I spoke to my boss about my contract today (which is due to finish 27 March). He said that he will be extending it to 31 December and wants to take me out for coffee soon so we can talk about his plans and expectations etc and provide me with proper feedback. He's been in the job since the end of September but due to so many issues that crop up unplanned (as is the case in HR) he hasn't really had the chance to properly assess what he needs from me therefore I haven't had a huge amount of work from him. That's one of the things we're going to discuss when we get the chance (whenever that is).
So at least I know that I have a job for the rest of the year. Yet to sign the paperwork though, but he's a good man and wouldn't say something he didn't mean. He said that if he wasn't planning to extend my contract that he would have told me ages ago so I could start making plans.