The Committee considered a report on the implications of Brighter Futures for Children (BFfC) Transfer of Undertakings (TUPE) on the Council’s HR Policies.

The report explained that Children’s Services in Reading had been delivered by BFfC since 1 December 2018 and on 18 January 2025 the Council had agreed to bring Children’s Services back in-house by autumn 2025. The transition date for staff and services had been set as 1 October 2025 and BFfC staff would transfer from BFfC to the Council via TUPE (Protection of Employment). A TUPE consultation had been carried out for all Council and BFfC staff between 5 June and 7 July 2025 and the high level proposal for the transition policies had been included within the BFfC consultation document and had stated that Council corporate and HR Policies would, by default, replace BFfC policies.

To facilitate the TUPE of BFfC staff to the Council, all Policies had needed to be reviewed and matched and any gaps addressed. All Policies had been matched and compared to ensure that at transition staff could be informed of any differences and any gaps in provision of Policies could be addressed. Since the creation of the Company, unless otherwise required BFfC had mirrored the Council’s HR Policies and therefore there were very few meaningful differences that had been found between BFfC and the Council’s HR and Corporate Policies.

The report stated that all current BFfC HR Policies would be replaced by the equivalent Council Policy, except where there was a contractual element, for example, annual leave, which would be protected and would remain for BFfC staff under TUPE as required by law. Where there was no equivalent Council HR Policy, the BFfC Policy would either cease, or consideration would be given to it being adopted by the Council. It was anticipated that the Council would adopt or update the following Policies:

• Council Fostering Friendly Policy – This would be adapted slightly to clarify the Child Placement leave entitlements upon the placement of a new foster child;
• BFfC Reimbursement of Statutory Fees – This Policy would continue to apply to BFfC staff and the Council would look to review the equivalent Policy for Council staff.

Some Council HR Policies gave BFfC new entitlements and/or requirements they did not previously have, for example, Buying Annual Leave Policy, Volunteering Policy, Working Abroad Policy, Transgender Policy. Workload Policy. BFfC staff would be able to take advantage of these Policies from the date of transfer.

Finally, the report stated that all the above implications and changes would be communicated to staff as part of the transition communications and induction plan and the intranet would also be updated to reflect any changes to Policies.

Resolved:       That the implications of the TUPE of Brighter Futures for Children be submitted to the Council on 1 October 2025 in respect of HR Policies be noted.