Mr D Bunting (Counsel) For v Respondent — 2021

Mr Alexander transferred from BAE Systems to the Secretary of State for Education on 1 April 2019 under TUPE and challenged the written particulars issued on 29 March 2019. He sought changes to reflect an annual salary increase, two days' work from home, a shorter working week, and a guaranteed 2pm Friday finish. The tribunal noted that its section 12 ERA jurisdiction was limited to confirming, amending, or substituting particulars and did not extend to deciding which terms were enforceable contractual provisions for the civil courts.

On pay, the tribunal accepted that the 20 July 2015 particulars provided for an annual salary review, but not an automatic annual increase. It rejected the claimant's case that three consecutive pay rises between 2016 and 2018 had become an implied term by custom and practice. The tribunal found the evidence did not show a term that was reasonable, notorious and certain, and it preferred the respondent witnesses on the disputed facts. It also noted that the claimant's salary had been protected on transfer at £55,020, with non-consolidated lump sums in 2019 and 2020, so there was no unlawful deduction from wages.

On place and hours of work, the tribunal found that working from home on Mondays and Fridays began as a temporary concession during the claimant's deployment to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and continued for about six months before transfer. It was not an express or implied contractual entitlement, and the claimant's contractual place of work remained Coventry. The tribunal also found that the particulars required a 37-hour week excluding lunch breaks, with local discretion over the exact pattern, and it did not accept that the claimant had a contractual right to a 32-hour week or a guaranteed 2pm Friday finish. It therefore confirmed the statutory particulars dated 29 March 2019, dismissed the section 23 complaint, and made no monetary award.