Tim Nye, of Trowers and Hamlin, on private provider access to NHS pensions

Following the news that private providers who take on outsourced NHS staff under TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006) will be able to access the NHS Pension Scheme for transferring employees, it is worth exploring the situation as it was and is now. Regulation 3 of the National Health Service (Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition) (No. 2) Regulations 2013 (the Regulations) (which at the time of writing this article remained in draft form) states: