Business Legal Services
Transactions and TUPE
Be clear on your business’ obligations under TUPE
Where your business is acquiring a business or certain contracts for the provision of services or when undertaking some business restructures, such as outsourcing, your business may need to comply with the complex rules set by the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE). Our experts can guide you through the transaction and your obligations in respect of existing and new employees, avoiding Employment Tribunal Claims and other TUPE related claims.
Experts in employment law
In addition to assisting with Transactions and TUPE, our team can assist you across all areas of employment law, including:
How we can help: Understanding and following the TUPE Regulations
Our team of corporate solicitors can assist with transaction issues relating to your merger or acquisition and our employment solicitors can support you with:
Drafting TUPE provisions in transactional documents
We will discuss with you what it is that you are looking to achieve commercially and make sure that the documents are consistent, precise and achieve those commercial aims.
Negotiate appropriate warranties and indemnities
An important part of the drafting of transactional documentation is the wording of warranties and indemnities relating to all commercial matters and employees. Precise drafting to protect your business’ interests is important and a valuable asset in any transaction.
Employee information and consultation
If TUPE applies to your transaction, you may like our assistance with understanding your obligations in respect of informing and consulting with your employees. We can clarify what information should be shared with employees, when it is best to do this and how and when employees should be consulted under TUPE.
Employment Tribunal claims
Should your business be facing an Employment Tribunal claim as a result of a TUPE transfer, our expert employment solicitors can assist you with defending the claim.
Employee Liability Information
We will advise what information needs to be provided and when if you are transferring employees to another business (to prevent a potential claim from that other business) and help you to collect, collate and analyse Employee Liability Information if employees are transferring to your business.
Due diligence
Once we have analysed the Employee Liability Information, we can assist you with identifying potential risks to your business and advise on how to minimise those risks.
Changing terms and conditions after a TUPE transfer
There are a few options for employers to consider if they are trying to harmonise or otherwise change terms and conditions of employees after a TUPE transfer, but making these changes are not without legal risk and so we would be happy to guide you through the options and guide you through any immediate and continuing risks.
Manage arrangements for staff at the end of their contracts
Should you require assistance with drafting, advising and negotiating exit packages with employees and their solicitors, we have an experienced team who are experts in this area and would be happy to assist with this. We can also assist with redundancy exercises, should these be required.
What are the key benefits of getting TUPE right?
Fewer Employment Tribunal claims to defend
Employees affected by a TUPE transfer have enhanced unfair dismissal rights. There can also be claims for a protective award where there is a failure to inform or consult by the employer (see below). If you have followed the TUPE Regulations, your chances of having to defend Employment Tribunal claims are greatly reduced. Defending an Employment Tribunal claim can be stressful, time consuming and put a strain on your business’ resources, so it is worth ensuring you are following the TUPE Regulations and getting early advice is recommended in this complex area, to avoid extra expense for your business in the longer term.
Save money by not making expensive mistakes
There are specific provisions provided for in TUPE which lead to compensation being payable to employees or to a business if you are transferring employees to that business. For example, a failure to inform and consult under TUPE could lead to compensation under a protective award of up to 13 weeks’ gross pay (uncapped) for each affected employee being awarded by an Employment Tribunal. To avoid these expensive mistakes, it is advisable to seek expert support at an early stage in your transaction.
Clarity on what you are buying/selling
If you follow the detailed TUPE Regulations correctly, this means that on assessing the Employee Liability Information and other employment disclosure information, you will know exactly what your business is disposing of or acquiring. Particularly if you are acquiring a number of staff under a TUPE transaction, it could make the difference between whether you choose to go ahead with the transaction or not if there are contractual employee liabilities, a number of potentially expensive outstanding claims and grievances or if an expensive and potentially legally risky redundancy exercise is required.
Focus your time and money on running your business
Reduce your time spent on trying to understand and practically implement complex legal Regulations and negotiating precise and commercially advantageous warranties and indemnities, and allow our experts to take care of this for you. We are experienced in this area and so you can have peace of mind that this is being dealt with competently whilst you continue to focus your efforts on running your core business.
Who we help:
We can help employers of all sizes and from a variety of sectors all over the UK. We specialise particularly in assisting entrepreneurial start-up and scale-up businesses with fast-developing teams.
As your business grows, accessing expert legal support is invaluable. But accessing it at a reasonable price from experienced solicitors that you can rely on is not always so simple. As champions of entrepreneurship, we aim to provide legal advice that’s cost-effective, holistic, and always from an experienced team. That’s why we created our legal subscription plans, helping you build a consistent partnership with our solicitors who will take the time to get to know, not just the matter at hand, but your business strategy and how best to support it with an ongoing relationship.
Testimonials
What our clients say
Why choose Harper James?
We have an experienced employment team who are well versed in dealing with contentious and non-contentious matters before, during, at the end of and after employment. Our team is particularly skilled at understanding and dealing with complex legal situations promptly and providing advice in a friendly and down to earth way. Our lawyers have extensive expertise in dealing with TUPE transfers, employment matters linked to sales and acquisitions of companies, collective redundancies and large-scale restructures. Find out more about the team here:
Pricing and service plans
Legal support designed
to fit your business needs
Our three transparent service plans are designed to give you the widest possible access to high-quality legal advice, whatever the size and nature of your business:
Engage
Flexible access to senior solicitors at highly competitive rates
An alternative to our subscription plans, offering access to full service legal expertise on a project-by-project basis.
Enable
Purpose built legal support for start-ups and smaller businesses
Monthly subscription plan for £239 per month, with £159 monthly credit and access to all legal services at 50% discount on our Standard Rates.
Extend
Comprehensive legal partnership for established businesses
Fully account managed and scalable annual subscription plan with support from a curated team of partners and senior solicitors, with up to 33% discount on our Standard Rates.
