Transfer of undertakings: Transfer Regulations preclude consensual variation of contract

In Wilson and others v St Helens Borough Council 28.3.96 EAT 641/95, the EAT holds that the Transfer of Undertakings Regulations prohibit even a consensual variation in the terms and conditions of employment of employees transferred where the transfer of the undertaking is the reason for the variation. And so long as there remains a "causal link" between the variation and the transfer, employees cannot impliedly affirm that variation by working on under the new terms without protest.