Retained & Outsourced HR Support

Is this right for your business?

A retained partnership works best for businesses in a particular position: large enough to face real people challenges on a regular basis, but not yet at the size or stage where a full-time HR Director is the right answer. It also suits organisations where an existing HR team is in place but lacks the senior leadership to handle strategic or complex matters independently.

Ask yourself whether any of the following apply:

• You are a growing SME without an in-house HR Director, and people issues are landing on the CEO or a board member's desk
• You have an existing HR team but they need senior direction, oversight or support for the harder decisions
• The board needs greater confidence that people risk is being managed consistently and at an appropriate level
• You need someone who genuinely knows your business — not an adviser who starts from scratch every time you call

If those resonate, a retained arrangement is worth considering.

What a retained partnership includes

The scope of a retained arrangement is agreed at the outset and shaped around what the business actually needs. Typically, it includes a combination of the following:

Regular senior HR advice and support

Access to experienced HR guidance on the matters that arise — whether that is an employee relations issue, a question about an employment practice, a challenge with a manager or team, or a people decision that the business is not confident making alone.

Policy, governance and compliance

Ensuring that the policies, practices and processes governing how the business manages its people are sound, fit for purpose and appropriately up to date. This is not about producing documents for their own sake — it is about making sure the business is operating in a way that holds up when it matters.

Employee lifecycle support

From recruitment and onboarding through to performance management, development conversations and exits, I provide guidance across the full employment lifecycle. The aim is consistency — so that how the business handles people decisions is coherent and defensible, not dependent on which manager is involved.

People risk management

Helping the leadership team identify, understand and manage the people-related risks that matter to the business — before they become problems. This is one of the most practical things a retained HR relationship provides, and one of the least visible when it is working well.

Working with or leading an existing HR team

Where the business already has HR resource in place, I work alongside that team — providing senior direction, mentoring less experienced colleagues, and handling the matters that require a different level of experience or authority.

This is not a HR helpline

I want to be clear about what a retained partnership with me is, and what it is not.

This is not a high-volume transactional service designed to handle large numbers of straightforward queries. It is a strategic partnership — a relationship in which I invest time in genuinely understanding your business, your people, your culture and your risk profile. That understanding is what makes the advice useful, because it is personalised to your situation rather than drawn from a template.

The relationship is direct and consistent. You work with me, not with a rotating team of advisers at different levels of experience. When you have a difficult decision to make or a complex situation to navigate, you speak to someone who knows your business and can give you a considered view quickly.

Engagement structure

Retained arrangements are typically structured around a monthly fee, agreed after an initial consultation in which I understand the scope of support required. The scope is clear from the outset and there are no hidden extras for the standard support included within it.

I do not publish fees on this website. Every retained arrangement is different, and the fee reflects the scope, the size of the business and the likely level of support required. I am straightforward about fees from the first conversation — if the arrangement is not commercially right for your business, I will tell you.

The starting point is a free initial consultation, with no obligation to proceed.