Our client was in the process of selling part of the company and called upon us to advice on how to manage the TUPE process. TUPE is the Transfer of Undertakings of Protected Employment legislation. It comes into force to protect employees during mergers, acquisitions and when a service provider changes.
It means that employees don’t need to fear losing their jobs or accrued benefits when ownership of a business or holder of a contract changes.
What we did
TUPE is surrounded by many legal and regulatory requirements protecting employees, which can often make it a very complicated and drawn out process. In this case we ensured everything was put in place to protect the employees and make the transfer procedure as easy as possible for the companies involved.
Our first task was to clarify the TUPE process to the client and outline any potential challenges that could be faced along the way. We the provided a basic timetable outlining: – All necessary actions, Deadlines for each action, Communications required to support those actions and created bespoke documentations to support and communicate each of these steps to all those involved.
By providing all the documentations and a TUPE out project plan the client was confident in the process, they were able to focus on supporting their employees through this period of change.
Once all the basics were in place, we worked closely with the client to make sure everything was done in line with best practice. Consultations with employees; ensuring they were informed throughout the process, so they understood the changes that were happening and felt supported.
We supported our clients with the Formal consultations with employees (a TUPE requirement) which were held in groups and one-to-ones. Employees were made fully aware of any changes that may result from the transfer, timescales, responding to their questions or concerns and they could pull out and not transfer to the new company if they wished.
The other area where we played an important role was to liaise with the new company to make sure there were no unnecessary delays and they had everything they needed by the stipulated timescales.
All the correct employee and due diligence information of employee details and personnel records was provided including. The new company had challenged that 3 employees were not regarded as the ‘organised group of employees’ and they were not willing to transfer them under TUPE. We then worked with our clients to establish that they were part of the group in gathering evidence to support the transfer.
Outcome
With the evidence presented the new company agreed to transferring the 3 employees under TUPE. We worked with the client for four months during the transfer process. We helped our clients to successfully manage the TUPE transfer and ensured all the employees felt supported and were transferred without issue.