The HR patch

The HR patch Looking for an HR Consultant in the South East? The HR patch offers a range of human resource servic

Established in 2016, founder Emily Gibson offers a refreshingly simple HR service with that all important personal touch.​ Emily appreciates that the 'human' element of HR is so often missing in the hustle and bustle of modern life, therefore she strives to become as much a physical part of your businesses as possible. A face-to-face presence and regular communication allow her to better understa

nd your organisational culture, assess your HR needs and develop solid strategies for ensuring you can achieve your long and short term goals.​With extensive experience in a wide variety of industries, Emily has a breadth of knowledge and skills to draw from in order to meet your requirements.

HR admin may sound like a small easy job. But multiply that by the number of employees you have and the time soon adds u...
28/05/2026

HR admin may sound like a small easy job.

But multiply that by the number of employees you have and the time soon adds up.

Here are some ways HR admin could be causing you problems:

📆Holiday tracking: Fielding questions about remaining days, manually calculating entitlements, checking who's off when.

💰Payroll admin: Gathering hours worked, calculating overtime, dealing with queries about pay.

🙋‍♀️Staff queries: Answering basic questions that employees could look up themselves.

⚖️Compliance gaps: Employment law changes regularly, and manual tracking means a higher chance of missing updates to minimum wage, holiday entitlements or working time rules.

📈Growing pains: During busy periods, HR admin becomes the thing that slows down hiring or managing extra staff.

❌Error costs: Manual processes mean mistakes happen, which can be expensive to fix.

What's a simple way to reduce HR admin? It's HR software like Breathe. 💡

You can try BreatheHR today by clicking on the link below or get in touch and we can book a demo to take you through it 😊🌱🌱

👉https://www.breathehr.com/en-gb/sign-up?hrp=patc01

🌐www.thehrpatch.co.uk
🏢Find us on the High Street, Frimley, Surrey!
📞Call 01252 299 110 to make an appointment, or email [email protected]

Do you know what the Employment Rights Act updates are and how they affect your business?This isn't something business o...
26/05/2026

Do you know what the Employment Rights Act updates are and how they affect your business?

This isn't something business owners can sleep on.

New laws are being introduced that affect many areas, from training to workforce planning to tighter performance documentation.

Here's a summary of what you need to know, plus the actions you need to take and when.

📌 Milestone 1: Changes already in force

▪ Protective awards in collective redundancy cases can now reach 6 months of pay.
▪ Paternity Leave and Unpaid Parental Leave now start from Day 1.
▪ Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave applies.
▪ Statutory Sick Pay begins on Day 1 with no lower earnings limit.
▪ Whistleblowing protections have expanded, including around sexual harassment.
▪ Trade union recognition is now simpler.
▪ The Fair Work Agency has been established.
▪ Updated menopause and gender equality guidance applies.

What this means: Many employers now need updated policies, contracts, absence processes and manager training.

📌 Milestone 2: 6-month unfair dismissal rights

From 1 July 2026, new starters will qualify for unfair dismissal protection after 6 months of service.

What this means:

Probation management, early performance handling and documentation must be tighter. Informal or rushed dismissals now carry much higher risk.

📌 Milestone 3: October 2026 changes

▪ A new duty to prevent sexual harassment.
▪ Stronger trade union access.
▪ Requirement to inform staff about their right to join a union.
▪ Fair Pay Agreement body for Adult Social Care.
▪ Tighter tipping rules.
▪ Further recognition reforms.

What this means:

Stronger prevention measures, clearer reporting routes and updated onboarding and training will all be needed.

📌 Milestone 4: Changes in 2027

▪ 6-month unfair dismissal qualifying period fully applies.
▪ Potential for uncapped compensatory awards.
▪ Greater protection for pregnant employees and new mothers.
▪ Changes to flexible working.
▪ Statutory bereavement leave, including pregnancy loss.
▪ New rules ending exploitative zero hours practices.
▪ Regulation of umbrella companies.
▪ Fire and rehire becoming automatically unfair in most cases.

What this means:

These changes will reshape workforce planning, dismissal handling, shift scheduling and how contractual changes are managed.

If you would like a chat about the impact of these changes on your business, get in touch .... 🌱🌱😊

📞01252 299 110
✉️ [email protected]
🕸️ www.thehrpatch.co.uk
🏢 96a High Street, Frimley, Surrey

Do you need a simple way to assign, deliver and track online training in one place? Then Breathe Learn is worth explorin...
21/05/2026

Do you need a simple way to assign, deliver and track online training in one place?

