Services / Care providers
What if HR stopped landing on your registered manager's desk?
HR support for care providers: care homes, home care and care start-ups with no in-house HR.
Based in Caterham, Surrey, and working across London, the South East and the UK.
Care runs on people, shift patterns and checks that have to be right before anyone starts. We are the HR function for owner-run care businesses that do not have one: contracts that fit zero-hours and bank staff, pay that holds up against the minimum wage and someone to call when a situation with a member of staff cannot wait.
Something happening today? Call 07557 982407, Monday to Friday 9 to 5, or email hello@whatifhr.co.uk. We reply the same working day.
From £150 a month + VAT
ongoing HR support, priced by team size
- Who it is for
- Care homes, home care agencies and care start-ups with 1 to 50 staff
- Where
- Based in Caterham, Surrey. In person across London and the South East when the work needs it
- First step
- A free 20-minute call, or an HR Health Check for £395 + VAT
Straight answers
What care employers ask us, answered briefly
What if a resident's relative keeps making comments to one of our carers?
From 30 October 2026, the planned date, the duty to prevent sexual harassment of your staff becomes a duty to take all reasonable steps, and you must not permit harassment of your staff by third parties, such as residents, families and visitors. A short policy, a clear way to report and acting on every report is the minimum that works.
The new harassment dutyWhat if our home care rota pays per visit?
For the minimum wage, time spent travelling between visits counts as working time. Pay per visit can look fine and still fall below the minimum wage once the travel is added, so check the hours behind each payslip as well as the rate.
What if a sleep-in shift is paid a flat rate?
Since the Supreme Court's 2021 decision in the Mencap case, a worker on a sleep-in who is allowed to sleep counts towards the minimum wage only for the time they are awake for the purposes of working. If they are woken so often that they cannot really sleep, the whole shift can count. Write down what a sleep-in involves, and record the time someone is woken to work.
What if most of the team are on zero-hours or bank contracts?
For leave years that started on or after 1 April 2024, holiday for irregular-hours and part-year staff builds up at 12.07% of the hours they work. Since 6 April 2026 you must keep six years of holiday records. Rights to guaranteed hours, reasonable notice of shifts and payment for shifts cancelled at short notice are planned for 2027, with dates still to be confirmed.
What is changing, and whenWhat if a carer phones in sick?
Since 6 April 2026, Statutory Sick Pay is due from the first full day off sick, and the lower earnings limit has gone, so part-time and lower-paid staff qualify too.
Check who qualifies and how muchWhat if we need someone to start this week?
For a CQC-registered service the checks still come first: a right to work check before they start, references, a full employment history with any gaps explained and, for anyone in regulated activity, an enhanced DBS check that includes the adults barred list. We set the process up so it runs the same way every time and leaves a record.
Recruitment Support
General information, not legal advice. Dates that may still move are tracked on our employment law changes page.
Connected services
What we do for care employers
Start where you are. Every price is on the website.
- Ongoing supportRetained HR PartnerThe HR function you do not have: one named consultant, advice when you need it, letters drafted and cases run.from £150 a month + VAT
- Know where you standHR Health CheckContracts, pay, holiday, sick pay and records checked against the law, with your top three fixes.£395 + VAT
- Get set up properlyHR Foundations BuildContracts that fit zero-hours and bank staff, a handbook people read and your core policies, walked through with you.from £1,800 + VAT
- A live issueEmployee Relations SupportA disciplinary, grievance or absence case, handled properly from here.from £125 an hour + VAT
Our clients in care include a care home and a care start-up. Read our client stories.
Elena built our employment contract and a separate services agreement for a contractor role from scratch, in plain English, scoped to how we work.
In a fast moving and dynamic Charity like our own we have no time for clunky support and Elena is definitely not clunky.
Straight answers
Common questions
Can't see your question?
Ask us directly. We reply the same working day.
Book a free 20-minute callor email hello@whatifhr.co.uk
Do you help with sponsor licences for overseas care workers?
No. Sponsorship is immigration advice, which only a regulated immigration adviser or an immigration lawyer can give. We handle the HR side: right to work checks, contracts and records.
Will a fair pay agreement change what we pay?
Not yet. In October 2026 the government plans to bring forward regulations to set up the Adult Social Care Negotiating Body for England, which will negotiate pay and terms and conditions for adult social care workers. An agreement only binds employers once the government ratifies it in regulations. Until then, the minimum wage and your own contracts set what you pay.
Do you come to the home or the office?
Yes, when the work needs it: a difficult meeting, training or a review of your files. Day-to-day questions run by phone, email and video. Visits in London and Surrey are £100 each on a retainer, and further afield is agreed in advance.
How much does HR support cost for a care business?
The same as for any other business: priced by team size and shown on the website. Ongoing support starts at £150 a month + VAT, and every plan starts with a three-month trial. See all prices.
Good to know
Three reads for care employers
Harassment by residents and visitors, the holiday records you now have to keep and who counts as an employee, a worker or self-employed.
Send us your what-ifs.
Twenty minutes, no charge. Tell us about your service and your team, and we will tell you where we would start, or that you do not need us yet.
All prices + VAT. This page is general information, not legal advice. What If HR Ltd, Caterham, Surrey.