TUPE: UK employment law

Essential points

TUPE stands for the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006.

These regulations apply to all businesses in the Great Britain. There are parallel regulations in Northern Ireland that largely mirror the law in Great Britain. 

These are complex regulations. The following page will help people professionals understand what TUPE is for, where the regulations apply and how they have been tested in case law. TUPE is not optional. All people professionals must know what to do when the whole, or part, of a business changes hands.   

To be a "relevant transfer" for TUPE, the transfer must be either, or both, of the following situations: 

• A business transfer - where the whole or part of a business moves from one employer to another.
• A service provision change - where a change in service provider takes place.  

In a TUPE process there are two parties: 

• The transferor - the party who carried out the business activities before the transfer, i.e. the outgoing employer.
• The transferee - the party, or parties, responsible for taking on the business requirements after the transfer, i.e. the incoming employer(s).