TUPE: consultation on proposed changes

The government has issued a consultation on a number of proposed changes to the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006. The proposals include:

• Repealing the obligation to provide employee liability information, and providing guidance instead. This could be supported by an amendment to regulation 13 of TUPE to make clear that transferors should disclose information to the transferee to aid the information and consultation process.
• Amending the provisions restricting changes to terms, giving protection against dismissal and giving the right to resign in response to a substantial change in working conditions, in each case to reflect the wording of the underlying Directive and/or ECJ case law more closely.
• Enabling the transferee to consult with the transferring employees on collective redundancies prior to the transfer.

In addition the government is seeking views on whether transferors should be able to rely on the transferee's ETO reasons in respect of pre-transfer dismissals.

Responses to the consultation are due in by 11 April 2013. The government proposes to make these changes in October 2013

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/68735/13-533-tupe-regulations-2006-consultation-on-proposed-changes-to-the-regulations2.pdf