Expert HR Support 

 From Expert Employment Solicitors

How can you obtain the HR support that you need and the employment law advice that you deserve for your business, without employing a dedicated expert?

Employment law specialists in virtual and outsourced firms fall into two basic camps: H.R. consultants and employment law solicitors.

H.R. consultants can be great and are sometimes very cheap. However, they are not legally qualified or regulated and sometimes lack legal knowledge. Most importantly, unlike solicitors, their communications with you are not protected by ‘legal privilege’ meaning that they must be disclosed in legal proceedings, however confidential in nature. This comes as a shock to businesses who find that their emails to and from H.R. consultants and unqualified advisers cannot be kept confidential when former employees take legal action against them.

Specialist employment law solicitors can offer the surety and qualified expertise which is missing with other unregulated advice providers. They also have experience of representing employers and employees which gives them a practical and tactical insight that consultants cannot share. However, they are often tied to billing targets and high hourly rates which make their charging structures inflexible and unaffordable.

Expert Employment Solicitors was established to address the growing need for employers to access affordable expert employment law advice and H.R. support. Run by an experienced specialist solicitor, we are a small niche practice with intentionally few fixed costs and overheads. We employ no junior or unqualified staff. Case volumes are conscientiously limited. This enables us to offer top quality personal service for astonishingly reasonable prices.

H.R. Support Services

The available options from other employment law providers boil down to two main types:

1. An unlimited advice legal package (with or without legal protection insurance) or
2. Pay-as-you-go legal advice

The benefit of option 1 is financial certainty; you know that, irrespective of the amount of advice that you need, you will not need to spend any more money. This certainty is enhanced if you also obtain legal protection insurance. It can therefore be much cheaper than paying the hourly rates of a specialist employment solicitor.

However, this arrangement is very inflexible; you pay for the advice whether or not you need it. Therefore, you will only get value for money if your need correlates strongly to the price that you are paying. By the time you have signed up to an annual or three year contract, it is too late to change your mind.

The worst thing is that you may then be tied in for the whole period (up to five years) even if you are deeply unhappy with the quality of service. 

Expert HR Support from Expert Employment Solicitors offers a refreshingly flexible alternative. We offer a wide range of quality support packages including:

1. Unlimited support for a fixed annual or monthly fee
2. Reduced hourly rates on a block-payment basis.
3. A monthly payment contract for a defined number of hours (from one hour upwards) with unused hours to be rolled-over to following months. This is the most popular contract with our clients.

As far as price is concerned, we adapt to your needs and budget. We have done our research and cannot find a better value service out there.  However, it is important to note that we are a specialist solicitors’ practice, not an ‘advisory service’. We will therefore differ in cost and quality from those providers with whom we do not intend to compete. 

Key Features

The key features of our virtual H.R. support packages which really mark us out from our competitors are:

1. No onerous tie-in clauses; we are so confident that you won't want to leave us!
   
2. Continuous personal service from the same qualified, experienced solicitor.
   
3. No junior or unqualified staff.
4. Expert advice which adds value; not 'script readers' who tick boxes.
5. No distinction between 'legal'/'non-legal' or 'routine'/'non-routine' matters; your specialist solicitor will help with all your queries for the same, fixed fee.
6. Legal Expenses Insurance as an option rather than obligatory service. 

When comparing us with others, be sure to ask about equivalent key features in their contracts. You can then truly compare like with like. 

Legal Expenses Insurance (LEI) 

Many providers offer insurance as part of their monthly fee. They often say that it offers ‘total peace of mind’.  Businesses are attracted by the economic certainty of never having to pay legal costs or compensation. As with any insurance option, LEI policies differ vastly in their coverage and conditions. We have encountered many clients over the years who have been badly let down by their providers and policies which have not provided the cover which they have needed. They have found themselves ‘straight-jacketed’ into following policies, procedures and litigation routes which they do not want, rather than the best solution for their business. In fact many clients give up and decide not to claim in order to avoid the onerous conditions which are imposed by those insurance policies.

We searched for a quality LEI provider which we truly believed would be best for our clients and negotiated the best terms. We did not look for the cheapest or easiest option but the one which would provide true value for money and cover that clients could really access. There is no point in paying for insurance, however cheaply, if it does not cover your needs.

We recommend that small businesses with few employees should carefully consider whether purchasing a LEI policy is really a cost-effective use of their funds. Once a company reaches a certain number of employees, we will have a full and frank discussion with you about the LEI policy which we are able to offer and how your business may be able to benefit from its provisions. Until then, the focus should be on prevention rather than cure and making effective use of your staff.