(1) Mr S Galea (2) Mr Neil Hunt (3) Mr Nigel Hunt (4) Mr B O’Connor v Solvitall Limited and 1 other — 2021

The tribunal heard a preliminary issue on whether the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 applied to transfer the claimants' contracts from Thompson Facilities and Project Management Services Ltd to Solvitall Ltd, and if so when. The claimants had worked in the reprocessing crew at Celsa Steel UK, reprocessing defective steel, and the tribunal found that the relevant activities were the duties of that crew on the Celsa site in Cardiff.

The tribunal found that the relevant activities ceased to be carried out by the second respondent on 2 June 2020 and were then carried out by the first respondent on 5 August 2020. It accepted that the activities undertaken by the first and second respondents were fundamentally the same after the change, and that the reduction from two shifts to one shift during the pandemic did not make the work essentially different. The tribunal identified the transfer date as 5 August 2020.

It also found that there had been an organised grouping of 11 men whose principal purpose was carrying out the reprocessing activities, and that the temporary cessation of work between 2 June and 5 August 2020 did not mean that the grouping ceased to exist. Although the claimants were on sick leave, self-isolation or furlough around the relevant time, the tribunal held that this did not prevent them from being assigned to the organised grouping for TUPE purposes. Relying on the factual approach in Fairhurst Ward Abbotts Ltd v Botes Building Ltd and Ors, it concluded that the claimants transferred automatically with effect from 5 August 2020.