What are HR policies required by law in the UK?

Health and Safety Policy: Mandatory if your business employs more than five people, outlining procedures to ensure a safe working environment. Disciplinary and Dismissal Policy: Sets out procedures for handling disciplinary issues and the termination of employment contracts fairly and consistently. Grievance Policy: Provides a framework for employees to raise concerns or complaints about their work, ensuring they are addressed promptly and fairly.

Employment law

Our team of more than 50 experienced employment lawyers work in close collaboration with our HR consultants, in-house barristers and claims handlers. Acting as an extension of your team, we work with you to tackle issues affecting the most important part of your organisation – your people.

From dealing with immediate crisis situations and complex projects through to solving day-to-day challenges and shaping the future of your workforce, we work with leadership and HR teams to find the right solution for your business.

Integrated across our wide-ranging sector expertise in the UK and Ireland, our employment lawyers are equipped with the knowledge and support network to advise everyone from ambitious startups through to some of the UK’s largest businesses and global organisations. We also stand out for supporting a wide range of public services, from local government to schools, and hospitals to emergency services.

Being able to call upon legal experts in areas such as data, tax, mergers and acquisitions, and commercial litigation enables our employment team to navigate clients through the intricate landscape of workplace regulations and broader people strategies. We are proud to have represented clients in successfully settling disputes with employees, whether in employment appeal tribunals or in high-profile cases at the Supreme Court.

In providing relevant commercially-focused legal and practical insights, developed from our experience of working with both the public and private sectors, we are dedicated to supporting our clients in being at the forefront of change.

What we do

Clients tell us they particularly value our ability to:

Work with leadership teams, including boards, to positively address issues with the potential to have major reputational consequences for the business. These include CEO exits and complex projects with many inter-related parts, such as restructuring and industrial action.
Provide practical advice on routine daily challenges and issues, such as holiday pay, disciplinaries and grievances, in addition to preparing employment contracts and developing workplace policies.
Future-proof organisations by navigating them through workforce trends, potential risks and legislative change, such as the Employment Rights Bill.

Above all, we go beyond simply resolving issues – we help clients to anticipate and prevent them.

By translating legal jargon into plain English, we make the complex simple. We deliver clear, concise and decisive advice, backed by experience and expertise.

Our employment law clients span the private and public sectors, across the UK and into international jurisdictions. They include Castore, DPD, Kerry Logistics, Iconic London, The Pensions Regulator, NHS foundation and mental health trusts, and multi-academy trusts.

Employment Tribunal costs

Employment Rights Act

Isabel Alvarez, Head of HR and Communications Rising Edge insurance agency

"You are one of my favourite law firms. Lawyers can make things sound very complicated, but it is very easy to understand your advice. You always make it straightforward. You provide knowledge in a very accessible way, with the mentality of getting things done rather than having a disclaimer."

Employment law services

The wide-ranging advice provided by our employment team to clients can be placed into three broad categories:

Addressing challenges for boards that carry potential reputational risks or feature complex problems with several inter-related parts

Misconduct and departure issues (eg CEO exits).
Restructuring (including redundancies, changes to terms and conditions, and TUPE transfers).
Industrial action.
Employment litigation (including tribunals and discrimination claims).
Managing whistleblowing issues.
Advising on good governance (including anti-bribery, code of conduct and pay reporting).
Employment aspects of corporate transactions (e.g. mergers, acquisitions and disposals).

Solving routine daily and operational challenges

Issues related to holiday pay, disciplinaries, grievances and performance management.
Hybrid and flexible working.
Preparing contracts of employment and workplace policies (e.g. sickness absence).
Managing employees with mental and physical health conditions (including neurodiversity).

Future-proofing organisations

Horizon-scanning to identify future workforce trends and potential risks.
Employee and board engagement through training and practical support tools.
Preparing organisations for legislative change (e.g. Employment Rights Bill).

