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24 March 2012 / John McMullen
Issue: 7506 / Categories: Features , TUPE , Employment
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Hard to crack?

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John McMullen tackles TUPE’s “gold-plated” SPC rules

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills published its call for views on the effectiveness of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/246) (TUPE) last November. It stated that “some” businesses believe TUPE to be “gold-plated” and “over-bureaucratic”. When “gold-plating” is mentioned, we know which aspect of TUPE appears first in the crosshairs—the service provision change (SPC) rules under reg 3(1)(b).

Regulation 3(1)(b) provides that a relevant transfer may include: “A situation in which:

  • activities cease to be carried on by a person (“a client”) on his behalf and are carried out instead by another person on the client’s behalf (“a contractor”);
  • activities cease to be carried out by a contractor on a client’s behalf (whether or not those activities had previously been carried out by the client on his own behalf) and are carried out instead by another person (“a subsequent contractor”) on the client’s behalf; or
  • activities cease to be carried out by a contractor on a client’s behalf (whether
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Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

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Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Firm strengthens children department with adoption and surrogacy expert

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Media and technology expert joins employment team as partner in Cambridge

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A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
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