Consultation and collective rights under TUPE

There are rights to information and collective consultation under TUPE. These are found in regulations 13 and 14.

Where there is a recognised union, consultation must take place with representatives of that union. If there is no union, consultation must take place with either reps who have been appointed or elected generally for consultation and information purposes, or reps elected specifically for the purposes of the transfer.

If no representatives are elected, the employer must inform and consult employees directly (Howard v Millrise Ltd & S G Printers t/a Colourflow EAT/0658/04 [2005] IRLR 84). Reps should be allowed access to employees and appropriate facilities. For more information on what amounts to an appropriate consultative body in the absence of a union, and on the rights of reps who carry out collective consultation duties, see section on Collective redundancy consultation in Chapter 11.