Employment Law Retainer Package
Ongoing employment law and HR support for your business, with direct access to experienced employment solicitors for a simple, fixed monthly fee.
Managing employees brings a steady stream of questions and challenges, from contracts and policies to absence, performance, grievances and disciplinary issues. Having the right advice available at an early stage can help you deal with these issues confidently and prevent them from becoming bigger problems.
Wake Smith's employment law retainer service gives employers ongoing access to our Sheffield employment law team whenever day-to-day support is needed. Rather than paying for advice each time an issue arises, you pay an agreed monthly fee, giving you greater cost certainty and no unexpected bills for the day-to-day support covered by your retainer.
You also benefit from practical, commercially focused employment law and HR support from solicitors who get to know your organisation, your people and the way you operate.
Employment Law and HR Support When You Need It
Employment issues don't always arrive conveniently. A manager may need advice before a difficult meeting, an employee may raise a grievance, or you may need to check your position before taking action over absence or poor performance.
Our employment law retainer means you can speak to us early, without worrying about costs mounting every time you pick up the phone.
Over time, our solicitors develop a detailed understanding of your business and how you prefer to manage your workforce. This enables us to provide advice that takes account not only of employment law, but also the practical and commercial considerations affecting your organisation.
What Does Our Employment Law Retainer Include?
The package can provide ongoing support with:
- Day-to-day employment law and HR queries
- Employment contracts, policies and staff handbooks
- Disciplinary and grievance procedures
- Sickness absence and attendance issues
- Performance management and probation
- Redundancy and restructuring
- Drafting and reviewing letters and other employment documentation
- Changes to employment law and their implications for your business
The service can support businesses without their own HR resource as well as organisations with an established HR team that want specialist employment law advice readily available.
The Benefits of Retained Employment Law Services
Working with Wake Smith on a retained basis gives your business regular access to specialist employment lawyers without having to instruct us afresh whenever an issue arises.
Benefits include:
- Cost certainty – an agreed fixed monthly fee for your day-to-day support.
- Early advice – speak to us before an employment issue develops into something more difficult or costly.
- Direct access to specialists – get advice from experienced employment law solicitors rather than a generic helpline.
- Consistency – work with a team that gets to know your business, workforce and approach.
- Risk management – identify and address potential employment law problems at an earlier stage.
- Time savings – get practical answers when managers or HR teams need them.
- Legal privilege – communications with your legal advisers can benefit from legal professional privilege where the relevant legal requirements are met.
How Does the Employment Law Retainer Work?
Our employment law retainer is designed to be straightforward.
Rather than purchasing a predetermined number of hours or paying for each individual piece of day-to-day advice, you pay a fixed monthly fee based on the support your organisation is likely to need.
The fee is tailored according to factors including:
- The size and structure of your organisation
- The level of employment law and HR support required
- The anticipated volume of queries
Once the retainer is in place, you can contact the team as issues arise and get the advice you need without having to consider the cost of every call or email.
Fixed-Fee Employment Law Support for Employers
For many businesses, one of the biggest advantages of an employment law retainer is predictability.
You know what your routine employment law support will cost and can budget accordingly, while your managers and HR team can seek advice at an early stage rather than delaying because of concerns about additional legal fees.
The retainer runs for 12 months, after which we will review the arrangement with you to make sure the level of support remains appropriate as your organisation develops.
What Isn't Included?
The retainer is intended to cover the day-to-day employment law and HR support your business requires.
Larger or exceptional pieces of work are dealt with separately. These can include:
- Employment Tribunal litigation
- Major TUPE projects
- Significant restructuring exercises
- Complex, non-routine advisory projects
Where additional work is required, we will discuss this with you and provide clarity over the scope and costs before proceeding.
Employment Law Retainers for Sheffield Businesses
Wake Smith advises employers across Sheffield, South Yorkshire, Derbyshire and beyond.
Our employment lawyers work with organisations of different sizes and sectors, providing practical advice designed around the needs of the individual business.
Whether you need additional specialist support for an existing HR team or want an employment law partner you can turn to for everyday people-management issues, we can tailor the retainer accordingly.
Why Choose Wake Smith?
Our approach is based on building an ongoing relationship rather than simply responding to individual problems.
Having employment solicitors who understand your organisation means advice can be provided in context – taking into account your objectives, previous decisions and approach to managing your people.
Where appropriate, we can also help you keep ahead of employment law developments and consider what changes may be required within your organisation before they become urgent.
The key benefits of signing up to Wake Smith’s employment law retainer are you immediately gain: Ongoing active risk management Time savings Total cost certainty Instant access to experts Legal privilege Consistency and familiarity Peace of mind Instead of pre‑paying for a set number of hours or “paying as you go” in the traditional way, you simply pay a fixed monthly fee covering the day‑to‑day employment law support your business needs. You can then contact us as soon as an issue arises, again without worrying about fees running up in the background as we work with you to find the best possible solution to the matter at hand. Your fee is tailored exactly to your organisation and your needs based on: Your size and structure The level of support required The anticipated volume of queries Day‑to‑day employment and HR advice Drafting and reviewing contracts, policies and letters Support with disciplinaries, grievances and absence Advice on performance management and probation Guidance on redundancy and restructures Updates on key legal developments What is not included is the larger project-based work you may need during times of major change, for example: Employment Tribunal litigation Large one‑off projects (e.g., TUPE, major restructures) Complex non‑routine advisory work These would be quoted for separately with full clarity on scope and cost.What can you expect from Wake Smith’s employment law retainer?
How does Wake Smith’s employment law retainer work?
What is included in Wake Smith’s employment law retainer?
Talk to Us About an Employment Law Retainer
If you are considering a more predictable way of managing your employment law and HR requirements, talk to our Employment Law team about the support your business needs.
We can discuss the likely level of support, agree the scope of the service and provide a quote for a fixed monthly fee.
Call 0114 266 6660 to speak to the team or make an online enquiry here.
