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Q&A: transferring staff after sale of firm under TUPE rules

My client owns an accountancy firm employing a dozen people. They recently put the business up for sale and have been approached with a good offer they want to accept. The new owners will continue to run the business and will also employ the staff. Does my client need to say anything to the staff?

Your client has found themselves in the early stages of a TUPE transfer, and they need to act soon to avoid liability under these regulations.

Under the Transfer of Undertakings [Protection of employees] Regulations 2006 [TUPE], when a business is sold and continues to operate in the same or similar way, then the employees of that business employed prior to the sale will transfer to the new owner.

This means they become the employers of the new employer (or transferee), under the same contract as before and with the same rights and entitlements, including their length of service.

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