Government proposals to make redundancies easier

The government is consulting on a change to the TUPE regulations to make it possible for transferors to carry out redundancies before the transfer, relying on the buyer’s future plans for the business. Unions oppose this proposal, which will limit the options of a seller’s workforce in a redundancy selection process. Under the law as it now stands, the seller is not allowed to make redundancies before the transfer at the request of the buyer. Instead, the seller’s workforce must transfer automatically to the buyer on the transfer date, and any redundancies must be made after selecting from a pool made up of the combined workforce. This will change if the law changes.

The government also wants to make it easier for the new employer to consult with the seller’s workforce over redundancies before the transfer date (see Information and Consultation Rights).