TUPE transfer

The Brief

Our client was considering a business acquisition and had not gone through a TUPE transfer process before.

The client needed to understand their legal obligations, the timelines they would need to adhere to as well as guidance on each stage of the communication and consultation processes they should follow to ensure that the necessary communication took place when needed.

The Solution

A multi-faceted approach was needed, involving data gathering, analysis, due diligence and employee consultation.

We helped the client with data gathering of the employee liability information, advising them on what they were able to request from the transferor. We analysed the information received against our client’s standard terms and conditions of employment and identified any measures (or proposed changes) that we would need to cover as part of the consultation process. This was a vitally important stage of the due diligence process so that the client fully understood the contracts (and financial obligations) they were inheriting before they made the final commitment to the transfer of staff to their employment.

We also supported our client by conducting the consultation process with affected employees, from the announcement meetings where employees were made aware of the proposed transfer, through to individual one-to-one meetings. This gave our client the comfort that a HR professional was on hand to explain the implications of the transfer of their employment to them and immediately answer any questions that employees.  We also supported this process by drafting communication documents for the meetings, producing letters to transferring employees and dealing with any issues that arose.

The Outcome

On the day of transfer, our client had successfully integrated all of the transferred employees into their business and we produced confirmation of transfer letters to all transferred employees, welcoming them to the business. Following the transfer we were on hand to provide ad hoc advice as and when either the client or transferred employees had any questions, to ensure a smooth transition for all involved.