Then Breathe Learn is worth exploring. It has over 100 bite-sized courses covering essentials like GDPR, compliance, leadership and wellbeing and it makes tracking simple.

Less chasing. Less paperwork. More confident, capable teams. 🙌

If you’re supporting growing businesses (or running one!), this is well worth a look.

You can try BreatheHR today by clicking on the link below or get in touch and we can book a demo to take you through it 😊🌱🌱

👉https://www.breathehr.com/en-gb/sign-up?hrp=patc01

🌐www.thehrpatch.co.uk
🏢Find us on the High Street, Frimley, Surrey!
📞Call 01252 299 110 to make an appointment, or email [email protected]

Do you know the number 1 reason why businesses overpay for new hires?Most often, it's because the role was never clearly...
19/05/2026

Do you know the number 1 reason why businesses overpay for new hires?

Most often, it's because the role was never clearly defined to begin with.

When the job ad is too broad, the wrong candidates apply. Salary expectations inflate because there's nothing anchoring them to what the job actually needs.
A level-based approach to your job adverts changes that.

Here's how:

📝 Define the role by output, not title
What will this person actually deliver? What decisions will they own? What does success look like after 3 months? Get specific and the right candidates start filtering themselves in.

💷 Let the advert do the work on salary
When candidates can see exactly what the role involves, the salary conversation starts from a grounded position. You're not negotiating against assumptions about seniority that your advert left wide open.

📊 Test the market at multiple levels
Not sure whether you need someone junior or senior? Advertise at more than one level with different expectations and salary ranges. You might find that a strong mid-level candidate delivers everything the business actually needs for less than you budgeted.

🏢 Sell what your business genuinely offers
Autonomy, direct impact, closeness to decision-making. For the right person, that can be more attractive than a bigger salary at a larger company. Don't undersell it.

Your job advert is the first filter in your hiring process. If it isn't doing its job, everything after it costs you more than it should.

If you want to sense check how your adverts are working for you, get in touch .... 🌱🌱😊

📞01252 299 110
✉️ [email protected]
🕸️ www.thehrpatch.co.uk
🏢 96a High Street, Frimley, Surrey

Partnerships are powerful when they drive real results. That’s why we are proud to be a hireful partner - working toget...
15/05/2026

Partnerships are powerful when they drive real results.

That’s why we are proud to be a hireful partner - working together to help organisations streamline recruitment and attract the right talent.

Through our partnership, we’re able to:

✅ Simplify hiring processes for busy teams
✅ Support stronger candidate experiences
✅ Help organisations reach and engage the people they need most

Collaboration means better outcomes for our clients - and ultimately, better hires.

🌱🌱 We have recruitment specialists within our team who can support you. We'd love a chat if think you may need a hand with your recruitment process. 😊

🌐 www.thehrpatch.co.uk
🏢 Find us on the High Street, Frimley, Surrey!
📞 Call 01252 299 110 to make an appointment, or email [email protected]

If health & safety is part of your role and it’s managed in spreadsheets, folders, or separate systems, there’s a simple...
13/05/2026

If health & safety is part of your role and it’s managed in spreadsheets, folders, or separate systems, there’s a simpler way.

Breathe's Health & Safety module has been built specifically for SMEs, it gives you a structured, practical way to:

✔️ Create and review risk assessments
✔️ Log accidents and near misses
✔️ Assign actions and track follow-ups
✔️ Manage safety roles and training
✔️ Keep clear, audit-ready records

All directly inside Breathe’s HR software with people data and safety records connected in one place.

It’s designed for growing businesses that want to stay compliant, reduce risk, and feel confident that nothing important is being missed.

If you're interested in finding out more, you can try BreatheHR by clicking on the link below:

👉https://www.breathehr.com/en-gb/sign-up?hrp=patc01

🌱🌱 Or get in touch and we can book a demo to take you through it 😊 🌱🌱

🌐 www.thehrpatch.co.uk
🏢 Find us on the High Street, Frimley, Surrey!
📞 Call 01252 299 110 to make an appointment, or email [email protected]

AI-generated HR documents are catching small businesses out...Here's what we keep seeing:📄 Contracts that look complete ...
11/05/2026

AI-generated HR documents are catching small businesses out...

Here's what we keep seeing:

📄 Contracts that look complete but aren't

Missing notice periods, no probation terms, holiday entitlement that doesn't match the legal minimum.

