Employer Changing Job Description

[PetShopGirl]

Can my employer (public sector) change my job description without any prior consultation with me? My manager has recently told me (in passing while I was giving her a lift home, not in a formal meeting) that I'll be getting a load of new work coming my way over the next few months. This was the first I've heard of it, and it was couched as a fait accompli with no request for comment by me. It's in a work area that I really loathe and have absolutely no interest in whatsoever, and it's making me feel quite miserable already that I'm going to be stuck with this stuff. I started a new role on return from maternity leave six months ago, and there is absolutely no mention of work of this type in my current JD. Obviously I will make my feelings clear at the appropriate time, however it would be very useful to know where I stand on this legally.

Thanks.

[flowery]

Job descriptions aren't usually contractual, or set in stone.

Is it tasks or responsibilities that are currently not anything you do, or just more of them than you currently do?

Is it stuff which wouldn't normally be done by someone in your role?

Do you have any kind of internal policy about job descriptions? In some public sector organisations the job description process is very formal with a set procedure involved.

[PetShopGirl]

It's tasks and responsibilities currently unrelated to anything else I do. My work is mainly project based and I suppose a few of these are relatively standalone, but not nearly to such an outlying degree as the proposed work.

We do have quite a formal performance management system with very structured job descriptions. I can't find anything specifically relating to this in HR policy though.

[PetShopGirl]

Oh, and as far as I'm aware this work won't be replacing anything I currently do, it will be on top of.