What happens to union recognition after a takeover?

The care home has a new owner. The cleaners have a new contractor. You still do the same job, but management says the old union agreement no longer counts. A takeover does not give the new boss a blank sheet. Before you accept a lower rate or the loss of your reps, establish what has actually changed.

Was it a share sale or a business transfer?

Ask your rep or manager which legal entity employs you before and after the deal. A new logo tells you nothing. Get the answer in writing.

In a share sale, the buyer buys the company that employs you. Your employer stays the same legal person. Your contracts and existing recognition arrangements continue; the sale itself does not end them. TUPE does not apply merely because the company’s shareholders change. A later restructure can still trigger redundancy consultation duties.

In a business transfer, your employer changes. Selling a care home business or retendering a supermarket cleaning contract can trigger the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006, usually called TUPE. But an asset purchase or retender does not qualify automatically. The transaction must meet the relevant transfer conditions. Where it does, your employment contract, continuity of service and associated rights and liabilities normally move to the buyer. Collective agreements transfer under regulation 5. See our guide to TUPE business transfers if management disputes whether it applies.

Does my union still represent me?

TUPE regulation 6 protects existing recognition of an independent trade union where the transferred group maintains an identity distinct from the rest of the buyer’s business. The buyer is then deemed to recognise the union to the same extent as the seller did. Recognition means the employer accepts the union for collective bargaining, not simply that some staff are members.

A group kept together with its own operation, management and working arrangements has a stronger case for retaining that identity. The same site or rota can be useful evidence, but neither decides the question alone. Ask the union to confirm which employees the recognition agreement covers and how bargaining and rep arrangements will continue.

Absorption into the buyer’s existing workforce puts recognition at risk. It is not safe to say that moving people between depots automatically ends it, or that every such restructure is lawful. The facts and the recognition agreement matter. Statutory recognition also has procedures for changes to a bargaining unit. We see the distinct-identity condition as a weakness in workers’ protection: your contractual pay can survive while your ability to bargain together becomes disputed. Have the union challenge a claim that recognition has ended before accepting it.

Do collectively agreed pay and premiums transfer?

Yes, where they are part of your contract. Contractual night premiums, weekend uplifts, overtime rates, sick pay top-ups and extra holiday transfer with you. They need not all appear in one signed document: your contract may incorporate terms from a collective agreement.

The buyer must honour what transfers even if it never sat at that bargaining table. Losing recognition does not, by itself, erase those individual rights. Keep the agreement, your contract and payslips showing how the rates were applied.

Do not assume that every future pay deal with the old employer binds the buyer. In Great Britain, TUPE excludes rights under collective agreements made after transfer where the buyer did not participate in the bargaining. That is separate from a pay increase already agreed before transfer but due to take effect later.

In Great Britain, a contractual change is generally void if its sole or principal reason is the transfer. Agreement alone does not make a transfer-driven pay cut valid. An agreed change for an economic, technical or organisational reason involving workforce changes can be permitted; contractual variation powers also need careful checking. There is a specific rule for collectively agreed terms more than one year after transfer: the contract overall must be no less favourable, and ordinary contract-variation rules still apply. These are not permissions to cut wages at will. Get union advice before signing. Read how collective agreements affect your contract.

You must be told and, if changes are planned, consulted

The seller and buyer each owe duties towards their own affected employees. They must give appropriate representatives information long enough before the transfer for any required consultation to take place. Where an independent union is recognised for the affected employees, its authorised representatives must receive that information. Staff at the buyer can be affected too, even if they are not transferring.

Representatives must be told that the transfer is happening, when and why, its legal, economic and social implications, and the measures envisaged for staff. The information also covers agency-worker numbers and use. The buyer must tell the seller about measures it plans for transferring employees. An employer proposing measures affecting its employees must consult their representatives with a view to seeking agreement. Measures can include shift changes, site moves or redundancies. If no measures are planned, the information duty still applies. TUPE sets no fixed minimum consultation period and no minimum length of service.

Small employers still have duties. Where there is no recognised union, other representative or permitted direct-consultation arrangements apply. A failure can lead to tribunal compensation of up to 13 weeks’ actual gross pay per affected employee, without the statutory weekly pay cap used for redundancy pay. The tribunal assesses the seriousness of the failure. The buyer can be jointly liable for compensation awarded against the seller. Where the failure concerns recognised union representatives, the union brings the complaint, not each member separately.

If the takeover brings redundancies

TUPE consultation and collective redundancy consultation are separate duties. Meeting one does not automatically satisfy the other.

In Great Britain, an employer proposing 20 or more redundancies at one establishment within 90 days must consult the recognised union for the employees concerned, or appropriate employee representatives if there is no recognised union. Consultation must begin in good time and at least 30 days before the first dismissal for 20 to 99 proposed redundancies, or 45 days for 100 or more. Ask which establishment the employer is counting; it is a legal question, not simply whatever management calls the whole company.

Since 6 April 2026, the maximum protective award for failure to consult on collective redundancies in Great Britain is 180 days’ pay per employee. It is separate from statutory redundancy pay. This higher maximum does not apply in Northern Ireland.

A dismissal whose sole or principal reason is the transfer is automatically unfair under TUPE, subject to the applicable qualifying-service rules. An economic, technical or organisational reason involving workforce changes can remove that automatic-unfairness rule, but it does not make the dismissal fair by itself. Fair selection and the required consultation still matter. Do not resign or refuse the transfer without advice; objecting to a transfer can leave you without a dismissal claim.

