TUPE Transfer Checklist for UK Hospitality: Every Step, In Order
Quick answer:
A TUPE transfer checklist covers six stages: confirm TUPE applies, gather employee liability information, inform affected staff, consult on any measures, transfer people on existing terms, and integrate carefully… because dismissals caused by the transfer are automatically unfair.
Pubs change hands. Restaurants get sold. Hotel contracts for cleaning, catering and security move between providers. Every one of these is a potential TUPE moment, and hospitality does more of them than almost any other sector — usually with the least warning.
What is TUPE and when does it apply in hospitality?
TUPE — the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 — protects staff when a business or service changes hands. It applies in two situations: a business transfer (the pub, restaurant or hotel is sold as a going concern) and a service provision change (a catering, cleaning or security contract moves in-house, out-house, or to a new provider).
If TUPE applies, the team transfers automatically to the new employer on their existing terms — pay, holiday, continuity of service, most contractual rights. Nobody re-applies for their own job.
The instinct that gets buyers in trouble is treating a purchase as a fresh start. Under TUPE there is no fresh start. You inherit the people, the terms, and the liabilities — including problems the seller never mentioned.
What is the step-by-step TUPE checklist?
Confirm TUPE applies. Identify whether this is a business transfer or a service provision change, and exactly who is "assigned" to the transferring business or contract. Casual and zero-hours staff count if they are genuinely assigned to it.
Exchange Employee Liability Information. The outgoing employer must give the new employer written details of everyone transferring — identities, terms, disciplinaries, grievances, claims — at least 28 days before the transfer.
Inform affected staff in writing. Both employers must tell staff the transfer is happening, when, why, and its implications — before it happens, in writing they can keep.
Consult on any measures. If either employer envisages changes — rotas, roles, locations, redundancies — consult before the transfer. Venues with fewer than 50 staff, or transfers of fewer than 10 people, may consult employees directly rather than electing representatives.
Transfer on existing terms. Continuity of service is preserved; terms carry over. Harmonising contracts "to match everyone else" is the classic post-transfer mistake — changes made because of the transfer are void.
Integrate with a paper trail. Welcome letters, confirmed terms, updated policies issued, payroll checked against the old terms. Culture change is allowed; contract change because of the transfer is not.
WINC HR's TUPE Transfer pack contains every document in that list — letters, ELI schedule, consultation scripts and the full checklist — written for hospitality handovers.
What are the penalties for getting TUPE wrong?
Failing to inform and consult costs up to 13 weeks' pay per affected employee, and failing to provide employee liability information starts at £500 per employee. On a 20-person site those numbers stack quickly — and they sit on top of any unfair dismissal claims.
The risk sharpens this autumn. From 1 October 2026, staff have six months instead of three to bring most tribunal claims, so a messy summer transfer can surface next spring. The Employment Rights Act 2025 timeline is tightening deadlines across the board — TUPE mistakes now have a longer shelf life.
Can you make redundancies around a TUPE transfer?
Only for a genuine economic, technical or organisational reason involving workforce changes — an "ETO reason" — and with a full fair process. A dismissal where the transfer itself is the reason is automatically unfair, with no minimum service requirement to claim.
This is where buyers of struggling venues stumble. "We only need six of the ten" may be arguable as an ETO redundancy, but it needs real consultation, fair selection and clean paperwork — run alongside the TUPE process, not instead of it. If restructuring is likely, plan both tracks before completion day, not after.
Frequently asked questions
Does TUPE apply when a pub or restaurant is sold?
Usually, yes. If the business is sold as a going concern — the site, the trade, the goodwill — TUPE applies and staff transfer automatically on their existing terms. If only the empty premises are sold and the business genuinely ceases, TUPE may not apply, but that line is narrower than sellers like to think.
Do zero-hours and casual staff transfer under TUPE?
Yes, if they are assigned to the transferring business or contract. Assignment is about reality, not labels: a casual who regularly works the site as part of its team is likely to transfer, with continuity and terms intact.
Can a new owner change contracts after a TUPE transfer?
Not because of the transfer. Changes whose reason is the transfer itself are void, even with employee agreement. Changes are possible for an unrelated reason, or one involving genuine workforce restructuring — but take advice first, because harmonisation is the most commonly lost TUPE argument.
What is employee liability information?
It is the written pack the outgoing employer must give the incoming one at least 28 days before transfer: who transfers, their terms, ages, disciplinary and grievance history from the last two years, and any live or likely claims. Failure starts at £500 per employee — and for buyers, it is your only honest map of what you are inheriting.
How long before a transfer must staff be told?
The law says long enough before the transfer for meaningful consultation to happen — there is no fixed day count for informing, but the 28-day employee liability information deadline sets a practical floor. In hospitality, where rumours move faster than paperwork, tell people early and formally: the grapevine version is always worse.
