TUPE - new contracts

claireodonnell

OK so the old company that I worked for sold to another company on 14th November 2024.
We was informed at the time that our contracts were protected by TUPE and we would basically just carry on as we were. 

On 14th January 2025, I had a new contract land in my personal email box. No notice, no indication of why. 

I haven’t signed it, but where do I stand here? Nothing has changed apart in terms of my role, pay, holiday or anything. 

Can I refuse to sign this contract? 

There are a few errors and it mentions a probation period which I’m not happy with. 

Thanks 

Brie

Do you have a union you could talk to?  Otherwise question your manager and/or HR about the probation.  If you are TUPEd and they decide they don't want you your redundancy would be based on your employment starting with employer1 so it can't be probation in the normal sense.  

Grumpy_chap

claireodonnell said:

OK so the old company that I worked for sold to another company on 14th November 2024.
We was informed at the time that our contracts were protected by TUPE and we would basically just carry on as we were. 

On 14th January 2025, I had a new contract land in my personal email box. No notice, no indication of why. 

I haven’t signed it, but where do I stand here? Nothing has changed apart in terms of my role, pay, holiday or anything. 

Can I refuse to sign this contract? 

There are a few errors and it mentions a probation period which I’m not happy with. 

Thanks 

Under TUPE, your old contract terms are protected. 
That does not mean they can never change - in the same way as the contract can be changed for any employee of any company at any time.

Even if nothing else is changed, it makes sense that the new company reissue contracts so that the legal points such as employing entity and such like are all in one document.  The alternative would be for you to keep the old contract and then have a letter with the change of particulars.

It is also reasonable that the new company seeks to align the TUPE'd employees with the pre-existing employees.  It is burdensome to have different groups of employees on different arrangements.  So long as that alignment change does not negatively impact your position it can be imposed once process has been followed.

It is good that you have read the new contract and did not simply sign straight away.
The discrepancies should, obviously, be corrected.
The query around probation may come down to a detail.  If the contract says "three month probation from start date" and then somewhere else says "start date is 1 January 2024" (or whenever your start date was), then the three months have passed and you can ignore the probation reference.

If you have a Union to ask, then do so.
If there is no Union, then a polite and positive conversation with your Line Manager or HR will be required to clarify the apparent discrepancies.
I very much doubt that you are the only one who will have queries and noted the discrepancies.
The important thing in this type of conversation is to keep your comments co-operative, positive, and not threatening.

EnPointe

I agree with  @Grumpy_chap 's points 

OP ,  wghat is the start date given on the letter ?  and what are  start dates and  service / seniority dates on the HR systems  ?  

I was tuped  once   it has Start Date  as <TUPE date> but  Service date as <date i was taken on as perm by the original employer >   and  my  service / seniority  years as  the time since  the  Service date

Undervalued

claireodonnell said:

OK so the old company that I worked for sold to another company on 14th November 2024.
We was informed at the time that our contracts were protected by TUPE and we would basically just carry on as we were. 

On 14th January 2025, I had a new contract land in my personal email box. No notice, no indication of why. 

I haven’t signed it, but where do I stand here? Nothing has changed apart in terms of my role, pay, holiday or anything. 

Can I refuse to sign this contract? 

There are a few errors and it mentions a probation period which I’m not happy with. 

Thanks 

Legally, signed or not, you will be deemed to have accepted the contract unless you positively reject it and work "under protest" until an agreement is reached (or imposed).

DullGreyGuy

claireodonnell said:

OK so the old company that I worked for sold to another company on 14th November 2024.
We was informed at the time that our contracts were protected by TUPE and we would basically just carry on as we were. 

On 14th January 2025, I had a new contract land in my personal email box. No notice, no indication of why. 

I haven’t signed it, but where do I stand here? Nothing has changed apart in terms of my role, pay, holiday or anything. 

Can I refuse to sign this contract? 

There are a few errors and it mentions a probation period which I’m not happy with. 

The main benefit of TUPE is your continuous service date remains the same. 

Thats really about it, its easy for a business to demonstrate business need to harmonise contract terms, if they dont want to fully hardball it then they can apply notable pressure by taking all those discretionary things in your old contract (bonus, pay rises etc) and state that they'll be exercising their discretion not to pay any of them for those still on old terms. 

If all the core elements are the same you may be marking your card for no reason if you refuse to sign it. I would expect a standard contract to have provision around probation but, as pointed out above, they won't be applicable as your start date + probation period has long passed. 

You can refuse to sign it but you have to actively do so, there is no legal requirement for a contract to be signed and continuing to perform your duties and receiving pay for doing so would be evidence of acceptance the absence of a definitive refusal. 

In the first instance you are better not refusing but simply raising whatever queries you have with the "errors"