No union recognised? How to win it now

If no union was recognised before the transfer, TUPE does not create recognition. You can still join a union and organise. In Great Britain, the routes are voluntary recognition and an application by an independent union to the Central Arbitration Committee, usually called the CAC.

1. Build a voluntary recognition request. Work with the union to identify the workers it would represent, the bargaining topics and the representatives. Ask the buyer to agree recognition in writing. This route is available even where the employer is too small for statutory recognition.
2. Use the statutory route if agreement fails. The union must first make a formal written request to the employer under Schedule A1. The employer and associated employers must together have at least 21 workers, and at least 10% of the proposed bargaining unit must be union members. These are starting requirements, not a guarantee that the CAC will accept the case. An existing recognition agreement, competing application or earlier case can affect eligibility.
3. Establish support in the bargaining unit. If more than half its workers are members, the CAC normally declares recognition without a ballot, but it can require one in specified circumstances. Otherwise a ballot is needed. The statutory bargaining subjects are pay, hours and holidays.

Since 6 April 2026, recognition ballots in Great Britain require a majority of votes cast. The old requirement that yes votes also represent at least 40% of the whole unit has gone, as has the likely-majority-support test when applying. The membership threshold remains 10%. CAC guidance explains the application stages.

Agency staff, casuals and zero hours

Do not let a “casual” or “zero-hours” label decide your rights. Employees on zero-hours contracts can be protected by TUPE. Genuinely self-employed contractors are not. For people who are legally workers but not employees, coverage is a point to get checked rather than assume away: TUPE’s definition of employee is wider in wording than the usual contract-of-employment definition. The statutory recognition process uses the wider trade union law definition of worker, so some non-employee workers can participate.

An agency worker usually has a contract with the agency, not the care home, supermarket or warehouse operator. A change of owner at that site will not normally transfer the agency contract to the buyer. That does not mean you have no rights. Ask the agency what happens to your assignment and check your agency-worker rights. Agency staff do not normally count towards a hirer’s statutory recognition application merely because they work on its site.

Start with the recognised union at your workplace. If there is none, contact a union organising in your sector: Usdaw for retail, UNISON for care and NHS support work, GMB or Unite for many logistics, food and hospitality workplaces, or IWGB for parts of outsourced cleaning and courier work. Ask whether it represents your employer and whether it can help with an existing dispute; joining does not guarantee retrospective legal cover.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

England, Scotland and Wales share the Great Britain recognition framework. TUPE business-transfer protection also applies in Northern Ireland, with separate Northern Ireland regulations for service provision changes. The details of enforcement and some amendments differ.

Northern Ireland has a statutory recognition route through the Industrial Court, not the CAC. Nidirect explains both voluntary and statutory recognition; the Labour Relations Agency can help with voluntary agreement. The Great Britain reforms discussed here, including the new recognition ballot rule and 180-day collective redundancy award, do not apply there. Use the LRA and Northern Ireland Industrial Tribunal routes rather than assuming Acas and GB deadlines govern your case. Read what differs in Northern Ireland.

What to do this week

1. Get the deal and date in writing. Ask: “Who is my legal employer before and after this deal? Is this a share sale or a TUPE transfer? What is the transfer date?” Save the reply.
2. Contact your union. Ask for the recognition agreement and the transfer information sent to reps. If there is no union, contact one for your sector and ask about organising and recognition.
3. Put the proposed changes on record. Ask: “What changes are planned to our jobs, shifts, pay, workplace or staffing? Who is consulting us, and when?” Tell your rep if management says there are no measures but announces new rotas or job cuts.
4. Keep the evidence safely. Save your own contract, relevant collective terms, payslips, rotas, letters and emails somewhere you can access if your work account closes. Do not copy confidential resident, patient or customer records. Get advice before signing new terms.
5. Have the claimant and deadline checked now. Where the recognised union’s representatives were not informed or consulted, the union is normally the claimant. Contact it immediately. In Great Britain, Acas can explain early conciliation; Citizens Advice, a law centre or your union legal service can help you identify the claim. See how tribunal claims work. In Northern Ireland, contact the LRA instead.

What has changed, and what is still scheduled?

This guide states the law as at 1 October 2026. The government’s timetable, updated 25 September 2026, separates measures already introduced from future plans.

1. 6 Apr 2026In force in Great Britain.

   Recognition ballot support is a majority of votes cast, without the old 40% whole-unit hurdle. The likely-majority application test has gone. The maximum collective redundancy protective award is 180 days.

2. 1 Oct 2026Tribunal time limits extended.

   GB tribunal limits covered by the reform increase from three to six months, subject to transitional rules. The equivalent change for breach-of-contract claims in Scotland is scheduled for 9 November 2026.

3. 30 Oct 2026Scheduled, not yet in force.

   Stronger union access rights, further recognition reforms including the bargaining-unit freeze, and new representative protections are due.

Electronic and workplace balloting introduced on 25 August 2026 concerns statutory trade union ballots. It does not mean CAC recognition ballots have switched to those methods: the timetable places that separate reform in 2027. January 2027 plans include the duty to tell workers about their right to join a union and reducing the ordinary unfair-dismissal qualifying period to six months. That is not day-one unfair-dismissal protection.