Here is a quote from the brisitsh employment site that should help you;

ERA 1996 s.4 is entitled "Employer's duty to give statement of changes".
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BASIC POSITION
Adverse (to the employee) changes in existing terms of employment are usually made in one of three ways:-

by agreement with the employee(s), possibly with a cash "sweetener";
by unilateral variation of contract terms (or of works rules applied by the contracts); or
by giving required notice to terminate existing contracts and offering new contracts on new terms.
Choices open to an employee are:-
go along with the employer's proposals;
reject them and quit, perhaps claiming constructive dismissal , or
reject them but continue to work on a without prejudice basis (ie "uinder protest") on the new terms, reserving all rights, negotiating if possible and ultimately bringing court or Tribunal proceedings if agreement cannot be reached.
A unilateral change to terms and conditions of employment made by an employer without agreement of the employee will normally be a breach of contract. One result is that the ordinary civil courts will have jurisdiction as well as (or instead of) an employment tribunal (see notes at Employment tribunals/jurisdiction of ). This can be important because the courts have greater powers than tribunals to award compensation in breach of contract cases and because legal aid may be available in the civil courts but (save in exceptional cases in Scotland) is not available in employment tribunal cases. Employees in particular would be well advised to take expert legal advice in any such case.
It should be noted that even a clause agreed by an employee giving the employer the right to make unilateral changes to contract terms or works rules will not normally give the employer a total carte blanche. An employee may still be able to claim constructive dismissal if the employer makes significant changes (see eg Bass Leisure Ltd v Thomas [1994] IRLR 104 and Lee & ors v GEC Plessey Telecommunications [1993] IRLR 383 and Star Newspapers v Jordan 1993 EAT, unreported). Employers in particular would be well advised to take expert legal advice in any such case.

For application of the continuity of employment rules when there is a change of terms of employment, see CONTINUOUS EMPLOYMENT/change of terms with same employer . Special rules apply if a change of terms occurs on change of ownership of a business (see Transfer of business or undertaking/change in terms of employment after ).

Changes in terms of employment must be notified to employees within one month, or sometimes sooner if overseas work is involved (see Statement of particulars of employment & ERA 1996 s.4). It is essential that employees are fully aware of, and accept, any detrimental changes to their terms of employment if the changes are to be legally binding. Acceptance can sometimes be inferred by the employee's conduct (eg continuing to work without objecting to the change -see Bainbridge v Circuit Foil (UK) Ltd CA 1997 ICR 541, CA for a general review by the Court of Appeal).
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For the position where there are changes in terms of employment after a business has been sold or transferred see Transfer of business or undertaking/change in terms of employment after .







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updated April2004.


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This advice should be used as a basic guide and is not a substitute for professional legal advice, which should always be taken in any event. I am still only studying for my full law degree.