The Court of Appeal has held that a pre-transfer dismissal can be "connected with the transfer" within the meaning of regulation 7(1) of TUPE 2006, and therefore potentially automatically unfair, regardless of whether the identity of the transferee was known (or even contemplated) when the dismissal was carried out. In doing so, the court preferred the EAT's approach in Harrison Bowden Ltd v Bowden to that in Ibex Trading Co Ltd (In Administration) v Walton and others.

The court held that, in this case, the employment tribunal was entitled to find that the claimant's dismissal by administrators was connected with a subsequent TUPE transfer. Further, the administrators' desire to make the business more attractive to potential transferees did not amount to an economic, technical or organisational reason for dismissal within the meaning of regulation 7(1). Therefore, the claimant's dismissal was automatically unfair. (Spaceright Europe Ltd v Baillavoine and another [2011] EWCA Civ 1565.)