6.8 JWAs will be employing organisations. Where services, functions, roles and/pr duties transfer from the current provider to a new provider, either during the creation of a JWA or following contracting or re-tendering exercises post vesting, then the staff working in these areas are likely to transfer to the JWA. Accordingly, the TUPE Regulations 2006 and COSOP17 are likely to apply. Legal advice should be sought in each case in order to determine the employment terms and conditions of each affected staff member.
6.9 Broadly speaking, the effect of TUPE (and therefore COSOP) is to preserve the continuity of employment and contractual terms and conditions of those employees who are transferred to a new employer when a relevant transfer takes place. This means that employees employed by the previous employer (the "transferor") when the transfer takes effect automatically become employees of the new employer (the "transferee") on the same contractual terms and conditions. It is as if their contracts of employment had originally been made with the transferee employer.
6.10 The transferee takes over the liability for all statutory rights, claims and liabilities arising from the contract of employment, for example, liabilities in tort, unfair dismissal and discrimination claims. The exception to this rule applies to criminal liabilities.
6.11 The TUPE regulations place a number of requirements on the organisations involved such as informing and consulting with staff and/or their representatives and exchanging employee liability information.
6.12 Authorities will wish to involve their legal teams, and consult the relevant trade unions at an early stage when developing their proposals on staffing for a Joint Waste Authority.
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17 The Cabinet Office Statement of Practice on Staff Transfers in the Civil Service 2000.