New Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 SI 2006/246 were made on 7th February 2006 and came into force on 6th April 2006 (see notes at Transfer of business or undertaking/2006 regulations ).
The notes below are retained to provide general background to the position established by new TUPE 2006 with effect from 6th April 2006.
The EC Acquired Rights Directive 77/187/EEC (or "Business Transfers Directive") was adopted in 1977 to "safeguard employees' rights in the event of transfers of undertakings, businesses or parts of businesses" and was implemented in the UK by the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981, SI 1981/1794 ("TUPE") - see TRANSFER OF BUSINESS OR UNDERTAKING/a general introductory note ). An 1998 Amending Directive (98/50/EC) was issued on 29th June 1998. It replaces Articles 1 to 7 of the 1977 Acquired Rights Directive with new Articles 1 to 7. Member States should have implemented these new articles by 17th July 2001 (art 2).
In 2001, both the 1977 Acquired Rights Directive (77/187/EEC) and the 1998 amending directive (98/50/EC) were repealed and replaced by a new consolidating directive (the Acquired Rights Directive 2001/23/EC of 12th March 2001). This came into effect on 11th April 2001. The 2001 consolidating directive results in some renumbering but makes no changes of substance.
In general UK law is already in line with the changes required by the 1998 amending Directive which (apart from the consultation provisions in new Art 6) does little more so far as the UK is concerned than provide an option to adopt or not to adopt particular provisions. It follows that the July 2001 deadline for implementation has not been regarded as of much practical significance in the UK.
In September 2001 the DTI issued a consultation document with proposals for discussion for changes to the TUPE regulations. The proposals take into account the requirements of the EC amending directive of 1998 noted above. There is outline information with useful examples in a 2001/09/10 - DTI Press Release P/2001/471 re TUPE consultation and there is also a detailed DTI background paper.
In February 2003 the government announced preliminary results of the consultation. This included plans for a new Code of Practice designed to end the "two tier workforce" (which comes about if a local authority transfers employees to a private sector partner whose own employees have worse terms of service - see Transfer of business or undertaking/two tier workforce ). It also included plans to place draft new TUPE amendment regulations before Parliament but these are still awaited at end November 2004. There is likely to be a 3 month period for comments on the wording of the regulations. Delays in producing them have meant regular postponements and summer 2005 is now the earliest likely implementation date.
Importantly, the February 2003 TUPE announcement indicated that pension scheme rights would NOT be covered by the draft new regulations. Instead the pension aspect is covered in Pensions Act 2004 ss.257 and 258, in force from 6th April 2005 (see notes at Transfer of business or undertaking/pension rights/2004 Pensions Act ).
Full text of the 1981 TUPE regulations is included in this program - go to Transfer of business or undertaking/1981 regs (wording of) .