The Court of Appeal has confirmed in the – very recent – case of Hazel v Manchester College that it is not possible for an employer to harmonise terms and conditions of employment following a TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment) transfer if the employees concerned are not part of a restructuring exercise or another procedure entailing changes in the workforce.
After a successful bid on behalf of the Learning and Skills Council, Manchester College took over a large contract providing learning to offenders in the prison service in Kent. Following the transfer, the college needed to save money as result of inheriting significant and unanticipated costs associated with the TUPE transfer. In the first instance the college sought volunteers for 300 redundancies.
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