Mrs Victoria Sanderson v City & Essex Ltd and 1 other — 2024

Mrs Victoria Sanderson was employed by Sanderson Cleaning Services Ltd and worked on the Leadenhall Building cleaning contract. When that contract was retendered in 2023, the tribunal accepted that there was a service provision change and that the transferring activities were the day-to-day vertical cleaning of the building, with operatives and supervisors/managers forming an organised grouping for that work.

The claimant said she spent about 15 hours per week on the Leadenhall Building contract and should transfer. The tribunal accepted that she carried out an average of 15 hours per week for the client on a hybrid basis, but also found that she had other client work and substantial duties for Sanderson Cleaning Services as Business Development Director. Her 2016 contract described her as Business Development Director, provided for 25 hours per week, and she received pay and benefits consistent with that role.

Applying TUPE regulation 3 and regulation 4, and the authorities it cited including Costain, Eddie Stobart, Seawell, Botzen, Duncan Webb, Edinburgh Home-Link Partnership, Argyll Coastal Services, London Borough of Hillingdon v Gormanley and McTear Contracts, the tribunal held that assignment is a question of all the circumstances and not just time spent on the contract. It found that the claimant's activities were principally directed towards the survival and maintenance of SCS, and that the work she did for the client was overarched by her role as Business Development Director.

The tribunal therefore found that she was not assigned to the organised grouping of employees that transferred with the service provision change. The claims against both respondents were dismissed, and the question whether her employment would have transferred to the first or second respondent did not arise.