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If you’re a small business owner, chances are you’ve hired someone on a casual, part-time, or freelance basis. But are you confident you’re paying holiday correctly,  and that your team is properly classified? Holiday pay is one of the most misunderstood areas of employment law. Recent legal cases, including Main v SpaDental (2024), show that […]

One of the most expensive mistakes a manager can make is delaying a difficult conversation with an employee. I recently supported a client who postponed tackling performance issues with a staff member. By the time they decided to act, the employee had reached two years’ service, a crucial milestone in UK employment law. At this […]

A recent case highlights just how crucial it is for employers to carry out thorough right to work checks. One of my clients only realised they had unknowingly employed an individual using someone else’s identity when the real person, whose identity had been used applied for a job with them. Shockingly, the real person was […]

Recently, I’ve noticed a worrying trend among some clients. Several have asked me for disciplinary hearing letters related to alleged employee misconduct. However, when I ask to see the investigation reports, I’m often told there isn’t one. Instead, they say the employee is simply “guilty,” and they want to proceed straight to a hearing. This […]

The UK Supreme Court has ruled that the terms ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010 refer specifically to “biological woman” and “biological sex.” This landmark decision, delivered on 15 April 2025, clarifies that for the purposes of the Equality Act, a person’s sex is determined by biology, not by gender recognition certificates (GRCs) […]

The recent increases in National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Insurance (NI) contributions have placed significant financial pressure on businesses, prompting many to consider redundancies as a way to manage costs. However, redundancy is a sensitive process that must be handled carefully to ensure compliance with employment law and fairness to employees. Here’s a concise […]

Fair Dismissals With the upcoming increase in employer national insurance rates, tighter margins, and rising overall business expenses, it’s understandable that you might have a lot on your plate. During such challenging times, optimising every aspect of your company is crucial—including your workforce. The saying goes, “bad company corrupts good character,” and this can certainly […]

What are the advantages of outsourced HR and outsourcing to a sole HR Consultant as opposed to a larger HR business? The landscape for managing HR in your business is about to become more challenging. The initial months of the Labour administration have introduced their Employment Rights Bill, which is filled with measures that will […]

The legal entitlement for paid holiday in the UK is 5.6 weeks per year for almost all workers, except those who are genuinely self-employed. This entitlement is derived from the Working Time Regulations 1998. The principle behind holiday pay is that workers should not suffer financially for taking time off, and their pay while on […]

Another storm, another fence panel down. Lying in bed this morning listening to the wind, I wondered why I didn’t just replace the entire fence. I then thought about how this related to HR and employee issues, obviously nothing better to think about at 5am in the morning! Just as I’ve been replacing individual fence […]