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TUPE transfers are among the most legally complex situations a business can face. Whether you are acquiring a new contract, buying a business, or outsourcing a service, understanding your obligations under TUPE is essential to protecting your organisation and avoiding costly disputes.
At Glanvilles, our experienced TUPE solicitors advise employers across Hampshire and West Sussex on all aspects of TUPE law. We provide clear, commercially focused legal advice on TUPE that allows you to manage transfers confidently, meet your legal obligations, and minimise disruption to your business operations.
A TUPE transfer affects the employment rights of your workforce, the contracts you inherit, and the procedures you must follow. Handled correctly, it need not derail a transaction or service change. Handled poorly, it can result in tribunal claims, financial liability and reputational damage.
Our TUPE lawyers work closely with business owners, directors and HR professionals to ensure every transfer is managed lawfully and in line with your wider commercial objectives.
As part of our wider employment law services for employers, we provide strategic and practical advice tailored to the specific needs of your workforce and sector.
Get in touch with our employment law solicitors
If you need legal advice on TUPE or any other employment matter, our team is on hand to provide the support and expertise your business needs.
You can contact your local Glanvilles office in Chichester, Fareham, Havant, or Petworth, or complete our online enquiry form and we will get back to you promptly.
Our TUPE services for employers
Our TUPE solicitors provide comprehensive support at every stage of the transfer process, from initial assessment through to completion and beyond.
Assessing whether TUPE applies
Not every business change triggers TUPE. Our TUPE law solicitors advise on whether the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 apply to your specific situation, including business sales, service provision changes, and contracting arrangements. Getting this assessment right at the outset is critical, as incorrectly assuming TUPE does or does not apply can have serious legal consequences.
Advising on the TUPE process
Where TUPE does apply, there are strict procedural obligations that must be followed. Our TUPE transfer solicitors guide you through each stage of the process, including identifying the affected employees, carrying out meaningful consultation, and meeting information-sharing deadlines. We ensure your approach is both legally compliant and practically workable within your transaction or operational timetable.
Drafting and reviewing transfer documentation
Accurate documentation is essential in any TUPE transfer. Our TUPE specialist solicitors prepare and review the necessary agreements, warranties and indemnities to ensure that liabilities are clearly allocated between the transferring and receiving parties. We pay close attention to employee liability information and ensure that contractual terms are accurately recorded and transferred.
Negotiating TUPE indemnities in business transfers
When acting for buyers or sellers in a business acquisition, TUPE indemnities can be one of the most contentious areas of negotiation. Our TUPE solicitors for business transfers advise on appropriate indemnity provisions to protect your position, whether you are inheriting a workforce or transferring one. We work to ensure the final terms reflect the actual risk profile of the transaction.
Managing post-transfer employment issues
The obligations arising from a TUPE transfer do not end on completion. Our TUPE lawyers continue to advise businesses on harmonising terms and conditions, managing employee relations and dealing with any disputes that arise in the period following transfer. We provide practical, ongoing support to help you integrate a transferred workforce effectively.
TUPE and your business
A TUPE transfer can arise in a number of business contexts, including the sale or purchase of a business, the outsourcing of services to a contractor, the re-tendering of a service contract, and the bringing of outsourced services back in-house. In each case, employees assigned to the transferring business or service will ordinarily move to the new employer on their existing terms and conditions, with their continuity of employment and statutory rights preserved.
For employers, this means inheriting a workforce whose terms you may not have negotiated and whose history, including any existing claims or liabilities, transfers with them. Understanding what you are taking on, and structuring the transaction accordingly, is one of the most valuable things our TUPE specialist solicitors can help you achieve.
The consequences of getting it wrong can be significant. Failure to inform and consult can result in awards of up to 13 weeks' pay per affected employee, dismissals connected to a transfer are automatically unfair in most circumstances, and attempts to change terms and conditions for improper reasons can render those changes void. Early legal advice on TUPE is therefore essential.
Protecting employees
TUPE exists to safeguard employees when the business or service they work for changes hands. Transferred employees are entitled to move across on their existing terms and conditions with their length of service intact. Detrimental changes connected to the transfer are likely to be void, and employees who resign in response to material changes may have grounds for constructive dismissal claims. Collective agreements, disciplinary and grievance records, and live employment claims all transfer with the employee.
Our TUPE solicitors help incoming employers understand precisely what they are inheriting and how to manage it appropriately, from handling inherited disputes to supporting structured consultation and ensuring post-transfer practices meet both legal requirements and good employment relations standards.
Frequently asked questions
Can employees refuse TUPE and take redundancy?
Employees can object to transferring, but doing so means their employment ends automatically, they are not entitled to redundancy pay as a result of that objection alone. If the reason for their objection is a substantial change to their working conditions to their material detriment, they may have a claim against the outgoing employer. Taking early legal advice on TUPE will help you understand the specific risks in your situation.
How long is TUPE valid for?
TUPE does not have a fixed expiry period. The protections it provides including the preservation of terms and conditions and continuity of employment apply from the date of transfer and continue unless a specific exception applies. There is no point at which TUPE simply ceases to apply.
Does TUPE apply to a share sale?
No. TUPE applies to the transfer of a business or undertaking, not to a change in ownership of shares. When a company is acquired through a share purchase, the employing entity remains the same, so TUPE is not triggered. However, employment due diligence remains important in share sales, and our TUPE law solicitors can advise on the employment aspects of any transaction structure.
Can I change the employees' terms and conditions after the transfer?
Changes connected to the transfer are generally void unless they are for an economic, technical or organisational reason entailing changes in the workforce. Even then, they must be agreed. Changes unconnected to the transfer may be made in the usual way, subject to the employment contract and general employment law. Our TUPE specialist solicitors can advise on what changes are permissible and how to approach them correctly.
What happens if I forget to consult with the staff?
Failure to inform and consult affected employees before a TUPE transfer can result in a protective award of up to 13 weeks' gross pay per employee. Both the outgoing and incoming employers can be held jointly liable. It is therefore essential to begin the information and consultation process as early as possible. Our TUPE solicitors can help you structure this process correctly from the outset.
Can I dismiss employees who are transferring to me?
Dismissals that are connected to a TUPE transfer are automatically unfair unless they are for an economic, technical or organisational reason entailing changes in the workforce. Even in those circumstances, a fair procedure must still be followed. This is one of the most important areas in which early advice from a TUPE lawyer can protect your business.
What information must the outgoing employer provide?
The outgoing employer is required to provide employee liability information to the incoming employer at least 28 days before the transfer.
This includes details of the employees transferring, their terms and conditions, disciplinary and grievance records, and any ongoing or anticipated legal claims. Failure to provide this information can result in compensation claims. Our TUPE transfer solicitors advise both outgoing and incoming employers on their respective obligations.
Do I have to take on employees who are on long-term sick leave?
Yes. All employees assigned to the transferring business or service transfer across, including those on long-term sick leave, maternity leave or any other form of absence. You will also inherit any associated liabilities, including potential disability discrimination claims if the absence relates to a health condition. Our TUPE lawyers can advise on how to manage these situations sensitively and lawfully.
Get in touch with our employment law solicitors
If you need legal advice on TUPE or any other employment matter, our team is on hand to provide the support and expertise your business needs.
You can contact your local Glanvilles office in Chichester, Fareham, Havant, or Petworth, or complete our online enquiry form and we will get back to you promptly.