TUPE – When Will The Uncertainty End?

One of the most significant changes made by the 2006 version of TUPE was to widen its scope to give us more clarity regarding whether TUPE applies where services for a client are assigned to a different provider, ie to outsourcing and insourcing (a service provision change (SPC)). Although this widening of TUPE brought more transactions within its scope, the clarity which it provided was welcome.

However, the past 18 months have seen a number of Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) decisions which have muddied the waters and created considerable uncertainty as to when TUPE applies on a change of service provider, with the result that the apparent benefits of having the SPC provisions appear to be dwindling by the day!