As a firm committed to going beyond sharing legal advice by forging connections, we take pride in introducing our clients to each other via our networks.

We facilitate conversations that open doors, share best practice and insights on various legal and practical challenges, and identify collaboration opportunities that could bring creative solutions to common problems.

Integrated approach

We recognise that HR teams will often be tasked with solving issues that go beyond their remit.

Our integrated approach means we’ll often introduce clients to internal teams within Browne Jacobson for further legal and practical support beyond employment matters.

Acting as an intermediary

When clients have needed further support, our team has made introductions to occupational health experts, training providers and international law firms via our membership of the Pangea network.

Informal connector

Public sector clients can often benefit from the perspective of the private sector, and vice-versa. We can bring the right people together to have these discussions.

Events and networks

Our employment team plays a key role within some of our key programmes. This includes:

Hosting HR networking events for clients from various sectors.
Presenting at Ascensus, our programme for in-house lawyers and business leaders.
Helping delegates enrolled on Grow, our legal support programme for startups, with employment policies, contracts and service agreements.
Supporting Instant In-house, a bespoke fixed-fee retainer service, via day-to-day employment law advice.

Supporting careers

We regularly connect apprenticeship trainees of clients to our trainee solicitors as part of their personal development.

We also support clients by tapping into our own experiences of developing a diverse and inclusive workforce, as exemplified by our number one position in the Social Mobility Foundation’s prestigious Social Mobility Employer Index for 2025.

Our understanding of clients’ challenges means we can call upon tried-and-tested practical tools to support them in developing a sustainable pipeline of talent.

We connect clients with our in-house DEI and social mobility teams to discuss how we developed our own internal programmes. These include the FAIRE work experience and events scheme for students from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and REACH mentoring initiative for aspiring Black lawyers.

Our social mobility incubator, launched in 2025, has already supported more than 100 clients to develop their own social mobility programmes.

We are a problem-solver, signpost and navigator wrapped into one.

Ambitious, yet down to earth, our lawyers are highly pragmatic, meaning we cut to the chase and provide clear, concise advice that can be swiftly and decisively implemented.

Clients tell us:

Our support doesn’t simply involve legal advice – we are consultants, collaborators and critical friends. We build trusted long-term partnerships.
They appreciate the emotional intelligence and empathy we bring to very human interactions. Many of the matters we handle are incredibly sensitive and require the appropriate soft skills along with astute legal advice.
We act as an extension of the in-house team, giving empathetic support and business confidence.
They have confidence our solutions won’t just be legally accurate but will be right for their organisation, and appropriate within their sector. We don’t sit on the fence or give clients a range of options – we are decisive in our advice.
We respond to client enquiries swiftly – your urgency around people issues is our urgency. We then save further time by translating legal jargon into plain English, and reduce the time spent negotiating due to our previous experience – giving clients confidence that they can act.
We provide high-quality work at a fair price.
Our work across private and public sectors provides broad perspectives that can deliver a greater depth of insights to our clients.

Beyond legal advice, we help to upskill clients’ teams by delivering training courses and regular updates on key employment law issues.

Examples include:

Employment Rights Bill

As the Employment Rights Bill progresses through Parliament before it’s enacted into law, we’ve kept clients up to date throughout the process.

We regularly deliver legal updates explaining key aspects of the Bill, significant amendments and important considerations for employers so they can plan for the new legislation.

Employment Rights Bill insights

Sexual safety in the workplace

We’ve developed practical support tools for private and public sector employers, which have legal duties to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.

Ahead of the Worker Protection Act 2023 coming into force in October 2024, our employment team created a Preventing Sexual Harassment at Work Toolkit.

This includes templates and guidance for workplace policies, staff surveys and risk assessments.

We took knowledge and experience from across all sectors to create a product that works for all types of organisations in every sector.

Preventing Sexual Harassment at Work Toolkit

Mock employment tribunals

To prepare organisations for real-life employment tribunals, we regularly hold mock legal proceedings in our offices in collaboration with barristers.

