The transfer date
[ch 1: pages 10-11]It is crucial to be clear about the transfer date. This is the moment when the employer’s identity automatically changes and the employment contracts of everyone in the organised grouping transfer automatically to the new employer (unless they objected before the transfer).
The transfer date is also key to establishing whether consultation duties have been met. Statutory consultation must happen before the transfer date, or else the employer is likely to be liable for a protective award (see Chapter 5).
The transfer date is the date on which responsibility for the business or service contract shifts from one employer to another. What matters are the facts — what actually happens on that date — not what the parties hoped or intended would happen (Housing Maintenance Solutions Limited v McAteer [2014] UKEAT/0440/13/LA).