BSF feedback please.

[BlogRat]

Having been through the process in the last year, basicly mrmontymick has got it just about right.

[PeteM]

Kind of on topic, I've been told categorically by our Union rep that if the IT providor of our new BSF school needs, say, 5 IT techies and there are 7 currently in the 2 schools that are merging, then on Day 1 the IT company can make 2 redundant making TUPE irrelevant. Any comments on that?

[skunk]

Judging by the amount of conjecture and loud sound of no-one who is post-BSF complaining I would say that any gagging, contractural or not, is working a treat for the MSPs / Schools.

 

Would you slag off the people who are paying you, on a public forum?

 

My experiences are

[BlogRat]

My union rep during the TUPE process was rubbish, turned up late if at all. The HR dept from the LA were awful, about 2 years before at a meeting one of them announced that there were 9 technicians but only 7 jobs!

PeteM is right, on day one the new company can get rid of you providing they can put up a good case but TUPE protects your terms and conditions so your length of service counts towards any payoff. How many people do you know have been made redundant by the IT provider after BSF? I had all the concerns and worries about the process as everyone else and even looked for other jobs. The fact is the MSPs have not got loads of staff waiting to move into schools to take all the jobs, what they have got is loads of people in schools already waiting to fill the jobs.

I got TUPE’d last year and to be honest it’s been a good experience for me, OK the job has changed a bit but I’m still enjoying it. Same pay, same holidays plus extra benefits such as BUPA cover.

[donutcat]

As someone who is about to go through the TUPE process into an academy I have been asking these sorts of questions to HR, my union rep and the academy and have had the following responses:

 

How long are my pay and conditions protected for?

The law does not state for support staff any minimum length, however you cannot be disadvantaged because of the transfer, i.e. any change in my situation not caused by the transfer can be put through after the transfer has happened, although in our case the academy has agreed to the 3 years that teachers get.

 

Can I be made redundant after the transfer?

Yes it is possible, but only if the job role disappears because of a change not connected to the transfer, for example a restructure of the organisation after the transfer has happened, and there would have to be bullet-proof evidence that it was not planned before the transfer.

 

Can my contract change for the better, and is that protected?

Any change in pay or terms and conditions must be agreed by both parties, but keeps your basic pay and conditions protected if you do not agree to them. If you do agree and sign a new contract then you are a normal employee, although I didn't get enough clarification on this point to satisfy me that I knew fully what would happen.

 

What if there are less jobs at my hierarchical level?

This may be an academy specific questions, as with a move to an established company things would be different. We have been guaranteed no reduction in staff number, and that there would be a job matching process. If there is no job at the level i am at, then I would drop to the next level down and be matched in there, with no detriment to my pay or conditions.

 

What about pensions?

Local government pension carries on, and continuity of service is unaffected while I remain employed by the academy. If my new positions was on a lower pay scale than mine my pensionionable pay would reduce to meet that. This is not the same as teachers as their pension is fully protected. It is also worth noting that if I leave the academy to work for another school that is still in the local authority my length of service restarts from 0, as I am deemed not to have transferred from one internal division to another. This would be the same if TUPE'd to RM and then went back to schools.

 

Feel free to check with your unions reps, as most TUPE processes are tailored to the needs of the transfer.

 

DC

[BlogRat]

If you change job and have to sign a new contract make sure that length of service continues. If you have worked for a company for x years and move to another part of it your length of service would not be changed to 0, nor should it if you make an internal move after TUPE.

Pensions, once you sign a new contract you will have to leave the LGPS and join the company scheme and the LGPS can become a deferred pension. If you then come back to the LGPS at some future date you just rejoin and previous contributions are taken into account. that is my understanding of the way it works and how it was exlpained to me.

[russdev]

Green book says

 

14.3 Where an employee is transferred to an organisation not

covered by the Redundancy Payments (Continuity of

Employment in Local Government etc) (Modification) Order

1999, continuity of service is protected under the TUPE

Regulations where there is a TUPE transfer. However, if that

employee returns voluntarily to local government service

continuity is broken. Where an employee returns in such

circumstances, without a break between employments, all

previous continuous service will be recognised for the purposes

of calculation of entitlements to annual leave, occupational

maternity leave/pay and occupational sick pay. This is subject to

the return to service being within five years of the original

transfer.

Note: This aggreement applies to all employees who have returned to

local government service since 1st April 1997 however the calculation

of the resulting benefits, such as additional leave, will only take effect

as and from 1st April 2002.

 

So if you tuped then continuity of service is protected.

 

Then if you with in the same company and they in effect tupe you back across with in 5 years then continuity of service is protected.

 

But if you tupe across but then choose to go work for LA then continuity of service is not protected.

 

Russ