for my dismissal and three weeks ago they gave me a glowing appraisal). The strange twist here is...even though strictly speaking I started the job completely on the 21st November 2011, I actually came into the office and did some odd days work on 7th November 2011, 10th November 2011, 16th November 2011 and 17th November 2011 - all of which were paid for and all of which were NOT trial days. I have email evidence as well as pay slips etc to prove this.They have clearly completely forgotten that I did this work. So my question is... surely I actually started the 7th November? And if so....considering my notice period with them doesn't end until the 9th November, on the 7th I would have worked for them for 12 months...so can I then take up an unfair dismissal case, even though I turn '1 year old' during the notice period? Thanks in advance!