Clients gain invaluable insights into effectively navigating the tribunal hearing process, while learning how to avoid common pitfalls.

Using fictional but realistic scenarios, these sessions are designed to be both enlightening and engaging.

Types of employment law work

The wide-ranging advice provided by our employment team to clients can be placed into three broad categories:

Addressing challenges for boards that carry potential reputational risks or feature complex problems with several inter-related parts

Misconduct and departure issues (eg CEO exits).
Restructuring (including redundancies, changes to terms and conditions, and TUPE transfers).
Industrial action.
Employment litigation (including tribunals and discrimination claims).
Managing whistleblowing issues.
Advising on good governance (including anti-bribery, code of conduct and pay reporting).
Employment aspects of corporate transactions (e.g. mergers, acquisitions and disposals).

Solving routine daily and operational challenges

Issues related to holiday pay, disciplinaries, grievances and performance management.
Hybrid and flexible working.
Preparing contracts of employment and workplace policies (e.g. sickness absence).
Managing employees with mental and physical health conditions (including neurodiversity).

Future-proofing organisations

Horizon-scanning to identify future workforce trends and potential risks.
Employee and board engagement through training and practical support tools.
Preparing organisations for legislative change (e.g. Employment Rights Bill).

Connecting clients

As a firm committed to going beyond sharing legal advice by forging connections, we take pride in introducing our clients to each other via our networks.

Integrated approach

We recognise that HR teams will often be tasked with solving issues that go beyond their remit.

Our integrated approach means we’ll often introduce clients to internal teams within Browne Jacobson for further legal and practical support beyond employment matters.

Acting as an intermediary

When clients have needed further support, our team has made introductions to occupational health experts, training providers and international law firms via our membership of the Pangea network.

Informal connector

Public sector clients can often benefit from the perspective of the private sector, and vice-versa. We can bring the right people together to have these discussions.

Events and networks

Our employment team plays a key role within some of our key programmes. This includes:

Hosting HR networking events for clients from various sectors.
Presenting at Ascensus, our programme for in-house lawyers and business leaders.
Helping delegates enrolled on Grow, our legal support programme for startups, with employment policies, contracts and service agreements.
Supporting Instant In-house, a bespoke fixed-fee retainer service, via day-to-day employment law advice.

Supporting careers

We regularly connect apprenticeship trainees of clients to our trainee solicitors as part of their personal development.

Our understanding of clients’ challenges means we can call upon tried-and-tested practical tools to support them in developing a sustainable pipeline of talent.

Our social mobility incubator, launched in 2025, has already supported more than 100 clients to develop their own social mobility programmes.

How we work

We are a problem-solver, signpost and navigator wrapped into one.

Ambitious, yet down to earth, our lawyers are highly pragmatic, meaning we cut to the chase and provide clear, concise advice that can be swiftly and decisively implemented.

Clients tell us:

Our support doesn’t simply involve legal advice – we are consultants, collaborators and critical friends. We build trusted long-term partnerships.
They appreciate the emotional intelligence and empathy we bring to very human interactions. Many of the matters we handle are incredibly sensitive and require the appropriate soft skills along with astute legal advice.
We act as an extension of the in-house team, giving empathetic support and business confidence.
They have confidence our solutions won’t just be legally accurate but will be right for their organisation, and appropriate within their sector. We don’t sit on the fence or give clients a range of options – we are decisive in our advice.
We respond to client enquiries swiftly – your urgency around people issues is our urgency. We then save further time by translating legal jargon into plain English, and reduce the time spent negotiating due to our previous experience – giving clients confidence that they can act.
We provide high-quality work at a fair price.
Our work across private and public sectors provides broad perspectives that can deliver a greater depth of insights to our clients.

Providing insights

Beyond legal advice, we help to upskill clients’ teams by delivering training courses and regular updates on key employment law issues.

