Government Publishes Final Statutory Code Of Practice Governing Fire And Rehire Practices

Employers sometimes try to enforce contractual amendments on their workforce by using a "fire and rehire" strategy – terminating employment and offering to hire staff back on the new terms. A new Statutory Code of Practice regulating this practice will come into force later this year. In this briefing, we look at the new Code and what it means for employers.

What's the background?

Back in 2021, the Government asked Acas to investigate the use of fire and rehire practices and in November 2021, Acas released new guidance in this area. The overall message of the guidance was that fire and rehire should be used as a last resort. You can read our briefing on the Acas guidance here.