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Employee
If you are currently working for BNFL or UKAEA you
will want to know what the new clean up arrangements
will mean for you. This page deals with some of the
key issues.
Continuity of
employment
Current employees of BNFL and UKAEA have an important
contribution to make in achieving the Government's
objectives for clean up and the success of the NDA.
Their skills, knowledge and expertise are crucial for
the safe management and operation of sites. For this
reason, minimum disruption is the basic principle in
implementing the new arrangements.
Transfer of employment
Though employees will remain employed at their
current sites, over time it is possible that the
identity of their employer could change.
For BNFL employees, this could result from changes
effected by the restructuring of the company.
Alternatively, this could be due to the creation of
new site licensee companies responsible for
particular sites currently licensed to BNFL or Magnox.
There may also be changes that result in an existing
public sector company transferring to the private
sector. Transfers might occur through the contract to
manage a site licensee company being awarded to a
private sector contractor. In this case, ownership of
the site licensee company would be transferred to the
contractor for the duration of the contract, and it
would effectively become privately, rather than
publicly, owned.
As regards UKAEA staff, the Government does not
intend to make any changes to the operating structure
of UKAEA or the ownership of its sites unless and
until there is a clear need to do so. When the NDA is
set up, UKAEA will therefore continue to be
responsible for the clean up of its sites operating
under contract to the NDA. Employees will remain
employees of UKAEA. If, in the longer term, decisions
are taken to change site management arrangements,
implementation will almost certainly involve the
creation of site licensee companies and corresponding
transfers of employees to these new companies.
In all of these situations the Government is seeking
to protect employees and minimise the impact of
change.
Terms of employment
Terms and conditions, including severance pay, early
retirement following redundancy, and injury benefits,
will be protected upon transfer as a matter of law.
Pension arrangements
The Government is committed to ensuring that existing
employees' pensions will be fully protected. In the
event of a transfer of employees to another company
or to the private sector, staff would either be able
to remain members of their current pension scheme or
join a new scheme that is no less favourable. This
would be assessed and certified by the Government
Actuaries Department. Accrued benefits would be
directly transferred to the new scheme.
Career planning and long
term prospects
The clean up programme will contribute to the
revitalisation of the nuclear industry. There will be
new companies entering the industry, bringing with
them new ideas and practices. They will be competing
with one another, and this competition will create
many new and exciting opportunities. This will apply
not only to Tier 1 contractors, but also to Tier 2
and Tier 3 contractors, who stand to benefit from the
opportunities offered by the clean up arrangements.
While the Government cannot yet say what impact these
changes will have on net job numbers in the UK, it is
clear that the skills, expertise and experience of
the existing workforce will be vital in getting the
job done. Furthermore, successful delivery of the
NDA's programmes will employ thousands of people over
a very long period of time.
Ensuring that the skills required to deliver its
programme are available over the long term will be a
key strategic objective for the NDA. It will
therefore be heavily involved in activities across
the nuclear industry to attract future generations of
nuclear workers and ensure that they have all the
skills required. This will be an area where it will
want to work closely with trade unions, learning and
skills organisations and local development bodies
across the UK.
Opportunities to
participate in decision making
You do not have to wait for the NDA to become
operational in order to make your views known. The
DTI's programme of regional events, which started in
March, are one way you can make your views known.
Another is to comment on those documents that the
Department will be seeking views on over the coming
months. And, one of the many purposes of this website
is to enable people to input their ideas, opinions
and comments as and when they wish to do so. Contact
details can be found in the right hand column.
FAQs - Frequently asked
questions
If I work for Magnox or at one of the BNFL sites
transferring to the NDA, who will my employer be once
the transfer takes place?
If you work at a BNFL site which transfers to NDA,
you will remain an employee of BNFL plc after
transfer. If you work at a Magnox site which
transfers to the NDA, you will remain an employee of
Magnox Electric after transfer. What happens next
depends on future decisions about site management
arrangements and the basis on which those decisions
are implemented. It is likely that BNFL plc and
Magnox Electric will continue in being as
respectively the site licensee companies for
Sellafield and at least some of the Magnox stations.
But if contracts to manage other Magnox stations and/or
other sites are let by competitive tender, new
licensee companies will have to be created. In that
event, the workforce would transfer to the new
company.
What will the NDA mean for jobs at BNFL/ Magnox/
UKAEA ?
No plans for significant changes to workforce as a
result of the NDA in the immediate future. Experience
in the US suggests that the increased focus on
decommissioning could lead to more jobs, but that
depends on the NDA's operational work programmes.
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