Tees Esk & Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust v Harland UKEAT/173/16
‘The claimants, nursing assistants, were employed by the trust as part of a designated team of 27 people providing specialist care to C, who had severe learning difficulties, in his flat. When C’s condition improved and fewer carers were needed to look after him the team was reduced to 11 people, who also provided care to other disabled people living in flats in the same building. The contract to provide care to C was subsequently taken over by a healthcare company and the trust nominated those members of the team who had spent the greatest proportion of their working time looking after C to transfer to the company. The claimants were unwilling to transfer and left to take other posts or were made redundant. On their complaints of unfair dismissal an employment judge considered as preliminary issues whether there was a relevant transfer within the meaning of regulation 3(1) of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 and whether the claimants had been assigned to an organised grouping of employees prior to the transfer, such that there had been a service provision change in accordance with regulation 3(1)(b). The tribunal found that the trust had initially put together an organised grouping of employees which included the claimants with the principal purpose of the care of C but as C recovered and the number of hours needed for his care was reduced the principal purpose of the group became subsidiary to the dominant purpose of providing care to other disabled people in the building and, accordingly, at the time of the transfer from the trust to the company the requirements of regulation 3(3)(a)(i) were not satisfied and there was no service provision change. The tribunal concluded that as there was no relevant transfer the claimants had been at all times employed by the trust.’
WLR Daily, 3rd March 2017
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
