Is there a minimum or fixed timescale for consultation?

No. Under the TUPE regulations, the employer must consider any representations and reply, with reasons for objection where appropriate, but there is no specified minimum time span over which consultation must take place. In any event, consultation must be meaningful. The examples taken from the cases to illustrate what level of consultation a tribunal is likely to regard as “meaningful” in the context of redundancy (see pages 331-332), are equally relevant in the context of consultations over a proposed TUPE transfer.