It had planned to remove these agreements from being automatically covered by the regulations in an effort to clear up red tape, a move which would have negatively affected contracting businesses.
Alex Meikle, ECA head of employee relations, said, ‘The new proposals would have left construction contractors in the lurch and we’d be back where we were before 2006, having to bring in lawyers every time there was a transfer of undertakings to determine if TUPE applied. That would create extra cost and uncertainty.’
The ECA also welcomes the proposal to extend the transferor’s obligation to provide employee liability information 28 days before transfer, rather than the existing 14 days. This will give businesses more time to prepare when taking over service agreements from incumbent contractors.
Meikle concluded, ‘The TUPE reforms will retain the provisions that are essential for keeping down costs for business. Now some of these proposed changes are off the table, we have greater business certainty, meaning contractors can get on with what they do best – working hard to make their business grow, without being hampered by excessive legal costs.’
