HR Solve It

11/06/2026

Did you know the government will give you £3,000 to hire a young worker?

With NI increases, day-one SSP and expanded leave entitlements all pushing up costs, employing people is getting more expensive.

This grant is a practical way to offset some of that pressure.

There's also a separate £2,000 apprenticeship incentive for small employers taking on 16 to 24 year olds.

But the money only helps if the hire works out.

Read our guide below to learn:

what the government is offering
what to think about before you apply
and how to make sure the new starter is set up properly from day one

👇

Advice from an HR consultant in Thanet on the £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant and £2,000 apprenticeship incentive, and what to put in place before you hire.

09/06/2026

Feel like you've hired the wrong person?

This post is for you.

The law is changing and you can't afford to skip the details.

From 1 January 2027, the qualifying period for unfair dismissal drops from 2 years to just 6 months. This affects anyone hired from 1 July 2026 onwards.

It means that if you hire the wrong person, you'll have far less room to exit them without legal risk.

And the cost of a bad hire doesn't stop at tribunal claims.

It's the wasted wages, the management time, the impact on the rest of the team and the disruption of having to start the whole process again.

The best way to protect yourself is to get the hire right in the first place.

Here's how 👇

08/06/2026

Can you still dismiss someone during their first 6 months of employment?

Yes, you can. But...

If you recruit someone on or after 1 July 2026, the rules of the game change on 1 January 2027.

From that date, you won't be able to dismiss them informally and hope for the best.

The unfair dismissal qualifying period is dropping from 2 years to 6 months. That changes the game for how you manage new starters.

You used to have a long runway to figure out whether someone was working out. If it wasn't right, you could manage the exit with a quiet conversation and relatively low risk.

Not anymore.

Here's what you need to focus on now 👇

📋 You can still dismiss for fair reasons:

Like performance, conduct and capability. What's changed is that you need to evidence a fair process, even during probation.

📝 Document everything from day 1:

Raise concerns early and in writing. Record probation reviews. Send follow-up summaries. If it isn't written down, it didn't happen.

🔄 Structure your probation properly:

This includes regular check-ins, clear expectations and specific feedback. A 6-month probation with no structure is riskier than a 3-month one that's well documented.

⏰ Don't wait to act on problems:

Under the old rules, you could afford to let things drift. Now, delays in addressing performance create unnecessary exposure.

🤝 Train your managers:

Most issues we see start with a well-intentioned manager who avoided a difficult conversation. Make sure that anyone managing people knows what fair process looks like under the new rules.

And on probation length: nobody in the profession has landed on a single answer yet. Don't get fixated on the number. Focus on making whatever period you choose count.

If you're unsure whether your probation and dismissal processes are ready for 1 July, drop us a message and we can talk it through.

04/06/2026

Does summer give you a feeling of dread because of overlapping holiday requests?

Most business owners don't have a proper process for deciding who gets approved and who doesn't.

That causes confusion, and it doesn't take long for someone to feel they've been treated unfairly.

I've written a practical guide, linked below, on what the law says about refusing requests and how to handle clashes without the headaches.

Plus, why HR software makes the whole thing so much easier.
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Practical advice from an HR consultant in Thanet on managing overlapping summer holiday requests fairly, avoiding disputes, and keeping your team onside.

01/06/2026

This month's HR update is here with guidance on two big topics for small business owners right now.

We're covering:

The 1 July countdown
What the new 6-month dismissal rules mean for how you hire and manage people
Plus, what employers get wrong about men's health at work and why it matters commercially
You'll also find...

News on the surge in tribunal claims, new hiring incentives for young workers, support for employees with caring responsibilities and answers to your latest questions.

Read it below.

30/05/2026

Need HR support but not sure which option actually makes sense for your business?

HR support isn't a one size fits all. There are different ways it can help you and each one suits a different situation.

Option 1: Training an existing employee to handle HR alongside their main role.

It can work in very small teams but the risk is overloading someone and things getting missed.

Option 2: Hiring an in-house HR manager.

You get dedicated, daily support but the salary and on-costs don't always stack up for smaller businesses.

Option 3: Using a national HR provider.

Useful for basic, low-risk queries but you'll often speak to someone different each time with a limited understanding of how your business runs.

Option 4: Working with an independent HR consultant.

You get tailored, consistent support from someone who knows your business, without adding another salary to payroll.

The right fit depends on your size, your budget and how hands-on you need that support to be.

If you want to talk through what makes sense for where you are right now, we're always happy to have that conversation.

29/05/2026

Do you know the #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, drop us a message and we can talk it through.

28/05/2026

You might think that AI is saving you time and money, but AI-generated HR docs are creating real problems for small businesses.

What we're seeing more and more of:

Contracts with missing notice periods that leave you unable to manage an exit
Disciplinary letters that skip investigation steps and hand the employee a tribunal claim
Policies that don't reflect current law and fall apart the moment they're tested
These aren't theoretical risks...

These kinds of errors lead to legal fees to unpick the mess and situations that escalate because the paperwork gave you a false sense of security.

All of this can end up costing you a lot more time and money than AI saved.

We've put together a helpful guide on where you can and should not use AI for HR, so you can stay protected.

https://hrsolveit.co.uk/news

25/05/2026

Since April, sick pay is payable from day one and the lower earnings limit has been removed.

Have you updated your processes to reflect this?

For most small businesses, this means more people qualify for SSP and the cost starts sooner. If short-term absence is already something you deal with regularly, this change hits harder than it looks on paper.

Here's what to check now:

💷 Payroll setup

Make sure that your system reflects the removal of waiting days and the earnings threshold.

If it hasn't been updated, you could be underpaying or overpaying without knowing it.

📄 Your sickness absence policy

If it still references waiting days or a minimum earnings limit, it's out of date. Your managers and employees need to be working from the same current version.

🔄 Return-to-work conversations

A short, consistent check-in after every absence is one of the simplest tools you have. It doesn't need to be formal. It just needs to happen every time.

📊 Attendance tracking

You can't manage what you don't measure. If you're not recording absence consistently, you won't spot patterns until they've already become costly.

🗣️ Manager confidence

Your managers are the first to notice when absence increases. Make sure that they know how to have early conversations without avoiding them or escalating too quickly.

The changes aren't dramatic on their own, but if your processes haven't caught up, the costs add up quietly.

If you want to sense-check where your absence management sits right now, drop a comment or send us a message.

23/05/2026

When an employee asks for a flexible working arrangement, how do you say yes without causing problems for everyone else?

Flexible working doesn't have to be all or nothing.

There are setups that give your employees what they're asking for while keeping your operations intact.

Below are 6 options that are already working well in other small businesses. Some will suit your team. Some won't. But knowing your options puts you in a stronger position when the next request comes in.

If you want help with putting a flexible working policy together that actually fits how your business runs, we're always here for a chat.