Never far away, Factor.
The simplest way for an employer to achieve this is to hold off for at least 3 months before taking on the contract staff. Since any claim for unfair dismissal by a redundant employee has to be lodged within 3 months of redundancy, it ensures the time-out has occurred, and no claim is possible.
However they shouldn't be talking about contracting the same jobs at this time of declaring redundancies - that's just plain stupid and asking for trouble.
If they are openly saying they are going to outsource the jobs to a contractor (who would manage the employment contracts of the contractors) then, yes, TUPE clearly is going to apply. (This means that the transferred staff move to another company [The contract management one] but initially on the same conditions of employment as they currently enjoy).
One wonders if your employer knows what it is doing.
Small company perhaps? No HR specialist on the payroll?
Are these contract jobs the same as those delivered by you?
Probably time to talk to ACAS about what they are proposing. Or ask more here.