TUPE and contract change



Any change to a contract term in breach of TUPE is void. This is the case whether or not employees have agreed to the change, and even if the employer has “paid” for the change, for example, with a pay rise or extra holiday. This is based on EU law. Individual employees are not allowed to give up their statutory protections under the Acquired Rights Directive (Wilson v St Helens Borough Council [1998] IRLR 706).

Following changes to TUPE made in January 2014, in England, Wales and Scotland (but not Northern Ireland) the law treats changes to contract terms differently depending on whether the relevant term is “incorporated from a collective agreement” (regulation 4(5B) TUPE, as amended). This difference is explained below.