If your business is buying another company, or taking over a contract or service, TUPE (the Transfer of Undertakings, Protection of Employment Regulations) almost certainly applies — and getting it wrong is one of the most common ways SME acquisitions turn expensive. Here's what actually needs to happen, in order. 1. Work out if TUPE applies TUPE generally applies to a business sale, a merger, or when a service contract (like cleaning, catering, or IT support) moves from one

Supporting employees through menopause at work

Guidance from an HR consultant in Hertfordshire and London on whether small businesses need written HR policies, and which ones actually matter. It's one of the most common questions we hear from small business owners across Hertfordshire and London: "We're only a handful of people. Do we really need formal HR policies?" The short answer is yes, but not for the reason most people expect. The short answer There's no UK law that says a business under a certain size must have wr

If you run a small business, you've probably relied on the fact that most employees don't get round to making tribunal claims in time. That safety net has been removed. From 1 October 2026, the deadline for bringing most employment tribunal claims has gone from three months to six months. The commercial impact of that shift is larger than most business owners realise. Here's what you need to understand and what to do about it. What actually changes on 1 October

Guidance from an HR consultant in Camden on the two new trade union obligations every employer needs to prepare for before 30 October 2026. As a small business owner, you've probably never had to think about trade unions. The Employment Rights Act changes that. Two new obligations take effect on 30 October, and one of them applies to every employer in the country regardless of size. The penalties for getting it wrong can reach £500,000. Here's what you need to know and what t

Advice from an HR consultant in Camden, London on why building a speak-up culture protects your business from costly tribunal claims. As a small business owner, you've probably never had an employee take you to a tribunal. That can make it feel like a distant risk. It isn't. Single tribunal claims rose 39% in the past year, with over 64,000 individual cases currently waiting to be heard. More than half a million claims are sitting in the system. Most of those cases started wi

Sexual harassment complaints against senior leaders put HR in an uncomfortable position: investigating someone who holds more power than you do. Support for HR directors and business owners in Hertfordshire, London and across the UK handling sensitive workplace investigations. The dynamics are different Normal reporting lines don't work when the person under investigation sits above you in the org chart: Timelines often stretch out, and momentum stalls. Colleagues may downpla

What you owe nursing employees when they return to work Support from an HR consultant in Camden, London on understanding your obligations to breastfeeding employees and how to get this right. As a small business owner, you might assume that breastfeeding at work isn't something you need to worry about until it comes up. By that point, you could already be exposed to a discrimination claim with uncapped financial damages. Most employers I speak to have no idea they carry speci

Surveilling employees on sick leave could cost you six figures

If a customer behaves inappropriately towards one of your staff, you might assume that's a customer problem, not an employer problem. From October 2026, the law will see it differently. A new legal duty will make you directly liable if you haven't taken all reasonable steps to protect your employees from harassment by people outside your organisation. That includes customers, clients, suppliers and members of the public. Here's what you need to know and what to put in place

Insight from an HR consultant in Camden on the casual interview questions that expose your business to discrimination claims. As a business owner, you're probably confident that nobody on your team would deliberately discriminate during an interview. That confidence doesn't protect you. Discrimination law doesn't care about what the interviewer meant. It only looks at the effect of what was said. A single casual question could give a rejected candidate enough to bring a cl

Interim HR support might be your most cost-effective HR option If you think HR support means hiring someone full-time or managing without because that's too expensive, think again. There's a middle option that a lot of businesses overlook. Interim HR support has been growing as a solution for businesses that need real expertise for a specific period. Maybe for a restructure, a complex people issue or for getting ahead of Employment Rights Act changes. The appeal is straightfo

Are your employee perks worth the money you spend on them Guidance from an HR consultant in Camden and Westminster on how to measure whether your benefits are delivering real commercial value or quietly draining your budget. As a business owner, you're probably spending money on employee perks without knowing whether they're making any difference. Most of the time, perks get introduced because they seem like a good idea. Nobody goes back to check if they actually changed anyt

From 1 January 2027, employees can claim unfair dismissal after just six months of service. Down from two years. The risk profile of every hire your organisation makes changes fundamentally and much sooner than before. What actually changes Anyone you hire from July 2026 onwards will reach six months' service by 1 January 2027 and gain protection on that date. The clock is already running. Alongside this, the statutory cap on compensatory awards is being removed. Currently se

An engineering worker was awarded £66,295 plus £1,800 costs after his employer dismissed him for raising concerns about his manager's competence. The employer thought they had a reasonable case. The tribunal thought otherwise. And, from January 2027, cases like this are about to get a lot more expensive. Here's what happened and what it means for you. "Obstructive and unsupportive" Andrew Estcourt was a chief engineer who repeatedly raised concerns that his new manager didn't

You probably won't find out someone is leaving until they hand in their notice. By then, in most cases, the decision was made weeks ago. Summer tends to be when this plays out. People go on holiday, get some headspace, start browsing jobs on their phones, and come back with a plan. If you haven't spotted the signs early enough, you're already behind. This quick guide covers three things: What to look for before someone gets to that point How to mitigate unwanted leavers throu

From October, if one of your employees makes a harassment claim, a policy alone won't cut it. I know you might think a policy stored away somewhere is enough. But, with the rule changes, you must be able to evidence how you took all reasonable steps to prevent harassment in your workplace. A quick look at the timeline Pre-2023: Equality Act 2010 meant that employers generally had a defence so long as they could point to a policy they had in place. 2024: The Worker Protection

An easier way to review and manage holiday requests It's summer and there's going to be a surge of holiday requests coming your way... HR software won't stop your team from wanting the same two weeks in August. But it will stop the admin chaos that follows... When leave is managed through a proper system, employees can see their own balances, submit requests online and get a decision without chasing anyone. Managers can see at a glance who's in, who's off and whether approvin

Loneliness at work Loneliness at work rarely looks the way you'd expect. You might think an employee who feels lonely might not speak up in meetings as much. Or they start taking more days off. But actually, loneliness can show up in all sorts of subtle ways. And, ultimately, it usually ends up affecting performance, which impacts your bottom line as a small business owner. How loneliness costs you When people feel like they belong, they engage more and stay longer. The peopl