Cavell

02/09/2026

From October 2026, two separate legal duties around harassment are changing.

The standard for preventing sexual harassment rises to ALL reasonable steps (from what was previously just 'reasonable steps').

And employers will become directly liable for harassment by third parties, like customers, clients and contractors.

If you can't show that you took all reasonable steps to prevent harassment, under either duty, you're exposed.

We've put the key requirements into a 6-step checklist so you can see exactly where you stand. 👇

If you can't tick off all 6, get in touch before October. We carry out harassment prevention reviews and can tell you exactly what needs fixing.

20/07/2026

CV fraud is on the rise. And a lot of care providers have no idea it's happening to them.

More people are fabricating care experience, qualifications and even DBS records because:
UK unemployment keeps climbing.

More candidates are chasing fewer care roles.

The pressure to get hired - even without the right background - has become intense.

Some are stretching the truth about their training or previous roles. A few are inventing it entirely with care experience that never happened, certificates that don't exist, references from settings that were never real.

In health and social care, that's not just a bad hire. It's a vulnerable person left in the hands of someone who was never qualified to support them.

Here's what's worth checking before you make your next hire. 👇

15/07/2026

Health and social care has been identified as a sector highly susceptible to further Fair Work Agency attention and it's easy to see why.

Volunteers. Casual and bank staff. Part-time workers with irregular hours. Locums and freelance support workers.

All of it is completely normal in how care is delivered and all of it sits squarely in the risk profile the FWA is watching most closely.

Here's the part that matters right now, this month: the unfair dismissal qualifying period drops from 2 years to 6 months in January 2027. Anyone you employ from 1 July 2026 onward will have full unfair dismissal rights by the time that change takes effect.

Which means the six months starting now is what decides whether you're protected in January not the six months after.

Three things I'd tell every health and social care employer to do from today:

✅ Set clear, written objectives at the start of every probation and know exactly what "successful" looks like.
✅ Hold real 1-2-1s that cover those objectives, not just a welfare check-in.
✅ Formal review points at month 3 and month 6, before the probation ends, not after.

I went into this in more depth, plus the April changes still catching people out (sexual harassment liability now extends to patients, service users and volunteers, not just staff) and what's likely coming in October on The DDA Podcast with Ailsa Colquhoun.

We've also put together a free Unfair Dismissal compliance pack that includes a checklist, Fair Work Agency operator brief, probationary period templates, and two short training videos.

🎧 Listen: https://buff.ly/1SIICWr
📋 Free pack: link in comments

The DDA Podcast · Episode

15/07/2026

Still handling all your employees' summer holiday requests in a spreadsheet?

Skip the headache and use HR software instead.

Software doesn't need to be complicated. And it makes requests easy to manage: no need for you to chase, cross-reference or guess.

Employees request leave themselves, you approve it in one place and the team calendar does the rest.

Have a look at the difference between running holiday season with software versus without it.

13/07/2026

You used to have two years before an employee could claim unfair dismissal.

From 1 January 2027, it's changing to six months.

That means anyone you hire from 1 July 2026 will be protected under the new rules.

Many small business owners aren't ready for the changes.

We've put together a checklist that covers exactly what you need to sort out so you're protected.

Read it below.

15/04/2026

Do you have out-of-date or inaccurate people documents which are still being kept in a messy filing cabinet?

It's time to give your HR a good spring clean.

In this checklist, we'll talk you through what you need to do:

🔒 Make sure you’re keeping your employees’ data safe

✅ You’re staying legally compliant

📈 And you’re using the data you already have to drive business growth

Read it here.

https://buff.ly/Rjvez6P

08/04/2026

Do you have out-of-date or inaccurate people documents which are still being kept in a messy filing cabinet?

It's time to give your HR a good spring clean.

In this checklist, we'll talk you through what you need to do to make sure that:

✅ You're keeping your employee's data safe

✅ You're staying legally compliant

✅ You're using available data to drive business growth

Need help with the heavy lifting?

An HR consultant can work through this with you and put the right structure in place.

Get in touch for a confidential chat.

07/04/2026

Are up-to-date job descriptions really that important?

Our answer: Absolutely yes!

For HR consultants, keeping job descriptions up-to-date is a really important aspect of 'organisational design'.

And organisational design is the plan we create to ensure that you have the right resources in place to achieve your business goals.

Here’s why up-to-date job descriptions matter:

27/03/2026

What is the risk of not having an employee offboarding process?

When someone leaves your business, it’s easy to focus on the handover and move on.

But offboarding is one of the most overlooked, and most risky, stages of the employee journey.

Without a clear process in place, businesses often run into problems they didn’t see coming, including:

📉 Damage to your employer brand

🧠 Loss of knowledge and productivity

😔 Reduced morale for the rest of the team

💡 Missed chances to learn why people leave

🔒 Security and data access risks

⚖️ Increased legal and compliance exposure

💸 Higher long-term turnover costs

Most of these issues don’t show up immediately.

They show up later, when a system wasn’t closed off, a document wasn’t handed over or a pattern of exits was never properly reviewed.

A simple, consistent offboarding process protects the business, supports the team that stays behind and leaves things on better terms all round.

If offboarding currently feels a bit ad hoc in your business, that’s very common and it’s usually easy to fix.

If you want help with putting a practical process in place, send us a message.