Mr F E Obiang Mbasogo v Standard Office Cleaning Ltd (trading as “The Clean Space”) and 2 others — 2023

The Tribunal first dismissed the claims against the Second Respondent by agreement. It then found that the First Respondent had carried on office cleaning activities at 6 Ocean Way for the Second Respondent until 8 November 2021, and that the Third Respondent carried on fundamentally the same activities at the Second Respondent's new premises at 11/12 Neptune Court from 9 November 2021. The change of location did not prevent a service provision change, and the additional differences identified were treated as minor when compared with the continuing activity of cleaning offices and related areas.

The Tribunal also found that the Claimant was assigned to an organised grouping whose principal purpose was cleaning the Second Respondent's offices. He worked predominantly at that site throughout his employment, with other work being occasional cover work. On that basis, a service provision change under regulation 3(1)(b)(ii) TUPE 2006 occurred and the Claimant's employment transferred to the Third Respondent. The claims against the First Respondent therefore failed.

Because the Claimant was not taken on by the Third Respondent, the Tribunal held that he was unfairly dismissed by the Third Respondent under regulation 7 TUPE 2006. It also held that the dismissal was in breach of contract because no notice was given. There was no finding of an economic, technical or organisational reason entailing changes in the workforce, and the Tribunal noted that the Third Respondent's position in correspondence did not alter the legal effect of the transfer.

On remedy, the Tribunal awarded 4 weeks' notice pay at £98.01 per week, totalling £392.04, a basic award of £588.06 based on 4 complete years' service and the Claimant being over 41 throughout that service, and a compensatory award of £392.04. It limited compensation to the initial four-week post-dismissal period, finding that the Claimant should have been able to mitigate by obtaining cleaning work in early January 2022 and that no award should be made for the later period after he left a factory role in June 2022. No redundancy payment was awarded because the basic award extinguished any separate entitlement.