Employment Package for 2020

We are pleased to announce our new Employment Package for 2020.  Using our long experience of advising local businesses, we have formulated an Employment Package which we believe will be of great benefit to all local businesses, regardless of size.

We pride ourselves on being able to provide robust advice when you need it most. We are qualified solicitors offering a local professional service.  As a local business we are able to offer very competitive prices and we choose to have no tie in clauses, because this is in your best interests.

If you have a package with us, you can contact us to discuss any HR or employment issue without the worry of costs. The Employment Package gives you that piece of mind. If you contact us for advice, you will not be put through to a call centre.  You will speak to one of our qualified solicitors who will know you and understand the culture of your business. You will either speak to us immediately or you will receive a call back before close of business that day.

Please find below a summary of the services we offer as part of the Basic Employment Package:-

  • An employment audit on all of your employment documents.  This will involve a full review of your employment contracts, handbook and policies to ensure that they are up to date.
  • Provision of face to face advice.  We can visit you at your place of work and get to know your business and culture.  We feel this is a great benefit to both of us if you do require any advice. We will be able to advise you and quickly understand the issues you are facing.
  • We provide tailored and suggested letters in relation to whatever issues have arisen.  For example, if you are dealing with a disciplinary procedure we can provide you with the letter templates to send out to your employee at each step from inviting them to the first meeting, through to the final decision.
  • Provision of checklists to guide you through formal meetings.
  • Advice on all stages of disciplinary matters.  We can guide you through the investigation, meetings and appeal stages and help you to identify the most appropriate sanction.
  • Advice on all stages of grievance matters.  We can guide you through the procedure including the investigation, meetings and appeal stages and can help you identify the most reasonable outcome.
  • Family friendly issues.  If you have any employees that are on (or due to go on) maternity, paternity or adoption leave, we can advise you on, and guide you through, the various (and often complex) processes that apply before, during and after the period of leave.  We can also assist you with handling flexible working requests, the scope of which has recently been extended.
  • Capability issues.  If you have any situation where you believe an employee is either underperforming or the business is suffering due to long term sickness absence, we can help you manage the situation.
  • Discrimination.  The Equality Act 2010 protects people with one or more of the ‘protected characteristics’ (sex, marital or civil partnership status, race, gender reassignment, religion or belief, sexual orientation, pregnancy or maternity leave, age and disability).  We can provide advice if you have any issues in relation to discrimination such as harassment, victimisation or any form of direct or indirect discrimination. These issues are often complex and could arise, for example, if someone is associated with someone who has a protected characteristic.
  • Changes to terms and conditions.  If you would like to make changes to your terms and conditions of employment, we can provide advice and guide you through the procedure and draft the changes.
  • Settlement agreements.  If you find yourself in a situation where a mutual settlement might be the most suitable outcome for a particular situation, we can advise you on the same, help negotiate terms and draft the agreement.
  • TUPE.  The TUPE regulations protect employees who work in a business or a part of a business or in a role that is moving from one employer to another.  We can provide advice on how to manage TUPE if you are selling or buying a business or part of it, or if you are making changes to your service providers.
  • General HR advice.

Services not covered in the Basic Employment Package

  • Redundancies – we can give you general advice about redundancies under the Basic Employment Package, but if you needed help with carrying out a redundancy exercise, including preparing the process, we would charge you on an agreed hourly rate.  However, this is likely to be a reduced rate due to you being part of the Employment Package.
  • The contribution to legal fees in respect of employees who are considering entering into a settlement agreement is outside the employment package

Enhanced Employment Package

We can also offer an Enhanced Employment package, which covers all of the above and also covers the costs of our legal fees incurred in representing you in an Employment Tribunal claim or County Court claim which related to an employment matter.  It would not, however, cover the cost of any compensation award, although we can help you arrange an insurance policy to cover these costs if you wish.

Whichever package you decide to go for is your choice, we can discuss the options with you to help to you make the right choice for your business.

Charges

The charges for your Employment Package will depend on a number of factors such as the size of your business and the number of employee you have etc.  We are very confident that our charges are very competitive compared with all other HR and employment law package providers. For example a company with approximately twenty employees may only be £150 plus VAT each month for a Basic Employment Package.  This is a very general example, so please contact us for a quote tailored to your business.

The fees can be paid on a monthly basis or on an annual basis, whichever you would prefer.

Termination

One thing we pride ourselves on (and which we believe is a great benefit to you as an employer) is that we don’t feel it necessary to tie you in to long term contracts.  We only ask for one months’ notice if you decide to terminate your Employment Package. Many organisations will tie you in for a number of years.

We will review the terms of your Employment Package with you every twelve months.

Why choose Livingstons?

  • No tie in clauses, you can end the arrangement with a months’ notice
  • Competitive charges
  • Local professional advice
  • We can build a relationship with you and your business culture so when you call, we will understand what you need
  • Advice from qualified solicitors
  • We will evaluate the fees after 12 months and, depending on your usage, may reduce them.

The right package for you

The right package for you is one that will work best with the needs of your business and culture. We suggest that you contact us to discuss your needs and we can design the best package for you. If you are interested please contact Steve Walker on s.walker@livingstons.co.uk or telephone 01229 585555.