How to hire
Start by choosing how you want to pay. A monthly retainer suits employers who want someone reliable to call when issues land; pay-as-you-go suits businesses that handle routine HR themselves but want senior backup for hard cases; a fixed-price project suits one-off needs such as a contract suite or a handbook rewrite [7]. Most Telford firms here offer free first conversations, so use them to test responsiveness before you commit.
Match the help to the job first. An HR consultant owns contracts, handbooks, absence, performance and disciplinary casework; a solicitor owns tribunal claims and tangled points of law; Acas publishes free step-by-step guidance for employers on handling discipline and grievance [2]. When you first enquire, state your headcount, your sites, any live issues and whether you want a retainer, pay-as-you-go advice or a single project.
Judge credentials by asking who does the work. CIPD grades run from Associate for operational practitioners to Chartered Member and Chartered Fellow for senior strategic professionals [1]. Ask for your named consultant's grade and read what it means on the CIPD site rather than taking letters after a name at face value [1]. Where a law firm stands behind the service, look the firm up on the Solicitors Register and check the name matches the business you are hiring [5]. There is no mandatory registration for calling yourself an HR consultant, so the credential and the company record carry extra weight here.
Check the business itself before you book. Companies House shows the registered address, incorporation date, officers and filings free of charge, and you can set alerts for future changes [6]. Read reviews across every source you can find rather than one headline score, and ask for two recent references from businesses your size — then actually call them.
Telford gives you two free starting points before you spend anything. The council's Invest Telford team offers fully funded business support — grants for growth, help with recruitment and retention, one-to-one advice and workshops — through its business support service [8]. And if a dispute ever runs to the end of the line, claims against employers from this area are handled at Telford Justice Centre on Malinsgate, open weekdays with town-centre car parks close by [9].
Get two or three written quotes on the same brief so you compare like with like. Each quote should name your consultant and their seniority, state response times, separate advice from on-site casework such as hearings, give the contract term and notice period, explain annual rises, and show whether VAT sits on top. Treat a low monthly fee with a vague inclusions list and a long tie-in as a question, not a bargain.
A typical engagement runs the same course whatever the package. You send headcount, sites and live issues; the consultant answers with a call or a visit, often opening with a free first conversation; you receive the written quote, check the company record and references, agree the start date and notice period, and sign. The first deliverables are usually reviewed contracts, a handbook timetable and a named contact for day-to-day questions.
Know the two legal lines your provider must respect. Every employee has a contract setting out conditions, rights and duties, whether or not anything is written down [3]. You owe every employee and worker a written statement of main employment terms from the first day, with the wider statement inside two months [4]. On discipline, Acas expects a quiet informal conversation before any formal procedure, and any formal steps must follow a fair, investigated process in line with its Code [2]. Ask your consultant to run your case that way from the start.
Finish with paperwork you can file. Signed contracts, a handbook your staff have received, dated notes of every formal meeting, and the fee agreement with your consultant, all kept where you can find them at inspection or dispute. Check each document is in your hands before you pay the final invoice.
Judge each written quote on the same checklist: the monthly or project fee, whether VAT sits on top, the hours and documents included, what counts as extra, response times, the contract term and notice, and any annual rise [10]. Keep the signed quote with your contracts and meeting notes, since that file is the record you would rely on if a dispute ever needed outside help [11].
Pricing
As of summer 2026, market guides put ad hoc HR advice at roughly sixty-five to two hundred pounds an hour, with remote associate-level help at the lower end and senior or employment-law specialists above one hundred and fifty [7]. Monthly retainers for fewer than twenty-five staff run roughly one hundred and ninety-five to six hundred pounds at boutique and mid-market firms, rising to six hundred to two thousand five hundred for twenty-five to one hundred staff where on-site time and faster responses join the package [7]. Telford usually sits below London and South East prices.
Single projects are quoted separately from retainers. Expect near five hundred pounds for a one-off contract review, one thousand to two thousand five hundred for a handbook rewrite, and five thousand to fifteen thousand pounds or more for a structured redundancy programme or a TUPE transfer [7]. Training days and recruitment work almost always carry their own price on top.
Headcount moves the price first, then how the service is delivered. On-site hearing time, same-day response promises and senior consultant hours all push a quote up, while advice-line-only cover with caps on drafting time holds it down. Regulated sectors and multi-site rotas cost more to support than a single stable office team.
Ask whether VAT sits on top of every figure, since published ranges exclude it. Get the scope in writing before you sign — which hours, documents and visits are included, which complex jobs are carved out and billed extra, the contract term and notice period, and the total across the whole term. A lower monthly fee on a long tie-in is often dearer than a higher fee on twelve months.
One-off projects price by the piece. Market guides put a compliance audit at a few hundred pounds to around fifteen hundred, a contract and handbook set in the same band, a single disciplinary investigation at a few hundred to around twelve hundred per case, and redundancy support for one role from a few hundred upward [10]. Training days and recruitment searches sit outside those bands and carry their own quotes [7].
The figure that matters most is the total across the term, not the monthly line. Market guides warn that some contracts roll over unless notice lands months ahead, and that annual rises of a few per cent sit inside the terms — a low fee on a long tie-in regularly costs more than a higher fee on twelve months [10]. Work the total out before you sign, VAT included.
Red flags
Will not name the consultant who will handle your casework or say what grade of membership they hold.
Quotes a monthly fee but will not put what is included and what counts as extra into the quote.
Promises tribunal costs are covered without showing the policy wording and the conditions that trigger it.
Drafts a dismissal letter before asking what investigation has happened so far.
Has no company record you can find and no business address beyond a mobile number.
Asks for a multi-year tie-in while the notice clause stays unreadable until signing day.
Cannot show a single review, reference or named client example when you ask for one.
Sends a contract with an auto-renewing multi-year term but buries the notice date and the cost of leaving early.
Starts work on your policies before agreeing which documents, hours and visits the fee covers.