Since Employment Tribunal fees were abolished in 2017, the number of claims made against employers has skyrocketed.
It has never been more important for employers to ensure they are complying with their duties under employment law.
Rather than suffer sleepless nights worrying about worst-scenarios or attempting to tackle the situation yourself, seeking clear, pragmatic and commercially-sound advice from an Employment Law Consultant can help you to understand the legal position, identify your options and achieve the best possible, quickly.
Mark Wildman, Business and Commercial Manager,
SLT Leisure
What do Employment Law Consultants do?
The role of an Employment Law Consultant will vary from company to company, but their main responsibility is to act as an Employment Law specialist. They will support you with advice and guidance in the form of a legal helpline and may even be able to help you with practical tasks such as document drafting and reviewing and updating your contracts and handbooks.
Their aim is to help you comply with the law and best practice and ultimately save you time and money by preventing smaller issues from escalating into bigger, costlier problems.
Employment Law Consultants can assist with all your day-to-day employee relations challenges, whether you are having difficulty managing numerous and complex grievances, having to confront employee misconduct, or trying to deal with underperforming employees.
In addition to these immediate employee challenges, an Employment Law Consultant can also help you to manage organisational change, for example by helping you to amend employees’ terms and conditions of employment, conduct a redundancy exercise, or execute a restructure.
WorkNest: High-quality, fixed-fee Employment Law Consultants
At WorkNest our unique approach to Employment Law support combines the expertise of a traditional law firm with the cost certainty of fixed fees. What’s more, we take the time to get to know each of our clients, how they operate and their specific challenges, and assign a small team of trusted advisers to support you as an extension of your team.
- Single point of contact for Employment Law advice
- Bespoke document drafting, including contracts and handbooks
- Commercial, solutions-focused advice to get you the result you want
- Optional Legal Expenses Insurance
- Complete cost transparency, with fees that won't change even if you grow
Our clients range from small employers with less than 50 employees at just one location, through to large employers with thousands of people and multiple sites around the UK. Our largest client has over 10,000 employees.
Typically, for small employers we support managers, directors and owners. For large employers we support their specialist in-house HR and safety teams.
Whatever your size, set-up or current situation, our team of professionally-qualified Employment Law Consultants can help to take the pressure off people management and compliance so that you can focus on what you do best.
HR Management Software
In addition to ongoing support from your dedicated adviser, we also provide a range of software solutions to make managing your responsibilities easier, from an Employment Law Knowledge Hub to your own personal area where you can store important documents and access recorded conversations with your adviser.
Our online portal also includes intuitive HR Management Software to make managing employee information simple. Here you can manage holidays and absences, record training and qualifications, and run management reports.
Why Choose WorkNest’s Employment Law Consultants
As part of our personalised service, you will develop a relationship with one lead Employment Law Consultant, supported by a small team of advisers. They will get to know your organisation so that they can offer tailored advice with your best interests and commercial goals in mind.
Importantly, unlike some larger providers, where you might speak to a different person each time you pick up the phone, our named support means you can get quick, practical advice with no catching up required and no time wasted.
We understand that you run a business, and therefore:
- You don’t want overly-cautious advice that restricts your ability to take necessary decisions. Your Employment Law Consultant won’t just recite the law; they will work with you to understand your commercial objectives, take a pragmatic approach to legal risk, and achieve the result you are looking for.
- Dealing with complex employee issues can take up significant time and resource. Our aim is to relieve some of this burden so that you can focus on running your business without distraction.
- Getting it wrong can be costly. We’re here to help you avoid expensive legal mistakes and preserve your reputation as a responsible employer.
In addition to the volume of claims increasing year-on-year since fees were abolished, research shows that Employment Tribunal claims are becoming more complex and taking longer to resolve, incurring further time and expense. All of this means greater risk to employers.
In addition to expert advice to proactively prevent legal missteps and stop disputes from escalating, our optional, FCA-regulated Legal Expenses Insurance covers the cost of defending any claims brought against your organisation, plus any settlements or awards, for added peace of mind.
What’s more, because our insurance is placed independently to us, you can be sure there’s no conflict of interest; our goal is to seek outcomes that are favourable to you.
With a law firm, hourly fees mean costs can run away from you, particularly if a complex or time-consuming issue comes up. With our fixed-fee service, the price you pay stays the same throughout the duration of your contract, no matter how much your business grows or how many times you need to call on us for support.
For business leaders, this means peace of mind, better budget control, and no nasty surprises.
We’re ready when you are
Whether you’re facing an immediate issue or just want to find out more about how our fixed-fee service can relieve your people pressures, call 0345 226 8393 for your free Employment Law advice consultation.
Quick-fire Employment Law Guides
What is the employment law consultation period for redundancy?
If you are proposing to dismiss as redundant 20 or more employees at one establishment within a period of 90 days or less, you must consult with representatives of any of the employees who may be affected. You will need to do this without delay.
The consultation period will depend on the scale of the redundancy exercise. If you are proposing to make 100 or more employees redundant, consultation must start at least 45 days before any dismissals take effect. Otherwise, you must consult for at least 30 days.
Even if you are planning to make fewer than 20 redundancies, you should still consult employees individually to explain why they have been selected and consider alternative routes.
