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What FM Managers Need to Know About Employee Liability Information (ELI)
- Maxcene Crowe
- 4 hours ago
- 5 min read
The Call You Don't Want Three Days Before Go-Live
It's Tuesday. Your go-live is Friday. The incoming contract starts at 06:00 and you're running through final workforce costings when the ELI lands in your inbox — 47 pages, a poorly formatted spreadsheet, and a covering note that reads: "Please note some salary figures are still being confirmed."
Three employees are listed at the wrong pay grade. Two are missing written particulars entirely. One has an ongoing tribunal claim that nobody mentioned in the tender. And you have 72 hours.
This is not a horror story. This is Tuesday in FM mobilisation.
Employee Liability Information — ELI — is one of the most consequential documents in any TUPE transfer. Get it right, and your mobilisation builds on solid ground. Get it wrong, or get it late, and you're carrying liabilities you didn't price for, onboarding staff you don't fully understand, and potentially facing a compensation claim before the contract has even started.
What is ELI?
ELI is the statutory obligation placed on an outgoing service provider (the "transferor") to share specific employment information with the incoming provider (the "transferee") before a TUPE transfer takes place.
It is governed by Regulation 11 of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006, commonly known as TUPE 2006. The regulation exists because, under TUPE, employees transfer to the incoming employer automatically — with all their existing terms, conditions, rights, and liabilities attached. Without ELI, the incoming provider is essentially inheriting a workforce blind.
As the GOV.UK TUPE guide makes clear, ELI is not optional and not a courtesy — it is a legal requirement, and failure to comply carries real financial consequences.
What ELI Must Contain
Regulation 11 specifies five mandatory categories of information:
Identity and age — the employee's name and date of birth
Written particulars — the Section 1 statement of employment (contract terms, pay, hours, holiday entitlement, notice periods)
Disciplinary and grievance history — any disciplinary or grievance action taken against the employee in the previous two years
Current or anticipated tribunal claims — any employment tribunal proceedings the employee has brought or is likely to bring, including ongoing claims or those reasonably anticipated
Collective agreements — details of any collective agreements that will apply to the employee post-transfer
This information must be accurate, complete, and structured in a way that the incoming provider can actually use. Vague references to "standard terms and conditions" or "see HR for details" do not meet the standard.
The 28-Day Rule
ELI must be delivered to the incoming provider no later than 28 days before the transfer date. This is not a soft deadline. If ELI arrives late — or is so incomplete as to be functionally useless — the incoming provider has grounds to bring a claim to an employment tribunal.
Compensation for a failure to provide ELI is a minimum of £500 per affected employee, with no statutory upper limit. On a contract mobilising 30 staff, late or inadequate ELI could generate a £15,000 exposure before your first invoice is raised.
The DCS Group FM TUPE guide notes that these claims are increasingly being pursued as FM operators become more sophisticated about their contractual rights — and as procurement teams build ELI obligations more tightly into contract terms.
Why ELI Matters for Mobilisation Planning
In FM, ELI is not just a legal formality. It is a mobilisation input. Here is what you cannot do properly without it:
Workforce costing — you cannot finalise your payroll model, confirm pension obligations, or calculate your total employment cost without accurate salary, hours, and contractual benefit data for every transferring employee.
Onboarding timeline — the written particulars tell you which employees are on different notice periods, which have enhanced terms, and which may need individual consultation. This shapes your onboarding and communications plan.
Insurance and liability assessment — tribunal claims listed in ELI represent live or anticipated financial liabilities. These must be factored into your risk model and potentially disclosed to your insurers.
TUPE indemnity clauses — most well-drafted FM contracts include indemnities where the outgoing provider remains liable for claims that arise from pre-transfer conduct. But those indemnities only protect you if you know what you're inheriting. As the NEC Contracts FM TUPE practice note highlights, ELI accuracy directly affects how TUPE indemnity provisions operate in practice.
What Good ELI Looks Like
Good ELI is structured, complete, and arrives early — ideally 6 to 8 weeks before go-live, not 28 days.
It is delivered in a consistent format (a spreadsheet or table, not a collection of individual HR files). Each of the five mandatory categories is addressed for every transferring employee. The outgoing provider confirms the date the information was accurate and provides a named contact for queries.
Good ELI also comes with a process. If the incoming provider identifies an error — a salary discrepancy, a missing written particulars, an undisclosed claim — there is a clear, agreed mechanism for raising and resolving it before the transfer date. As RFM Group's TUPE in FM guidance notes, early collaboration between outgoing and incoming providers is what separates clean transfers from costly ones.
What to Do When ELI is Late, Incomplete or Inaccurate
First, document everything. Note the date ELI was received, what was missing, and what was inaccurate. If you have already requested ELI and it hasn't arrived, put that request in writing with a clear deadline referenced to the 28-day rule.
Second, raise it formally with the outgoing provider and — where applicable — with the client. Your contract should include provisions for ELI delivery; if the outgoing provider is in breach, the client needs to know and may have leverage to compel compliance.
Third, assess your exposure. For each error or gap, estimate the financial and operational risk. Can you mobilise safely? Do you need to adjust your pricing? Are there claims you need to notify your insurers about?
Finally, preserve your right to claim. If ELI was not delivered in time or was materially deficient, you may have a valid tribunal claim. Take legal advice and do not waive your rights by simply accepting the situation without record.
Practical Checklist: 5 Things to Do With ELI on Receipt
Date-stamp and log it — record when ELI arrived and who sent it, immediately
Check for completeness — verify all five mandatory categories are present for every employee; flag gaps in writing within 48 hours
Validate against your costings — cross-check salary, hours, and contractual terms against your pricing model; quantify any discrepancy
Review tribunal and disciplinary entries — flag any claims or history that affect your risk profile or require legal or insurance notification
Confirm your query process — establish a named contact at the outgoing provider and agree a written process for resolving inaccuracies before the transfer date
Strengthen Your Knowledge
ELI sits at the intersection of employment law, contract management, and mobilisation planning. Getting it right is a skill — and it is one worth investing in.
Mastering TUPE: Process and Compensation Strategies covers the full TUPE framework, including how to handle ELI disputes, compensation claims, and indemnity structures. £45, 1.5 hours — directly applicable to live contract work.
MCFM00132: Mobilising Human Resources and TUPE in Facilities Management takes a broader look at the HR mobilisation workstream — from ELI receipt through to Day 1 readiness — within the context of FM contract delivery.
Both courses are available on the MCFM Academy platform and are built for FM practitioners, not HR generalists.
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