The UK’s Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) has reversed an Employment tribunal decision in an important ruling concerning a service provision change (SPC) under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (TUPE). Although regulation 3 of TUPE is silent about whether the necessary ‘organized grouping of employees’ must be active at the time of the SPC, the EAT decided that, as the purpose of TUPE is to protect employment, a temporary lay off of workers in a contracting organisation immediately prior to the transfer would not, in itself, invalidate a TUPE claim.