Employment law retainer

Our fixed fee employment law package 'YEAR' is a flexible service that aims to revolve around your business needs. We appreciate that you will not require our services every day or you may not require any advice for weeks at a time, however, when you do need us we are on hand and your bill is fixed and invoiced on the same day every month … so, no nasty surprises.

YEAR membership

• Employment law advice from qualified solicitors for 12 months
• An initial audit to review existing HR documents and to identify areas of improvement*
• Staff handbook and employment contracts updating service (if required)
• Bespoke letters
• Primary and secondary adviser allocation
• Access to the wider firm, with options to explore support and services from other teams
• Monthly billing
• Optional legal expenses insurance available.

YEAR plus

For businesses looking for face to face support, our YEAR + package means a member of our employment law team will visit you at your premises.

These sessions can be tailored to suit your needs and can include: HR training, chairing of hearings and/or providing face-to-face advice.

Training

As part of our 'YEAR' package, we host workshops and seminars keeping you up to date with the latest changes in employment legislation or offering advice on both employment law and HR issues encountered by our clients.

Our most popular training packages are:

• An introduction to employment law for line managers;
• Managing stress in the workplace;
• Managing absence: holidays, family friendly leave and long-term sickness; and
• Conducting effective disciplinary investigations and hearings.

Training is designed by experienced employment law solicitors, and supported by our HR professionals.

We can also design tailored made workshops, seminars and training programmes to help clients with specific issues within their business, which can be delivered in house to HR and senior management teams or on a one to one basis.

Our training programmes can cover any HR or employment law topic, and we are happy to speak with you about any training needs. Previous courses have included:

• HR skills for business;
• Effective mentoring in the workplace;
• Conducting successful employee reviews;
• Recruitment, interviewing and selection;
• Employment law for HR professionals;
• Employment law for business owners;
• Absence management, bullying and discrimination;
• Conducting a grievance investigation; and
• Performance management and dismissals.

Is YEAR for your business?

Our current YEAR clients are made up of a number of different businesses, across different sectors, different sizes and alternative management and HR structures.

For small to medium businesses with little or no HR team or support, our team can be on hand to help with all the issues that arise daily, draft any documents and letters and provide a general HR support system for the management team within your business.

For larger organisations our team can support existing HR Managers with the more complex and technical issues that do not arise on a daily basis.

YEAR is for everyone and can be adapted to your business needs. This is a service for your business.

How is a YEAR quote calculated?

Unlike many similar retained employment law services on the market, we do not operate from a fixed pricing structure. All of our YEAR quotes are bespoke and based on your business. The two pieces of information we require to provide you with a YEAR quote is your annual wage bill and your current number of employees.

The (not so) small print

At present any advice about TUPE, redundancies of over 20 employees and tribunal claims are not included in a YEAR subscription. We operate on a transparent pricing structure so if any such issues were to arise, we would provide you with a precise quote for the costs anticipated and keep you updated as to our fee’s on your account.

Alongside YEAR membership, we are also pleased to offer the opportunity of optional legal expenses cover in the eventuality of any employment or HR issue we have previously advised on progressing to a tribunal. The legal expenses insurance would provide a contribution towards legal fees, barrister costs and insurance on any potential payout.