Jump to section
Employment advice service
Handling employment law issues can be a time consuming distraction when you are trying to run a business. Get it wrong and it can tie up lots of management time as well as being very costly. Employment tribunal claims are on the rise as individuals are more willing to litigate. Getting expert advice on a course of action you wish to take could prevent a claim from ever arising.
One of the ways that we can give you peace of mind when dealing with HR issues is via our annual fixed price employment advice service, which can cover everything from routine telephone queries to advice on redundancy projects.
How does the advice service work?
- The advice service runs for 12 months
- The cost of the advice service is a fixed price for the 12 months
- You choose which package you would like; silver, gold or platinum. What is covered by each package is set out on below.
What types of advice will the employment advice service cover?
- Routine employment law and HR advice and the provision of template letters/email from our know-how bank, are included in all our packages
- Reviewing and amending documentation prepared by you such as letters inviting an employee to a disciplinary hearing and outcome letters – gold and platinum packages only
- Commenting on and advising on employment projects that you wish to conduct, e.g. redundancy process – platinum package only.
Examples:
- A client calls seeking advice in respect of a disciplinary meeting they will be conducting with an employee. The client and our lawyer spend 15 minutes discussing the matter on the phone – this will be covered with all packages.
- A client emails their letter inviting the employee to the disciplinary meeting and also scans the evidence in support of the allegation to us. Our lawyer reviews the evidence and amends the letter – this is covered by the gold and platinum packages.
| What's included: | Silver | Gold | Platinum |
|---|---|---|---|
| Telephone and email advice on day to day employee relation | Included | Included | Included |
| Provision of template correspondence | Included | Included | Included |
| Drafting/editing your correspondence to an employee | Included | Included | |
| Protracted disciplinary and grievance process | Included | Included | |
| Initial contract or handbook review at start of our retainer | Included | Included | |
| Settlement agreement negotiation and drafting | Included | ||
| Projects e.g. redundancy, restructuring | Included | ||
| Initial advice on restrictive covenants | Included | ||
| Does your credit roll over? | Included |
Excluded from all:
- Data protection advice
- Court and tribunal claims
- TUPE and M&A work.
The cost of the advice service varies from one client to another depending on the number of employees you have and the extent of the anticipated use.
We will send you a quote for the cost of the advice service following a detailed discussion with you about your business, the employment issues you have dealt with over the past 12 months and what you believe your anticipated needs over the next 12 months are likely to be. There is no cost for this consultation
There is a minimum fixed price of £2,000 plus VAT at 20% for a silver package for a 12 month period.
Watch a short video outlining the employment advice line service.
The Thomson Snell & Passmore employment fixed price advice service is an essential tool for all our senior staff that need pressing advice on employment issues. A great resource and an asset to any business.
How often can I get in contact?
You can contact us as much as you want, and if the issue you wish to discuss falls outside the scope of your package we will tell you.
What if I use the advice line less than anticipated?
If you have the platinum package you will accrue a credit for any under-use, which we will rollover at the end of the 12 month term. You can choose to spend this towards any optional extras (see below) or on advice falling outside of your package. Credit must be spent within six months of the end of the term in which it was accrued.
The optional extras:
- In house legal skills and best practice training for management (preferential prices available)
- Briefing and brainstorming session on employment law developments relevant to your organisation (free)
- Review meetings of your strategy and our service delivery (free)
- Employment practices liability insurance, to manage risks of claims, provided you take our advice (insurance premium quotes available)
- Fixed fee early conciliation services with a view to reaching a settlement to avoid employment tribunal claims
- Collaborative mediation of work place disputes to avoid employment tribunal or court claims.
Will I have a dedicated legal adviser or will I end up having to deal with a different person every time I call?
You will have a dedicated legal adviser and an employment relationship partner or senior associate assigned to you. We do this for several reasons:
- To ensure continuity for you
- So you always have two points of contact
- So that we have a relationship with you and we build up our knowledge and understanding of your business.
As a successful SME, we were looking for a highly efficient and professional service when dealing with all HR and legal matters. We have been very impressed with Thomson Snell & Passmore's employment advice service. They have provided excellent, comprehensive compliance advice which has fitted well with our requirements. It has given us confidence and comfort. We highly recommend them and their employment advice service to any SME company.
Our approach
Handling employment law issues can be a big distraction when you are trying to run a business. Get it wrong and it can tie up lots of management time as well as being very costly. But, when you get it right, it complements the business and keeps you running smoothly.
So that’s our job as employment lawyers – to keep your business running smoothly and if an occasional hiccup occurs – because life is like that – we’ll help you get through it with minimal disruption.
Our team of specialist employment lawyers, based in Kent, cover London and the South East and act for businesses of all shapes and sizes and in many different sectors. Our advice for businesses covers all aspects of the employment relationship, helping to settle disputes, defending employment tribunal claims and providing employment contracts and handbooks.
The fact is that employment law has become much more complicated in recent years. So you can rest assured that we have a team with terrific expertise and experience across the full spectrum of work. What makes us stand out is the depth of the relationship which we will forge with you based on our unwavering commitment to understand the way you and your business operates. That way we design and tailor our service around your needs – not an off-the-shelf formula. You will experience our unrivalled speed of response, which is consistently praised by those we work with.
So whether it’s dealing with employment tribunal claims or providing a telephone helpline service we’ve got all angles covered to provide commercially driven, strategic and practical advice, given with the energy and proactivity you expect from a trusted professional adviser.
To give a flavour of our work here are some recent examples:
- Advising a multi-academy trust on a claim from a former headteacher concerning whistleblowing, unfair dismissal, breach of contract and unpaid wages
- Advising a multi-national food distribution company in respect of a group of current and former employees who tried to move over £20 million worth of our client’s business to a competitor, we successfully took proceedings against them
- Advising a national insurance broker that had to close one of its sites, we took them through the process of consulting with its workforce
- Advising a care home sector charity on strategies for cost reduction which involved imposing changes to terms and pay, the legality of which was subsequently upheld by the Employment Appeal Tribunal.
Accreditations & awards
As a successful SME, we were looking for a highly efficient and professional service when dealing with all HR and legal matters. We have been very impressed with Thomson Snell & Passmore's employment advice service. They have provided excellent, comprehensive compliance advice which has fitted well with our requirements. It has given us confidence and comfort. We highly recommend them and their employment advice service to any SME company.