Can you help with an HR issue that has already gone wrong?

Yes. Many clients come to us mid-crisis — a grievance that has escalated, a dismissal that was not handled well, or a tribunal claim. We can help manage the situation, but prevention is always cheaper than cure.

HR Advice for Small Businesses

Why Small Businesses Need Proper HR Advice

Running a small business means wearing many hats. HR is often one of them — and it’s the one that can cause the most expensive problems when it goes wrong.

Employment tribunal legal fees alone range from £4,500 for a straightforward case to £17,000+ for anything complex — and that’s before any award. The average unfair dismissal compensation is £13,749. Discrimination awards vary significantly by type: disability discrimination (the most common, with 124 successful cases in 2023/24) averaged £44,483, while age discrimination averaged £102,891 — though based on just 12 awards. The highest single discrimination award in 2023/24 was nearly £1 million. Unlike unfair dismissal, discrimination awards have no statutory cap.

With 97,000 tribunal claims filed in 2023/24 (up 13% on the previous year), and an average employer cost of £8,500 per case (DavidsonMorris), the risk is growing. Add in management time (typically five weeks per claim) and the real cost to a small business is devastating. Most of these situations are entirely preventable with the right advice upfront.

If you don’t have an in-house HR team — and most businesses under 50 employees don’t — getting access to expert HR guidance isn’t a luxury. It’s risk management.

Common HR Challenges for Small Businesses

Contracts and documentation

Many small businesses operate with outdated contracts, or worse, no written contracts at all. Since April 2020, employers must provide a written statement of employment terms on or before the first day of work. Getting this wrong creates immediate legal exposure.

Managing difficult employees

Performance issues, persistent absence, attitude problems — these drain time and energy. Without a proper process, attempts to address them can backfire into grievances or tribunal claims.

Dismissals and redundancies

This is where most small businesses get into trouble. The fair reasons for dismissal, the correct process, consultation requirements for redundancies — getting any of these wrong is costly.

Keeping up with employment law

Employment law changes regularly, and 2026 is bringing some of the biggest shifts in years. The Employment Rights Act 2025 — the biggest employment law reform in a generation — received Royal Assent in December 2025. Key changes include: statutory sick pay from day one (April 2026), day-one paternity and parental leave (April 2026), unfair dismissal qualifying period reduced from two years to six months (January 2027), and “fire and rehire” becoming automatically unfair (January 2027). ACAS conciliation has already been extended from 6 to 12 weeks. The new Fair Work Agency will have powers to enforce compliance directly, and the penalties for non-compliance are serious. Small businesses rarely have time to monitor these changes — but they can’t afford to miss them.

Growing pains

Hiring your fifth, tenth, or twentieth employee changes the dynamic. What worked when everyone sat in the same room doesn’t scale. In our experience, many businesses start feeling the strain around 15-25 employees. Research suggests businesses under 50 employees typically benefit most from outsourced HR support — and it’s at this stage that informal approaches to people management start creating real risk.

Where Expert HR Advice Makes the Difference

Employment contracts and policies

Getting your contracts, handbook, and policies right from the start. Not templates downloaded from the internet — properly drafted documents that reflect how your business actually operates and protect you when things go wrong.

Employee relations

Handling grievances, disciplinaries, and performance management properly. Having someone to call before you send that email, have that conversation, or make that decision. The cost of a phone call is nothing compared to the cost of getting it wrong.

Recruitment and onboarding

Structuring your hiring process to find the right people and onboard them properly. Good recruitment reduces turnover, and turnover is one of the biggest hidden costs for small businesses.

Compliance and risk

Making sure your business meets its legal obligations — right to work checks (penalties now £60,000 per illegal worker), data protection, health and safety, equality duties. These aren’t optional, and ignorance isn’t a defence.

Growth planning

When you’re ready to scale, having the HR foundations in place to do it without chaos. Organisation design, role definitions, management development — the building blocks that let you grow confidently.

Why DIY HR Is Risky

It’s tempting to handle HR yourself. Google the answer, download a template, follow what seems logical. The problem is that employment law often isn’t logical — it’s technical, nuanced, and unforgiving.

Real examples of what goes wrong:

A business owner dismisses someone for poor performance without following a fair process. Legal fees: £8,000-£17,000. Average award: £13,749. Total cost with management time: potentially £30,000+.
An employee raises a grievance after being passed over for promotion. The business has no grievance procedure. The situation escalates into a discrimination claim — where average awards range from £29,000 to over £100,000.
A company makes two people redundant without proper consultation. Both claim unfair dismissal. Both win.

None of these business owners intended to do anything wrong. They just didn’t know what they didn’t know.

There’s also a common misconception that ACAS and gov.uk guidance is enough. ACAS provides excellent free templates and general advice, but it won’t tell you how to apply the law to your specific situation. It won’t draft contracts that reflect how your business actually operates. And it won’t represent you if things escalate. Generic guidance gets you started — expert advice keeps you safe.

How Popoki Helps Small Businesses

Marie Hart is a Chartered FCIPD (Chartered Fellow of the CIPD) consultant with over 20 years of experience. FCIPD is the highest level of professional HR accreditation in the UK, held by fewer than 10% of CIPD members — it requires 10+ years of senior HR experience, demonstrated thought leadership, and independent validation of expertise. Based in St Albans, Hertfordshire, Marie works with small businesses across the UK who need practical, no-nonsense HR advice.

This isn’t a call centre. You work directly with Marie — someone who understands your business, knows your team, and gives you advice you can actually use.

Support can be:

Ad hoc — call when you need advice on a specific issue
Retained — regular HR support on an agreed number of days per month
Project-based — focused work on contracts, restructuring, or policy creation

Whether you need someone to review a contract, guide you through a disciplinary, or build your HR foundations from scratch, the starting point is a conversation about what you actually need.

Get in touch to discuss how Popoki can support your business, or explore our full range of HR consultancy services.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does HR advice for a small business cost?

It varies depending on what you need. Ad hoc advice, retained support, and project work are all priced differently. Most small businesses find that even occasional expert advice costs far less than dealing with the consequences of getting HR wrong.

At what size does a business need HR support?

There’s no magic number, but most businesses start hitting HR challenges around 5-10 employees. By the time you reach 15-20, having proper contracts, policies, and someone to call is essential — not optional.

Can you help with an HR issue that’s already gone wrong?

Yes. Many clients come to us mid-crisis — a grievance that’s escalated, a dismissal that wasn’t handled well, or a tribunal claim. We can help manage the situation, but prevention is always cheaper than cure.

Do I need a full HR department?

Almost certainly not. Most small businesses need access to expertise, not headcount. A fractional or retained HR arrangement gives you senior-level support without the cost of a full-time hire.

Are you based locally?

Popoki is based in St Albans, Hertfordshire, and works with businesses across the UK. For local businesses, face-to-face meetings are straightforward. For those further afield, most advice and support works well remotely.