Support services

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Full Support

When required we provide a more technical and tailored support for advice on issues such as disciplinaries, dismissals, redundancies, reorganisations etc. In this case we provide step by step technical support and advice through the entire process including the drafting of bespoke letters and reports setting out what you need to do and when you need to do it.

Employment law is very procedure driven and having this type of support can reduce the risk of a claim substantially.

We provide technical support in all areas including:

• Conduct issues
• Employment law issues arising from ill health of employees
• Retirements
• Reorganisations and redundancies
• Compromise agreements
• TUPE
• Discrimination, e.g. race, sex, disability, religion or belief, sexual orientation and age

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Terms and Conditions Support

Employment law is a complicated area and is constantly changing. Most employment disagreements are caused by badly drafted or thought out contracts or dismissal procedures that don't meet legal requirements. FBsupport can run a health check on your contracts and procedures to ensure that your current terms & conditions (employment contracts, policies and handbook) are all compliant. We can review your existing terms & conditions and make recommendations on what needs updating or changing. We are also able to carry out any work that is required and make your terms & conditions bespoke and unique to your business. Our advice will ensure that as an employer you are kept in the most compliant and secure position going forward.

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HR Support

We can provide on site HR support as and when your business requires, removing the costs of employing your own in house HR Manager. CIPD qualified, with over 20 years HR knowledge in various sectors, Helen is experienced, supportive and provides advice in a proactive and professional manner.

We offer a fixed cost HR solution. The service provides an initial, onsite, HR healthcheck of your business. You receive a written report after 7 days outlining what actions you need to take and which of these should take priority. A free follow up visit to discuss the report is then provided within 30 days. If further HR support is required to complete these actions we can help. We provide a fixed cost package of six or twelve, three hour meetings, where we can help you with any immediate HR issues or with systems that you wish to implement. These meetings can be used monthly, bimonthly or as and when they will benefit your business the most.

What can Helen help you with?

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Health & Safety

Health and safety legislation is more than just red tape and yes, it may cause major headaches for many employers but it is a necessary evil. In the current working environment even minor accidents or dangerous occurrences can have potentially litigious and costly consequences.

Health and Safety at Work Regulations apply to all businesses, regardless of size. They cover employees, full or part time, temporary or permanent, the self-employed, young people doing work experience, apprentices, charity workers, mobile workers and home workers.

We arrange health and safety support through AH Bell Safety Solutions. This online service provides up-to-date information on the provisions of current health and safety legislation and explains in clear language the obligations of companies and their directors and or principals.

The "Ask the Expert" function allows you to email any question to the team who will reply with a detailed answer within 24 hours. This provides you with a direct channel to answer your specific questions and address your concerns.

The download area provides you with all the key documentation, forms and guidance, which you can view, print out or use as templates to adapt to your organisations requirements. There is also a section of requested popular HSE documents that provide additional support.

The service will help your business with:

• Translating health & safety legislation in a straightforward way
• Providing information and downloadable, policies, procedures and documentation
• Relevant news and legislation updates are flagged throughout the year
• Unlimited access to the experienced advisors of the "Ask the Expert" service
• Saving time through easy to use search facilities
• Business continuity planning

For more information please Click here to be taken to the Bell & Co website.

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Absence Management System

Effective absence management is paramount to the smooth running of your organisation. Inadequate leave and sickness management can be detrimental to your employee's morale, your client relationships, and your corporate brand.

MyWebWorkplace will give you all the tools required to efficiently and accurately manage your leave and sickness absence all from a handy, secure, online system.

  View our short introductory video into the absence management service.

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Tribunal Support

We advise businesses of all sizes and our focus is always on a speedy and fair resolution wherever possible. It is however an unfortunate reality that some cases will end up before the tribunals. If this should prove to be the case our team has the knowledge and experience to support you all the way.

Once we have reviewed your situation we can then provide you with a fixed cost for our support with the consultation, preparation and defence of any claims. You then know from the outset what we will charge each step of the way stopping costs from spiralling and ensuring that you're not landed with a large and unexpected bill at the end.

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Training

One company's training needs can be very different to another's. Therefore we don't offer set prescriptive training sessions with a one size fits all approach but work with you to understand what training will best benefit your team. We then look at how best to deliver this training so that your individual learning styles are catered for.

Usually the training we deliver tends to be specific to our clients and on topical information. We have recently delivered bespoke training for clients on a range of topics including:

• Issues to consider in a misconduct dismissal
• Family friendly rights
• Redundancy programmes
• An overview of the tribunal procedure
• Discrimination
• The changing role of ACAS
• TUPE - outlining the current legal position and relevant case law

Please contact one of the team to discuss your training needs further.

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Insurance

Employment disputes are becoming more frequent and more costly providing one of the fastest growing areas of corporate liability. Many companies struggle to get to grips with the ever increasing employment legislation and, however good intentioned, a harmless interview, an employee's request or just a bad day at the office can frequently lead to a costly employment claim.

The cost of legal representation at a one day hearing can normally vary between £3,000 and £5,000. This doesn't take into account the cost of on average 120 management hours taken in dealing with any one claim.

Bell and Co can arrange Employment Law Protection which provides insurance for your business, your management and your employees and covers:

• Your legal liability following an employment dispute
• Your legal costs and expenses in respect of attendance at any employment or health and safety investigations
• Flint Bishop LLP deal with all claims and their costs are to be met by the policy
• The policy will also pay any civil award of compensation made against you or any negotiated settlement amount agreed between the parties.

Using FBsupport achieves two things. It reduces the risks of claims but, as importantly, we find it improves the way a business deals with HR achieving long term benefits. In the unfortunate event you receive an employment tribunal claim; we will defend those proceedings for you. Simply follow our straightforward advice and any legal costs or awards of compensation will be covered by insurance. Subject to policy terms and conditions.

For further information about this insurance please visit the Bell & Co website .

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Commercial health check

Our commercial team offers a business consultancy service at which we will meet with you to discuss and review how your business enters into contracts, how effectively those contracts limit or exclude any associated risks, and whether or not those arrangements are compliant with the relevant laws and regulations.

Our business consultancy service focuses in particular on the following areas:

• Contracts and trading arrangements
• Standard trading terms and conditions
• Online trading terms

View further details..