Making Sense of TUPE

Abstract This article reviews the contribution of Sir Patrick Elias to the interpretation of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006, principally through an examination of a selection of the most significant of his judgments concerning the transfer legislation. Not only did these decisions bring clarity to the interpretation of potentially problematic and practically important aspects of the transfer legislation. They also demonstrate how questions of when purposive, as opposed to traditional (and literal) domestic, statutory interpretation should be adopted can be navigated properly and effectively.