Understand how to manage change and reorganisation lawfully.

About this package

Organisational change can affect employees’ contractual rights, job security and the identity of their employer. This package examines three connected areas of employment law: varying employment contracts, managing redundancy and transferring undertakings under TUPE. Its legal focus is Great Britain; Northern Ireland has separate legislation. Learners consider how to distinguish a business decision from a contractual change, identify the duties that follow and assess whether the proposed approach respects employee rights. The contract content starts with establishing existing terms, including express agreements and the role of the written statement of employment particulars. It then examines consultation, individual agreement, collective bargaining and contractual flexibility clauses. Learners explore what happens when employees refuse a change, including the risks of imposing terms or using dismissal and re-engagement. The content distinguishes breach of contract, discrimination, constructive dismissal and ‘stand and sue’, where an employee continues working while challenging a breach. The redundancy content separates a genuine redundancy situation from the fairness of an individual dismissal. It covers statutory redundancy pay eligibility and calculations, individual and collective consultation, notice, accrued holiday and qualifying rights to time off for job-seeking or training. Selection receives particular attention: learners examine how to define a reasonable pool, assess overlapping duties and skills, and use objective scoring. Relevant case law helps explain why a genuine reduction in staffing does not excuse unfair procedures or discriminatory selection. The final part examines when TUPE applies to business transfers and service provision changes, and its effects on employment continuity, contractual rights and transfer-related dismissals. It addresses employee liability information and the outgoing and incoming employers’ responsibilities to inform and consult affected staff or their representatives. Workplace scenarios and relevant cases connect the legal rules with practical decisions, while coverage of claims and remedies helps learners evaluate the consequences of non-compliance.

Who it’s for

Suitable for HR practitioners, managers and learners studying employment law or people management who need to assess the legal implications of organisational change. The content suits those working through detailed workplace scenarios involving contracts, redundancy and business transfers.

What’s covered

1. Establishing the contractual basis for employment changes

   Identify existing employment terms and distinguish changes to working arrangements from changes requiring contractual authority. Explore express terms, written and oral agreements, and the evidential role of the written statement of employment particulars.

2. Consulting on changes and responding to refusal

   Examine meaningful consultation while proposals remain open to influence. Consider further negotiation, imposed changes and dismissal and re-engagement when employees do not agree to new terms.

3. Changing terms through collective bargaining

   Explore trade union recognition, bargaining units and authority to negotiate contractual changes. Examine when a collective agreement can alter individual employment contracts, including those of non-members within the bargaining unit.

4. Employee claims arising from contractual changes

   Assess breach of contract, financial loss, discrimination, constructive dismissal and employees continuing to work under protest. Distinguish the legal questions raised by contractual and discrimination claims.

5. Interpreting and using flexibility clauses

   Consider whether a clause authorises changes to duties, hours or location and whether the employer exercises that power lawfully. Examine why a business need does not extend the wording of a clause or remove limits on its use.

6. Recognising genuine redundancy

   Apply the statutory definition of redundancy and distinguish reduced staffing requirements from concerns about conduct or capability. Separate redundancy as a potentially fair reason for dismissal from the fairness of the employer’s process.

7. Redundancy payments, consultation and related entitlements

   Explore statutory redundancy pay eligibility and calculations alongside individual and collective consultation requirements. Calculate notice and accrued holiday entitlements, and consider qualifying rights to time off to seek work or arrange training.

8. Fair redundancy pools, scoring and selection

   Examine how actual duties, overlapping skills and interchangeability inform selection pools, and how objective scoring supports fair decisions. Use relevant case law to assess procedural fairness and identify discriminatory or arbitrary selection.

9. Applying TUPE and meeting information and consultation duties

   Assess whether a business transfer or service provision change is a relevant transfer under TUPE. Examine employment protections, employee liability information and the outgoing and incoming employers’ duties towards affected employees and representatives.

10. TUPE breaches, remedies and case law

    Evaluate failures to provide employee liability information, failures to inform or consult, and unlawful transfer-related changes or dismissals. Identify who can bring a claim, who may be liable and which remedies may apply.

Learning outcomes

By completing this package, learners can:

• Compare methods of varying employment contracts, including individual agreement, collective bargaining, reliance on flexibility clauses, unilateral change, and dismissal and re-engagement.
• Analyse the legal risks of proposed contractual changes, including breach of contract, constructive dismissal, discrimination, and employees continuing to work under protest while pursuing a claim (‘stand and sue’).
• Develop a lawful consultation and agreement process for proposed contractual changes, addressing contractual restrictions, employee objections and applicable requirements for dismissal and re-engagement.
• Explain the statutory definition of redundancy and distinguish genuine redundancy situations from other reasons for dismissal using workplace scenarios.
• Apply statutory eligibility rules and calculation methods to determine redundancy pay, notice entitlements and payment for accrued holiday in given employee scenarios.
• Evaluate proposed redundancy selection pools and selection methods, including points-based systems, for fairness, objectivity and discrimination risks, drawing on relevant case law.
• Assess whether a proposed redundancy process meets individual and collective consultation requirements, including applicable thresholds, timescales, representative arrangements, notification duties and consideration of alternatives to redundancy.
• Apply the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations to workplace scenarios to determine whether a relevant transfer occurs and identify the effects on employment continuity, contractual rights and protection against transfer-related dismissal.
• Explain the duties of transferors and transferees to provide employee liability information and inform and consult affected employees or their representatives, including applicable timing requirements.
• Evaluate potential breaches of transfer-of-undertakings legislation, including failures to inform or consult and unlawful transfer-related contractual changes or dismissals, and justify appropriate remedies using relevant case law.

Frequently asked questions

Related training packages