TUPE

TUPE — the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 — protects employees when the organisation, or the part of it they work in, transfers to a new employer. This covers business sales, mergers, and 'service provision changes' such as a contract for catering, cleaning or security passing from one supplier to another.

The core effect: employees automatically transfer to the new employer on their existing terms and conditions, with their continuity of employment preserved as if they'd always worked for the new employer. The new employer generally can't use the transfer itself as grounds to change contracts or dismiss staff — doing so is usually automatically unfair unless there's a genuine 'economic, technical or organisational' reason involving a change to the workforce.

TUPE also imposes information and consultation obligations: the outgoing and incoming employer must inform (and, where measures are proposed, consult) affected employees' representatives in good time before the transfer. Getting this wrong is one of the more common and costly TUPE failure points, exposing the employer to compensation claims of up to 13 weeks' pay per affected employee.