Anyone able to help with TUPE advice?

[WinterBerry7]

The company I work for sent out an email yesterday lunchtime saying that we were being bought by another company, and a TUPE would apply. They attached the TUPE contract to the email and that was that, we haven't heard any more since, other than a call from a manager to say that we had officially been purchased by this other company.

Now that I have had the evening to think about it, I have lots of questions that I'm wondering if anyone can help with?

The company has 350+ employees, should a consultation have taken place?
The TUPE doesn't mention anything about things like expenses, mileage staying the same - would the new company be able to change those? (Mileage and expenses changing would have a fundamental impact on me being able to do the job)

In fact all the TUPE really mentions is that we now work for X company, and that they will be conducting a full review of staff and reducing head count where necessary.

I have looked at the ACAS website but cant really make head nor tail of it, am currently on hold to their helpline but have been warned it will be a while, so wondered could any wise people on here help out with some advice.

Many thanks in advance!

Yes, there should have been a consultation.

Whether or not the new employer must pay the same mileage and expenses depends on whether or not those were contractual. Mileage rates, for example, may be expressed as non-contractual allowing the employer to increase or reduce them. If they were contractual the new employer is bound by the existing mileage rates. If they were not the new employer could impose their own mileage rates. Note that, if the employer pays less than the Inland Revenue mileage rates, you can claim tax relief on the difference.

Hi,

Hopefully you will have got through to ACAS by now!

But in case in helps:

-Employers should inform/consult about a proposed TUPE in advance as much as reasonably possible. It's not uncommon in business sales/mergers/acquisitions for very little pre-consultation to happen with all employees, due to commercial sensitivities around the sale. Do you have trade unions at your workplace as they should have been involved if so (and if not employee representatives should have been elected unless it is a very small business)? The new owner will still have to consult with you about any future changes/headcount reductions.

-TUPE protects both express contractual terms (ie things written into your contract/terms and conditions, like salary and working hours) and implied terms (things that are custom and practice at your workplace). They don't have to inform you of everything that they are keeping the same, only things they propose to change. So I would guess your mileage rates and entitlement to claim expenses will be protected if they are a key part of how you work - although things like the exact mechanism of how they are paid/how often could change as this isn't usually contractual.

Hope this helps!

Cross-post! What phr47bridge says about mileage is correct, if your mileage policy states that it is expressly not contractual and is variable by the employer (as many do), then it won't be protected!

Thanks both. I got through to ACAS and explained the situation and they recommended raising a grievance with new employers for failure to consult. I'm meeting up with a couple of colleagues today to discuss this, as we may do it as a group.

We have still had barely any communication of any worth. Only to say that we cant use our current systems anymore and will eventually be transferred to new companies systems (not sure what work we are supposed to do then?)
And that old company are only paying expenses up to 30th June, new company responsible from then on but we haven't been told when/how/what we can claim.

I'm a remote worker so having so little communication is hard. I believe the support team have gone straight into redundancy consultation, we've been told they are out of office for the next two days.

I've been tuped 3 times in 4 years and it's a pain in the arse. We weren't consulted as such but given the choice of redundancy if we didn't want to.

Then they piss all over you with new rules and change your pay dates after 6 months.

I've never detested any kind of process more than fucking tupe.

We do get informed of any changes before they happen but it's just as you go along rather than all information up front.