What Are T.U.P.E Claims?

Author: Lorna Elliott

When a business is transferred or sold to another entity, or taken over by another entity, a piece of legislation protects the terms and conditions of the employees’ terms of employment.

These regulations are called TUPE or the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations. In practice what this means is that you can continue to work in your job, and that all your rights, holiday entitlement, pension and any claims that you’ve made against your existing employer all transfer over to the new employer.

Consultation

Your existing employer has a duty to consult representatives of its workforce. This may be elected members of the group of employees, or it could be a member of the trade union, if you belong to one. This consultation has to include a number of things: firstly why the transfer is occurring, and when it is going to happen; what effect this will have on you as an employee, and whether there is likely to be any reorganising.

If there is, you are entitled to know how this may impact on you. You should be given a reasonable amount of time to be able to consider this information with a view to being able to reach an agreement between the employer and its workforce. Your spokesperson can make representations relating to any proposed reorganisation or other measures, and may for example state reasons why any proposals are rejected.

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If You Don’t Want to Transfer Over

If, however, you decide that you do not want to work for the new employer you are entitled to object to the transfer and your contract of employment simply comes to an end. It is not always a good option to do this because you will lose certain rights. In these circumstances, you would lose the right to a redundancy payment, and will not be able to make a claim for unfair dismissal.

Your situation may be slightly different. ask a question below ↓ and our editorial team will reply with our advice.

If You do Transfer Over

When you transfer over to the new employer, they become obligated to honour the terms of your contract. If they do not, this amounts to a breach of contract. If you discover that there is no job available for you, you may be able to take both your previous and new employers to an Employment Tribunal. If, after the transfer, the new employer wants to cut down on the number of employees, you may be selected for redundancy.

Economic, Technical or Organisational Reasons

If as a result of the business transfer you are dismissed, this will automatically be deemed to be an unfair dismissal, save for in one circumstance. This is if the reason is deemed to be an ETO reason (economic, technical or organisational), in which case it will not be unfair. Redundancy is one such ETO reason.

Once you have transferred over to the new employer, make sure that you receive an up to date employment statement. This should reflect the fact that you now have a new employer and will state that the terms and conditions of your employment remain the same.

The Next Step

Now that you have read through the advice above, you might want to put it into practice. Our Contract Red Flag Checker lets you describe a contract you are about to sign and get a plain English summary of the clauses that could hurt you. Takes about 2 minutes. Try it now →

12 questions

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trish 08/05/2019 at 7:55 am

we were tuped just over 2 years ago and have heard that the new employer is now selling the business. staff have been told nothing by the employer but buyer says they want to take over within the next month. where do the staff stand

Unhappy bunny 31/08/2018 at 7:55 pm

I have been tuped over from an agency to a company. They are stating it's the same t&cs but they have advised that they do not recognise my 9 years service (they haven't actually put this on my offer of employment letter).The agency had previouly paid redundancy to other agency colleagues when the company restructured. Where do I stand

Jamie 29/08/2018 at 7:55 pm

A very long story short. But i got made redundant at my old work. Then they day after i got offered a job at a new place better wage and with new owner but doing the same work. I had to claim my redundancy through the goverment but they rejected it saying i had been TUPE. But this wasnt the case i got made redundant i was never told i was being Tupe. Where do i stand now. My old work is no longer trading. Thanks

ContractsAndAgreements Editor 07/12/2017 at 12:05 pm

You should be able to find out all you need to know which

G 06/12/2017 at 5:27 pm

I am currently going through type and the other firm is saying it don’t apply and don’t want us working with them. And my firm are saying type is happening and will no longer work for them as of 31 December. Where do I stand.

nic 26/10/2016 at 8:11 pm

I was tupa over and worked for new company for 2 weeks and then left will I get holiday pay

k0gg1242 15/01/2015 at 1:28 am

My company was tupe'd on 01/05/14 I had taken legal proceedings against my old boss a few weeks beforehand. My current boss never knew of the claim and had never been asked to sign a TUPE agreement as far as I am aware. I am worried that the claim will pass onto my current boss as is he.

jack 30/11/2013 at 8:44 pm

im currently going through tupe.our finishing date is dec 31.we were told this in sept,but hasn't heard anything now for a month,from either new or old employers.the new company is over 100 miles away and don't want 2 move,is that a good enough reason 2 get redundancy monies.

Bob 05/11/2012 at 7:21 pm

I was tuped over 2 years ago, now the firm I used to work for have recently increased their holiday entitlement, would I then be entitled to this increase.I do receive all the relevant pay increases.

shawsta 09/07/2012 at 9:40 pm

we were tupeed over 4 yrs ago and the employer now wants to change our t&c s to their own which will take us out of the Working Rule Agreement and introduce Annualised Hours. Can they do this? Are we not protected by Tupe?

ian 07/06/2012 at 9:31 pm

we are going through tupe at work at this time . i am going to be a representative and the one question every one asks me is what happens after the 90 day rule, i can find no mention any where of a change that can happen after 90 days ,the tupe rules as far as i can see don't mention time scales only after a period of time .am i correct

Neil P 11/10/2011 at 7:33 am

Website information has been a great help, I am just about to go through a Tupe Agreement transfer. I am currently on long term sick leave from my employment are there any extra rulings for someone in my position. Regards Neil

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