Examples include:

Employment Rights Bill

As the Employment Rights Bill progresses through Parliament before it’s enacted into law, we’ve kept clients up to date throughout the process.

We regularly deliver legal updates explaining key aspects of the Bill, significant amendments and important considerations for employers so they can plan for the new legislation.

Employment Rights Bill insights

Sexual safety in the workplace

We’ve developed practical support tools for private and public sector employers, which have legal duties to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.

Ahead of the Worker Protection Act 2023 coming into force in October 2024, our employment team created a Preventing Sexual Harassment at Work Toolkit.

This includes templates and guidance for workplace policies, staff surveys and risk assessments.

We took knowledge and experience from across all sectors to create a product that works for all types of organisations in every sector.

Preventing Sexual Harassment at Work Toolkit

Mock employment tribunals

To prepare organisations for real-life employment tribunals, we regularly hold mock legal proceedings in our offices in collaboration with barristers.

Clients gain invaluable insights into effectively navigating the tribunal hearing process, while learning how to avoid common pitfalls.

Using fictional but realistic scenarios, these sessions are designed to be both enlightening and engaging.

Claims handling for major insurer

We have supported one of the UK’s largest insurers in the delivery of a dedicated outsourced claims handling service.

Extension of internal team

Following the departure of a world-renowned university’s head of legal, we worked with an interim replacement to identify how we could support the institution with a high workload.

Working collaboratively with the internal team, we helped it to undertake investigations of student complaints and support its board of discipline.

CEO whistleblowing complaint

In a whistleblowing complaint against a chief executive, our risk-based pragmatic advice enabled senior teams to act lawfully while achieving an effective solution.

Senior executive team restructuring at media company

We advised on the restructure of the senior executive team at a digital TV business following its acquisition by another operator.

Our support ensured those leaving the merged organisation departed with dignity while those retained were committed to the future strategy of the merged businesses.

Laura Campbell, ER and Advice Principal The Pensions Regulator

"Many firms can give cold, transactional advice on a specific issue; you are part and parcel of our HR function. It’s a professional service. You understand the context and the direction of travel for us as a business. You give advice based on how we are trying to move the organisation culturally, not just advice to keep us compliant, but in a partnership with us to shape the organisation. I can talk straight with you. You give the business confidence, that solutions will be right for the organisation, not just legally accurate."

Isabel Alvarez, Head of HR and Communications Rising Edge insurance agency

"You are one of my favourite law firms. Lawyers can make things sound very complicated, but it is very easy to understand your advice. You always make it straightforward. You provide knowledge in a very accessible way, with the mentality of getting things done rather than having a disclaimer."

Elizabeth Calvert, Principal Lawyer Milton Keynes City Council

"Thank goodness you are there – if something lands on my desk, you sort me out. You’re approachable and your expertise comes through. Calm and practical. Down to earth. You don’t beat around the bush – you tell us what you are doing and what you need from us. This is what we need. Very responsive. Enthusiastic."

Our employment solicitors specialise in addressing issues critical to every organisation. When a situation arises, you need quick and clear advice and support to navigate not just the legal process but also the politics and PR issues associated with staffing matters.

When selecting an employment lawyer, opt for a professional with a specialised focus on employment law and a strong industry reputation. Assess their trial experience, fee structures, and commitment to values such as transparency and fairness. Look for a legal partner who prioritises clear communication, practical solutions, and a positive client experience.

The cost of legal services offered by our employment law firm varies based on factors such as the complexity of the case, the level of expertise required, and the geographic location. Our fee structures are typically tailored to the specific needs of the company, employing models such as hourly billing or project-based arrangements.

Health and Safety Policy: Mandatory if your business employs more than five people, outlining procedures to ensure a safe working environment.
Disciplinary and Dismissal Policy: Sets out procedures for handling disciplinary issues and the termination of employment contracts fairly and consistently.
Grievance Policy: Provides a framework for employees to raise concerns or complaints about their work, ensuring they are addressed promptly and fairly.