Timing of a transfer

The House of Lords has referred to the European Court of Justice a case concerning the calculation of the point in time when a TUPE transfer can be said to have taken place. The case involves civil servants who had previously been voluntarily seconded to a newly established training and enterprise council and were eventually transferred to it, waiving their civil service status.

The issue for the court to resolve is whether there is a particular point in time when a transfer is deemed to have been completed - and, if so, how is it identified.

Celtec v Astley and others, House of Lords, 10 November 2003