The Long Service Awards

The Events and Protocol Office organise the annual Long Service Awards on behalf of the Principal's Office.

The Long Service Awards reception is held each year to recognise, thank and celebrate University of Edinburgh colleagues who reach a long service milestone. From 2024 onwards*, all staff who reach 20, 25, 30, 40 or 50 years of continuous service are invited to attend a reception held in the calendar year they reach a milestone. 

The reception is hosted by the Principal in December at a central campus venue. All staff are invited to bring a guest. Members of the University Court and Senior Leadership Team are also invited to attend.

*In previous years, the long service milestones were 25, 40 and 50 years.

Colleagues at the University of Edinburgh celebrating their 20 years' service in the Playfair Library Hall.
Colleagues with 20 years' service celebrating at a reception in the Playfair Library in December 2024. Credit: Neil Hanna

Frequently asked questions

If you had a break in service of under three months in length, please get in touch with the Events and Protocol Office by emailing Protocol.Office@ed.ac.uk before October in the year you reach a long service milestone. You will then be invited to attend the upcoming reception. Unfortunately, due to venue capacity restrictions, we are not able to extend an invitation to colleagues who have left the University for more than three months. 


The Events and Protocol Office use data provided by HR to issue invites to the Long Service Awards. An invitation is sent to all staff who reach a long service milestone between 1st January and 31st December in the year the reception is held. If you have a query around your continuous service start date, please log a query with the HR team by following the guidance here: HR Helpline.

Until 2024, the continuous service milestones were 25 years, 40 years and 50 years. From 2024 onwards, the milestones are 20, 25, 30, 40 and 50 years. Due to venue capacity restrictions, we are not able to include staff who have passed one of the new milestones before they were introduced.

Staff who reached a long service milestone during the Covid-19 pandemic were invited to an additional reception held in Feburary 2023.

Please email the Events and Protocol Office on Protocol.Office@ed.ac.uk if you meet the criteria but have not been invited to the Long Service Awards reception. 


For staff who may not use their University email account regularly, the invitation will be sent to your line manager with a request that they pass on details of the reception. You are welcome to respond via a phone call or through your line manager if easier. 


Unfortunately due to venue capacity restrictions, we are currently unable to invite line managers of colleagues invited. We are exploring moving the reception to a larger venue in future years. 


Yes. Schools and departments are welcome to hold local celebrations thanking long serving colleagues using their own criteria and style of event. Data on long serving staff can be requested by local teams by emailing HR.Helpline@ed.ac.uk. 


A list of all staff reaching a long service milestone will be sent by the Events and Protocol Office to Heads of School or Department with a request to cascade this to line managers.


We will contact you directly with a request to pass the invitation details to any staff in your area who may not use their University email account regularly. The invitation will include a phone number for those who would prefer to respond over the phone.


Further information

The Events and Protocol Office can answer queries on the Long Service Award receptions. Please contact us by emailing Protocol.Office@ed.ac.uk.

For queries on continuous service start dates, please follow the guidance for submitting a query HR via People & Money: HR Helpline

This article was published on