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Sponsored workers and business purchases

Buying a pharmacy can be a complex undertaking, even more so when the pharmacy you are buying holds a sponsor licence. A sponsor licence is a licence issued to employers by the Home Office which allows them to employ non-British, non-Irish workers. As a result of free movement ending on 31 December 2020, many business have accepted the Government’s recommendation to obtain a sponsor licence in order to meet their current and future recruitment needs. 

Pharmacy businesses can use a sponsor licence to recruit the following roles; Pharmacists, Chemist (pharmaceutical), Dispensary manager, Pharmaceutical chemist, Pharmacist and Pharmacy manager.

A TUPE transfer may occur where there is a transfer of a business (or undertaking) or part of a business (or undertaking) that retains its identity after the transfer (a business transfer).  For example, the sale of a pharmacy business.  A TUPE transfer may also occur where a client engages a contractor to do work on its behalf, reassigns such a contract or brings the work “in-house” (a service provision change).  For example, where an organisation decides to stop doing cleaning internally and outsources it to a contractor who will provide the same service externally.

Where TUPE applies, the transferor’s (e.g. the seller of the business) employees, who are assigned to the business or service, automatically transfer to the transferee’s (e.g. the buyer of the business) employment on their existing terms and conditions of employment.  Put simply, the transferee effectively “steps into the  shoes” of the transferor with regard to the transferring employees’ employment and all of the transferor’s rights, powers, duties and liabilities under or in connection with the transferring employees’ employment contracts pass to the transferee.

TUPE does not apply to the purchase of shares in a company and will also not apply in some cases where the transferring business or service will not be the same after the transfer.  However, TUPE is a complex area and expert advice should be sought as to whether TUPE applies at an early stage. For example, it is possible for TUPE to apply to any inter-group transfers following a share purchase.