Client stories / Day care
How a Surrey day care business moved from HR firefighting to embedded HR support
Two HR providers had already let them down. Eight months on, What If HR is their embedded HR function: the inbox is answered, the paperwork matches reality and managers have somewhere to go.
- Sector
- Day care
- Location
- Surrey
- Team size
- 35 to 40 people
- Bought
- Retained HR Partner
- 8 monthsFrom firefighting to an HR function that runs
- 1 partnerAfter two providers that had not worked
- Inbox clearedThe backlog of HR questions answered
- Ready earlyRecords in order before an expected claim
Where the client started
Too big for informal HR, not ready for an HR manager
A growing day care business in Surrey, with employees and workers, variable hours, drivers and the licensing expectations of its sector. At 35 to 40 people it had no in-house HR, so the owners carried it themselves.
They had tried to fix that twice: first a large national HR provider, then a local consultancy. Neither got inside the business. By the time What If HR was recommended, there were live cases, an inbox of unanswered questions, records out of date and an employee who had left with a claim expected to follow.
We thought someone was dealing with this. Now we are not sure what is right, what is missing or what could come back to bite us.
Step by step
Eight months, in the order that mattered
Stabilise what was already in motion, close the gaps creating risk, rebuild the processes, then keep it all working.
The start
Recommended, then a trial
- Two HR providers had already let them down
- Trust had to be earned, so it began with a trial
- The test: quick, practical advice that fits the business
First, stabilise
The urgent things handled
- The HR inbox taken over and answered
- Live cases managed to an outcome
- Records ready before an expected claim, and a tribunal specialist found for the response
Then, close the gaps
Paperwork that matches reality
- New contracts and a new handbook
- Worker and employee status documented properly
- Holiday pay, sick pay and minimum wage checked
Then, rebuild
Processes that hold
- Probation letters and feedback on time
- Onboarding rebuilt, with health questions after the offer
- One digital form per joiner, filed automatically
Eight months on
HR that keeps working
- Managers come to us directly
- Quarterly checks against how the business runs
- Law changes filtered to what affects them
Before and after
What was exposed, and what is in place now
The result
An HR function the managers use
The inbox is monitored and answered. Managers come to What If HR directly, so problems arrive earlier instead of sitting with an owner for a week. The owners stay close to the decisions that matter, and are no longer first in line for every HR question.
Contracts match the arrangements they cover, probation no longer drifts and new starters arrive with their paperwork done. When the expected claim came, the business answered it from a proper file rather than rebuilding a year of history under pressure.
Next on the plan: the new harassment duties and the shorter qualifying period for unfair dismissal. The detail is on our employment law updates hub.
What this shows
- A trial builds trust, especially after providers that let you down.
- Order matters: stabilise first, then close the gaps, then rebuild.
- Good HR knows where it stops. The tribunal response needed a specialist, so we found one.
Carrying HR on your own?
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The business is not named, to protect confidentiality. This page describes one engagement and is not a promise of the same outcome. What If HR Ltd, Caterham, Surrey.