9. BUSINESS TRANSFERS AND CONTRACTING OUT

If a business transfers from one employer (the transferor) to another (the transferee) its employees are protected by the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE). For TUPE to apply there must be a “relevant transfer”. The business that transfers must be an economic entity in its own right and the tribunal will take into account a number of factors to determine this, such as whether assets, customers and staff transfer and the types of activity that were carried out before and after the transfer. Alternatively, there must be a change in the provider of a particular service, such as occurs when a service is contracted out.