UK: first Court of Appeal ruling on territorial scope of collective redundancy consultation duty

The Court of Appeal has ruled on the territorial scope of the duty to inform and consult on collective redundancies at an establishment. The duty applies where the relevant establishment has a sufficiently close connection with Great Britain, and not simply where the employees have sufficient connection. In this case the Court considered that the ships of a fleet operating mostly outside UK territorial waters were each a single establishment (such that the duty would apply only if 20 redundancies were proposed on one ship) and the fact that some administrative functions were performed in Surrey was insufficient connection for the duty to apply. (Seahorse Maritime Limited v Nautilus International)