Redundancy and change

TUPE: information letter to transferring employees letter

Tells employees that a TUPE transfer is happening, when, why, what it means for them, and what measures are envisaged.

You are selling a business, taking over or losing a contract where the work moves with the staff, or outsourcing a function. Employees transfer with their terms intact. Both the outgoing and incoming employers have duties to inform, and to consult where measures are envisaged. Smaller employers can inform and consult employees directly.

Before it goes

  • You know the transfer date (or the best estimate) and the identity of the other employer.
  • You have asked the incoming employer what measures they envisage and can state them, or state that none are envisaged.
  • You have decided whether you must inform representatives or can go direct: employers with fewer than 50 employees, or transfers of fewer than 10 employees, may consult directly with affected employees where there are no existing representatives.

The letter

[COMPANY NAME] [COMPANY ADDRESS] [DATE] [EMPLOYEE NAME] [EMPLOYEE ADDRESS] Dear [EMPLOYEE FIRST NAME], Transfer of your employment to [NEW EMPLOYER] under TUPE I am writing to give you formal notice, as required by the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006, that your employment is expected to transfer to [NEW EMPLOYER NAME] on [TRANSFER DATE]. What is happening and why: [EXPLANATION, e.g. The [CONTRACT NAME] contract, on which you work, has been awarded to [NEW EMPLOYER] from [DATE]. Because the work you do is moving to them, the regulations treat this as a transfer of an undertaking, and the employees assigned to that work transfer with it. / [COMPANY NAME] has agreed to sell the [DIVISION] business to [NEW EMPLOYER] with completion expected on [DATE].] What it means for you: on the transfer date your employment will move to [NEW EMPLOYER] automatically. Your terms and conditions of employment, including your pay, hours, holiday entitlement and notice, transfer with you unchanged, and your continuous service is preserved. [NEW EMPLOYER] takes over all our rights and obligations under your contract. [Your pension: occupational pension rights relating to old age, invalidity and survivors do not transfer under TUPE, but [NEW EMPLOYER] must provide a minimum level of pension provision; details are [enclosed / to follow].] Measures: we have asked [NEW EMPLOYER] what measures they envisage taking in relation to transferring employees. They have told us [NONE ARE ENVISAGED / THE FOLLOWING: e.g. that payroll will move to a monthly cycle from [DATE]; that your place of work will remain [SITE]; that they intend to harmonise the holiday year to [PERIOD] and will consult on that after the transfer]. [COMPANY NAME] does not envisage taking any measures in connection with the transfer. Consultation: [As the company has fewer than 50 employees / As fewer than ten employees are affected] and there are no existing employee representatives, we are informing and consulting with you directly. I would like to meet the affected team on [DATE] at [TIME] to explain further and answer questions, and I am available individually at any time before the transfer. [NEW EMPLOYER] has agreed to attend / will write to you separately. Your right to object: you have the right to object to the transfer. If you do, your employment with [COMPANY NAME] will end on the transfer date and you will not be treated as dismissed, so no notice or redundancy pay will be due. Please talk to me before taking that step. Practical matters: your final payslip from [COMPANY NAME] will be for the period to [DATE]. [NEW EMPLOYER] will issue payslips from [DATE]. We will pass your employment records to [NEW EMPLOYER] as the regulations require. Your accrued holiday balance of [NUMBER] days transfers with you. Please ask me anything about this. It is a change of employer, not a change of job, and I want it to go smoothly for you. Yours sincerely, [MANAGER NAME] [JOB TITLE] [COMPANY NAME]

Filling it in

Measures
Ask the other side in writing and put their answer in the letter. If they envisage measures, you must consult on them, not merely inform.
Direct consultation
Only where you qualify (fewer than 50 employees, or fewer than 10 transferring) and there are no existing representatives. Otherwise, representatives must be elected first.

What the law says

  • Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 reg.4: employees assigned to the transferring undertaking transfer automatically on their existing terms, with continuity of service.
  • TUPE 2006 reg.13 and reg.13A (as amended 2024): the employer must inform appropriate representatives, or affected employees directly in a small business or small transfer, long enough before the transfer of the fact, date and reasons for the transfer, its legal, economic and social implications, and any measures envisaged; and must consult where measures are envisaged.
  • TUPE 2006 reg.11: the outgoing employer must provide employee liability information to the incoming employer at least 28 days before the transfer.
  • TUPE 2006 reg.7: dismissal because of the transfer is automatically unfair unless for an economic, technical or organisational reason entailing changes in the workforce.
Guidance, not legal advice. Employment law moves; check the current position before relying on any of it, and take advice on anything that could end someone's employment.

What turns this letter into a claim

  • Do not leave it until the week before. "Long enough before" means with time to consult meaningfully. Weeks, not days.
  • Do not let the incoming employer change terms on day one. Changes because of the transfer are void unless for an economic, technical or organisational reason, and even then need agreement.
  • Do not forget employee liability information to the new employer 28 days before: names, terms, disciplinary and grievance records, claims.

Questions people ask

Who transfers under TUPE?

Employees assigned to the organised grouping of resources or employees that is transferring. Someone who spends most of their time on the contract that is moving transfers; someone who occasionally helps out generally does not. Assignment is a question of fact and is often argued.

Can the new employer make transferring staff redundant?

Only for a genuine economic, technical or organisational reason entailing changes in the workforce, following a fair process. Dismissals because of the transfer itself are automatically unfair. The new employer inherits liability for the old employer's failures too.

What if I get no information from the other employer?

Chase in writing and keep the correspondence. A failure to inform and consult can lead to a protective award of up to 13 weeks' pay per employee, and liability is joint between the two employers, so both have an interest in getting it right.

The letter, with the names already in

Employ AI drafts letters like this one from the employee's record, so the dates, service and pay are already right, and the disciplinary module writes the invitation and outcome letters from the case itself. All 44 letter families, 49 UK policies, GPS clock-in, rotas, leave and timesheets: £2.50 a month plus £1 per employee. 14 days free, no card.

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