TUPE and collectively agreed terms

Collective agreements by a recognised union with the old employer transfer to the new employer under regulation 5. They are treated as if they had been made with the new employer, so any transferred employees continue to benefit from the terms in that agreement (except in respect of occupational pensions).

However, the 2014 Regulations have set out to fundamentally change the legal protection provided by TUPE to contract terms “incorporated from a collective agreement”, creating, in the process, a manifestly unfair two-tier system of protection. These changes affect employees where the transfer took place on or after 31 January 2014 and are explained on page 381.