You won't notice until you try to manage someone's exit and realise your contract doesn't support the decision you need to make.

⚠️ Procedures that skip fair process

AI can produce a disciplinary letter or grievance response in seconds. But it doesn't understand the legal requirement for a fair and reasonable process.

A skipped investigation or a missing right to be accompanied can turn a straightforward dismissal into a tribunal claim.

🪞 Documents that reflect your version, not what would hold up

When you describe a situation to AI, it takes your version at face value. It won't challenge your thinking or flag risks that you haven't considered.

So, you get documents built on assumptions rather than on what would actually stand up to scrutiny.

💷 A cost saving that becomes a bigger bill

By the time a professional gets involved, the document needs rewriting and the situation has already escalated.

What started as saving a few hundred pounds becomes a far more expensive problem to resolve.

AI has its place for understanding general principles and preparing questions before you speak to an adviser.

But it can't assess risk, apply judgement or anticipate what could go wrong 6 months from now.

If you've been using AI for contracts, policies or employee letters, it's worth getting them checked.

🌱🌱 If you would like to talk it through, get in touch and we can have a chat.😊

🌐 www.thehrpatch.co.uk
🏢 Find us on the High Street, Frimley, Surrey!
📞 Call 01252 299 110 to make an appointment, or email [email protected]

Are you chasing signatures on contracts or trying to remember when Tom’s probation period ends? It’s likely that you a...
08/05/2026

Are you chasing signatures on contracts or trying to remember when Tom’s probation period ends?

It’s likely that you are drowning in HR admin. 😢

Here's how HR software, like BreatheHR can transform your people management:

✅ Centralise employee records
✅ Automate absence management
✅ Never miss key dates
✅ Support you to make data-driven decisions
✅ Scale without admin pain

If you're tired of spending weekends on HR admin instead of with your family or planning business growth, try BreatheHR by clicking on the link below:

👉https://www.breathehr.com/en-gb/sign-up?hrp=patc01

Or get in touch and we can book a demo to take you through it 😊 🌱🌱

🌐www.thehrpatch.co.uk
🏢Find us on the High Street, Frimley, Surrey!
📞Call 01252 299 110 to make an appointment, or email [email protected]

Are you confident that your business could defend a tribunal claim tomorrow?Most small business owners aren't. And the n...
05/05/2026

Are you confident that your business could defend a tribunal claim tomorrow?

Most small business owners aren't. And the new Employment Rights Act has made that a bigger problem than it used to be.

Here's what's changed and what you can do about it:

📋 Expanded employee protections

More statutory rights means more routes for employees to raise formal complaints. Decisions that previously carried low risk now sit in a different category.

🔍 A new enforcement agency

The Fair Work Agency can carry out inspections, investigate your business and bring tribunal claims on behalf of workers, without waiting for a complaint to be made.

⚠️ Informal management is now higher risk

If you rely on conversations rather than documented processes, you're more exposed than you may realise. Conversations are hard to evidence if a decision is ever challenged.

What to tighten up now:

- Review your performance and probation processes.
- Train your managers on updated obligations.
- Document your decisions and the reasoning behind them.
- Make sure that dismissal and grievance handling follows your own procedure and Acas guidance.

Remember, prevention beats defence.

Most serious disputes start with something small that wasn't managed well at the time. Small improvements in how you handle those moments dramatically reduce the chance of a formal claim.

🌱🌱 If you're unsure whether your current processes reflect the expanded rights under the Act, get in touch and we can have a chat.. 🌱🌱😊

🌐 www.thehrpatch.co.uk
🏢 Find us on the High Street, Frimley, Surrey!
📞 Call 01252 299 110 to make an appointment, or email [email protected]

What support can an HR consultant actually provide?There are different levels of HR support and each one removes a diffe...
30/04/2026

What support can an HR consultant actually provide?

There are different levels of HR support and each one removes a different type of workload or risk from your business.

Once you understand those levels, it becomes much easier to decide what you can delegate and what genuinely needs your involvement.

Outsourcing HR is not about giving up control. It is about removing tasks that drain your time and making sure that the business is protected.

Here are the main levels of HR support and how they fit together, so that you can see where an HR consultant can help you.

🌱🌱If you would like to have a chat about how we can support you, please get in touch ... 🌱🌱😊

🌐 www.thehrpatch.co.uk
🏢 Find us on the High Street, Frimley, Surrey!
📞 Call 01252 299 110 to make an appointment, or email [email protected]

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