Responsibilities to employees if you buy or sell a business

Introduction

Under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) and the Service Provision Change (Protection of Employment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006, when all or part of a business is bought or sold, the terms and conditions of the employees who transfer in the sale are preserved. In other words, in almost all the cases the new employer cannot change the transferred employees' terms and conditions to match those of its existing employees.

Employees' terms and conditions are also preserved when there is a service provision change, for example where:

• a business contracts its security arrangements to an outside security business (outsourcing)
• a business decides to hire its own staff to provide catering to replace an outside catering business (in-sourcing)
• the contract to clean a client's premises is transferred from one cleaning contract to another

This guide explains which transfers are covered by TUPE, the responsibilities of the old and new employers, rights of employees, changing terms and conditions of employment, the requirements to inform and consult employees affected by the transfer and the transfer of insolvent businesses.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• What is meant by a transfer
• Your responsibilities to employees transferred out of your business
• The transfer of employee liability information
• Your responsibilities to employees transferred into your business
• Changing terms and conditions after a transfer
• Dismissal before or after a transfer
• Informing and consulting employees
• Transfers of insolvent businesses
• Transfers and employee relations

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