Transfer of Undertakings

The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/246) (as amended) (the ‘TUPE Regulations’) protect employees’ rights on transfer of the business in which they are employed.  Where there is a transfer which falls under the TUPE Regulations, the new employer (the transferee) effectively stands in the shoes of the old employer (the transferor), and employees maintain continuous service for the purpose of all statutory rights.  The TUPE Regulations also transfer the existing contractual terms and conditions, as well as any outstanding liabilities and rights.

The TUPE Regulations were originally brought in to implement the European Acquired Rights Directive (77/187) (the ‘Directive’), which means that they should be interpreted in line with decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union under the Directive.  The Directive was first implemented in the UK by the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981, then subsequently overhauled by the TUPE Regulations, which have then been subsequently amended by  the Collective Redundancies and Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 (the ‘Amendment Regulations’).