31st January 2014 - TUPE
The Collective Redundancies and Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 (SI 2014/16) makes changes to the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/246) (TUPE).
The key changes which will come into effect are as follows:
• Clarification that where there is a service provision change, the activities carried out post-transfer must be “fundamentally or essentially the same” as those activities carried out pre-transfer.
• A change in location of the workforce post-transfer can be an economic, technical or organisational reason entailing changes in the workforce. This prevents a genuine place of work redundancy from being automatically unfair.
• The obligation to provide employee liability information to the transferee will be extended from 14 to 28 days before the transfer.
• Micro-businesses (less than 10 employees) will be allowed to inform and consult directly with affected employees, where there is no recognised union or existing appropriate employee representatives.
• Collective agreements - transferees may renegotiate terms derived from collective agreements one year after the transfer, provided the changes are no less favourable to the employee. In addition, a transferee will not be affected by any subsequent variations or new collective agreements relating to the transferor following the transfer.
The Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 will be amended to make clear that consultation on collective redundancies can start before the transfer provided the transferor and transferee agree and the transferee has carried out meaningful consultation.
