Changes to the contract terms of new joiners

Only the contract terms of employees who transfer under TUPE are entitled to protection from TUPE-related contract change. New employees taken on after the transfer date have no TUPE protection.

One of the earliest acts of the coalition government was to scrap the Two-tier Codes which were designed to ensure new joiners to an outsourced private sector workforce enjoyed the same terms and conditions as employees who had transferred from the public sector. The central government Code (the Code of Practice on Workforce Matters in Public Sector Service Contracts) was replaced by a set of six “principles of good employment practice for government, contracting authorities and suppliers”. The third principle states: “where a supplier employs new entrants that sit alongside former public sector workers, new entrants should have fair and reasonable pay, terms and conditions. Suppliers should consult with their recognised trade unions on the terms and conditions to be offered to new entrants”.