Work post - TUPE questions

squarehead94 · 3 Oct 2016 at 22:29

Evening all.
So recently discovered that the public sector company I work for is being purchased by a similar chain of companies that work alongside the NHS.

Obviously this has been a big shock, however I now need to assess my future there.

Work has told me that everything will remain the same, our contracts will be honoured, no interviews for your own job etc. But due to a lot of unfilled promises in the past, a few of us are a bit weary to believe that. For example, this group is also purchasing a couple of other local sites and may be looking to centralize the workload - meaning some staff may be considered surplus.

My particular job, I work in a 2 person team in a bit of a specialist subject - not anybody could walk in and do the work I so (trying not to sound arrogant here, just not sure as to how much I can divulge) so I am not too sure that they can really centralize my particular job, but other staff at other sites will be trained to do what I do, so there is a fear of being surplus.

The management has told us that we will be TUPE'd over, and all contracts will be honoured and transferred and for us as the employees, nothing will change per se. It will just be under a new ownership, whilst retaining all the same staff and management.

I am wondering, has anyone been TUPE'd over in their working life and can give an insight to this? I will of course be seeking guidance from my union, but it's been a hectic few days and I'm only 22, I've never experienced this and I guess I'm a bit green around the ears. I want to believe that TUPE is fine and a simple process that changes nothing for me, but I don't know what to believe with some of the staff telling me that TUPE allows them to change your conditions of employment, pensions scheme can be affected and they can essentially move you into whichever department they see fit.

I like the position I am in, I don't want to be relocated to another department.

Has anyone any tips or things to consider or general advice about this so I'm a bit more clued up? The company purchasing us is coming for a 121 session with our staff tomorrow and Wednesday to talk to us about it. Im very worried.

Thanks in advance guys.

squarehead94 · 3 Oct 2016 at 22:54

Thanks guys. This is what I mean, I didn't know any of this. I guessed some will have had positive and negative experiences.

They have said to us that nobody will be moved to other sites so essentially all the staff in our branch will remain - but whether that changes in the future I'm not sure. We have a large reception team for example, which obviously as we and other sites use the same software and share the same job roles, they would be particularly at risk, but as I say, even in my job, other sites will have staff dedicated to that job so I'm just a bit scared I'll be deemed surplus.

Must admit, rather glad I didn't purchase the house I was looking at, I've been here coming up to 3 years now and due to a lot of staff being 20+ years service, I assumed it would be a safe job for the long term. I guess I was wrong.

squarehead94 · 3 Oct 2016 at 22:55

Can they make any changes to your contract? I.e. working hours, rate of pay, holiday entitlements or anything like that?

squarehead94 · 4 Oct 2016 at 01:18

Hi Terley. Thanks for that. I'm not sure whether the pay will change because as it happens its an NHS based business being bought by a private company that works with the NHS (from my basic understanding, they buy up these businesses and NHS funding goes through them at which point they distribute the budget to their new individual businesses.

As it happens, we are one of the lowest paid anyway, so I can't see a drastic rate of pay drop. I work 35hrs pw, on a basic 8.13ph. my colleague that does the same job is on £11 or so pH, not based on a rates system, she got that from a previous role and when her role ceased to exist (was a very very old IT role, I'm talking pre windows 95) they honoured her pay. So I'm guessing her wages may be an issue but honestly if they tried to drop my pay anymore I would just go back to bar work for £7ph.

Having read into the company a bit, they do seem genuinely interested in keeping staff and morale high, the incentive for them is the funding from the NHS and all the funding the NHS contracts also give them, because we as a business aren't a profit based business, all of their profits will be in NHS contracts and NHS bonuses generated by each practice (for reaching certain targets, e.g. number of flu vaccinations given, staying within prescribing budgets etc) and I know that one practice this company owns was actually failing, unfit for purpose however they kept it going and got it back stable, because it was an invaluable service to a area with a high poverty rate.

I think I'm preparing myself to be looking for another job now, in case they are funny, I'm just glad I have some insight now as to what to expect. I was mainly worried they would cut my hours in half or something daft like that, or make me redundant. It's easier to get a new job when your in one.