As an employer - do my policies/contracts need to be approved by a solicitor?

[Hattie11]

I'm starting up a business, initially will only have 2 staff but this will grow.

I'm writing all my own policies and contracts using previous jobs and information found online to put together my own. But is it normal procedure to have a solicitor to approve them, to ensure they meet employment laws etc?

what do other people do?

We don't where I am but you do need to know what minimum and legal requirements are so you don't get in trouble.

ACAS should be able to guide you on most things.

Many people use an HR consultant like me. I don't know any SMEs that use a lawyer because it's too expensive and not really necessary when you can get the same job done for £500 that would cost £2000 for an employment lawyer.

Professional HR people will have professional insurance.

oh actually I know an HR consultant. This is her bread and butter.

It may well be worth your while engaging one for policies. Use your time for making money.

Your contracts must offer at least as much as your employees' statutory entitlements. So you can't give fewer holidays, or less notice, etc.

One of the main bones of contention in contracts is often non-competition clauses, and Things like ownership of IPR and the like. If that applies to your business, I would certainly get someone to check them over.

You can find organisations which provide employment law helplines for a subscription, and they are often useful, particularly if you have more than one or two employees. ACAS themselves are very helpful with ad hoc queries about employment law, but will only advise about statutory rights, not contracts.

ok thank you, I shall speak to ACAS once they are all complete.

How much can you expect to pay for a HR consultant?

£25-40 per hour depending on the type of work to be undertaken. Personally I prefer to quote for a whole job instead of negotiating an hourly rate where possible. Sometimes people wonder why something's taken 6 hours to do but are happy to pay £180 to have an employee handbook reviewed or contract written.

If you join the small business federation, you can download them from there for free.

I would also include some clauses about confidentiality and the need to always use company email addresses and company servers (such as Google Drive, which I cannot recommend highly enough) for absolutely everything they do.

Sorry - the Federation of Small Businesses!

www.fsb.org.uk/