What if the next people problem landed on someone who already knows your team?
Retained HR support for small businesses: your outsourced HR partner.
Based in Caterham, Surrey, and working across London, the South East and the UK.
A named HR partner who knows your business, your team and your documents. Choose expert advice for your managers, or an outsourced HR team your staff can come to directly. One fixed monthly fee, sized to your team.
"I am the HR department, and I was never trained for it."
"Every manager handles sickness and lateness differently."
"I only find out something is wrong when it is already a problem."
"I call an advice line and get a stranger reading a script."
Two ways to work with us
Advice for your managers, or an HR team for everyone
Both come with one named consultant, law changes flagged, regular check-ins and online meetings at no extra cost. The difference is who can contact us and who does the work.
Advisory partner
From £150 a month + VAT
Expert advice for the people who run your team.
Who can contact us
Owners and managers→Your consultant
Phone and email advice for owners, directors and key managers, on a fair-usage basis (HR Buddy: up to about two hours a month)
Templates on request, ready for you to complete
Law changes flagged, with what they mean for you
A monthly check-in (quarterly on HR Buddy, for teams under 5)
Best when your managers can run HR day to day and want an expert to check with. Drafting, training and casework are quoted before any work starts.
Outsourced HR team
From £650 a month + VAT
Your HR department, embedded in your business.
Who can contact us
Your whole team→Your HR inbox→Your consultant
Your staff contact us as their HR
We manage your HR inbox and reply from it
Offer letters, onboarding, contracts and policies done for you
Absence, occupational health referrals and cases run with your managers
Best when nobody has time for HR and people need somewhere to go. Set hours each month by team size, extra hours £100 each, agreed first.
Build your plan
Your team, your plan, your price
Three choices and you have a monthly price. All prices + VAT.
Your plan, a month + VAT
£450
£5,400 a year
Advisory partner£450
Three-month trial. At the end, stay, change your plan or leave, with no exit fee.
Online meetings included. On-site visits £100 each in London and Surrey, further afield agreed first. More than 50 people? We will quote on the call.
See all prices at a glance
Team size
Advisory partner
Outsourced HR team
Under 5
£150 a month (HR Buddy)
Not offered
5 to 10
£295 a month
£650 a month, up to 6 hours
11 to 25
£450 a month
£995 a month, up to 10 hours
26 to 50
£650 a month
£1,500 a month, up to 15 hours
All prices + VAT. Outsourced extra hours £100 each, agreed first. Prefer no monthly fee? Pay as you go from £125 an hour.
Low risk to start
Your first 90 days
Week 1
Getting to know you
A call about your team, your history and what keeps landing on your desk. We read your contracts, handbook and policies.
Week 2
Your priorities
A short written list: what needs fixing first, what can wait and what is already fine.
Weeks 3 to 12
The rhythm
The urgent gaps closed, check-ins in the diary and a named partner on call for whatever lands.
Month 3
Your review
We look back together. Stay, change your plan or leave, with no exit fee.
Try the Outsourced HR team at the Advisory price
For your first three months you pay the Advisory price for your team size, and we work as your HR team from day one. You get a record of hours each month, so nothing is a surprise.
Sign up for 12 months at the end and the extra work is written off. Choose 6 months, Advisory or to leave, and it is invoiced at £100 an hour, never more than the Outsourced plan would have cost.
What If HR is our go-to HR partner. We don't have an in-house team, so having Elena on hand for payroll, employment contracts and tricky compliance matters like statutory sick or holiday pay has been invaluable.
An in-house HR Manager costs £45,000 to £70,000 a year including salary, employer NI and pension.
An Outsourced HR team for 26 to 50 people: £18,000 a year.
vs doing nothing
In the government's last survey of tribunal claims, small employers paid a typical £4,000 for legal help, before any settlement or award.
A year of Advisory partner for 5 to 10 people: £3,540.
vs an advice line
Advice lines sell volume and call-centre access. Here you get a named consultant who built your documents and knows your team when you call.
Tribunal figure: the median amount employers with fewer than 50 staff paid for legal advice and representation, from the government's Survey of Employment Tribunal Applications 2018, before any settlement or award.
We talk about your team, what keeps landing on your desk and how you handle HR now. You leave knowing which way of working fits, what the first three months would look like and the price. No obligation.
What is the difference between Advisory partner and Outsourced HR team?
Advisory partner is expert advice for owners, directors and key managers by phone and email, with templates on request. Your staff do not contact us, and drafting, training and casework are quoted separately. For teams under 5 it is called HR Buddy, from £150 a month, with up to about two hours of advice a month on a fair-usage basis. Outsourced HR team makes us your HR department: your staff contact us directly, we manage your HR inbox and we do the work, from offer letters and onboarding to absence and cases, within set hours each month.
How does the three-month trial work?
Every plan starts with three months. At the end you stay, change your plan or leave, with no exit fee. If you want to try the Outsourced HR team, you pay the Advisory price for your team size for those three months while we work as your HR team, and we send you a record of hours each month. Sign up for 12 months at the end and the extra work is written off. Choose 6 months, Advisory or to leave, and the extra work is invoiced at £100 an hour, never more than the Outsourced plan would have cost.
What happens if we need more hours than our plan includes?
On the Outsourced HR team, extra hours are £100 each and agreed with you first. If you regularly need more, we look at your plan together at the check-in. On Advisory, advice is fair usage (up to about two hours a month on HR Buddy), and if you regularly need more we suggest the plan that fits. Anything beyond advice is quoted before it starts, or you can use pay as you go at £125 an hour.
What is not included?
Bigger projects are quoted separately before any work begins: TUPE, redundancy programmes, tribunal preparation and a new staff handbook build (see HR Foundations Build or Backbone Programme). Nothing unexpected.
Do you come on-site?
Yes, when the work needs someone in the room. Visits are £100 each in London and Surrey. Further afield, including any overnight stay, is agreed with you in advance. Online meetings are always included.
What's the minimum commitment?
Three months to start. Advisory then runs monthly with one month's notice. The Outsourced HR team runs for 6 or 12 months after the trial. The online training library is added on plans of 12 months or more.
Can we have the recruitment portal without a retainer?
Yes. The portal, with your own careers page, automatic replies and interview booking, is £50 + VAT a month or £600 + VAT a year through us, on a retainer or after the first year included in Hiring Setup. Bought directly, the same system costs around £2,450 a year.
Can we change plans as our team grows?
Yes. We look at your plan at your check-in and adjust from the next month. We do not backdate charges.
We don't have a handbook or proper contracts yet. Can we still start?
Yes. We review your existing documents in the first two weeks. If they need rebuilding, we advise on the best approach, which may mean an HR Foundations Build or Backbone Programme alongside the retainer.
Good to know
Worth knowing, whichever plan you choose
Subscription service or consultant, and what HR support should really cost.
