You are hiring, changing someone's terms, or having the conversation nobody wants to have. Every employment job here has a published figure, agreed in writing before anything starts.
Small employers get caught by ordinary things: a member of staff who has never had anything in writing, a handbook copied from a business that works nothing like yours, or a contractor who has been treated like an employee for three years. Each is simple to fix in advance. Each is expensive to argue about afterwards.
A commercial solicitor is commonly £200 to £350 +VAT an hour for this work, so the first invoice arrives before you know what the job costs. Each price below is the whole job, agreed in writing before anything starts.
Or the first one put on a proper footing, after years of paying people as contractors.
The pack that fitsEmployment starter packfrom £895 +VATYou have staff and no handbook, or a handbook that no longer describes how the place runs.
The pack that fitsHR policies and staff handbookfrom £1,495 +VATA disciplinary or a grievance is coming, and you need a fair, defensible process before you act. If a claim has already arrived, start at tribunal defence.
The pack that fitsDisciplinary and grievance procedures, in the handbook packfrom £1,495 +VATYour first hire, or the first one put on a proper footing after years of paying people as contractors.
The written statement the law requires on or before their first day, and the contract around it.
The terms set out before they resign from anywhere else.
For the information that stays with the business.
For the people who are self-employed, and not employees by another name.
Drawn narrowly enough to stand a chance of holding up.
You have staff and nothing written down, or a handbook that no longer describes how the place runs. This is also the pack with the disciplinary and grievance procedures, for when there is a problem with someone.
The policies a small employer needs, in one place.
Procedures that follow a fair, defensible process.
The policies for time off, written for how you work.
A policy for it, where the way you work needs one.
Two questions settle it. Does this happen to you regularly, or is it one job? And do you want somewhere to ask before you act, or a document produced?
One hire a year is a fixed fee. A business where somebody asks you an employment question most months pays less on a plan from £49 +VAT a month, and we will tell you which one you are.
Somebody has sent you terms to sign, or you want the contract you already use read before the next hire.
The questions are about people as well as paperwork, and they come up most months.
Each figure is what that job costs at ordinary size and complexity: a first employment contract, or one set of policies for a business with a single way of working. It is a starting price because a five-person office and a forty-person operation across three sites both need “a staff handbook”, and charging the same for both would overcharge one of you.
Employment documents, policies, handbooks and contract reviews are not reserved legal activities, which is why we can do them at these prices. Work carried out by AD Solicitors carries the full SRA framework, including the compensation fund and the Legal Ombudsman. Work we carry out ourselves does not. Where a matter needs an authorised firm, it goes to AD Solicitors, SRA no. 8011228, and you are told that at the scoping stage, before any invoice. A live tribunal claim is covered by tribunal defence, at a fixed fee per stage.
Buzz Legal handles contracts, terms of trade, employment paperwork and dispute preparation. Court work, and the other activities reserved by law, are carried out by AD Solicitors, authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (no. 8011228) — and you are told which yours is before you spend anything. How this works, in full. This is information, not advice on your situation.
The employment work a small employer needs is priced above: a starter pack from £895 +VAT, HR policies with a handbook from £1,495 +VAT, and a single contract read and marked up for £249 +VAT. Commercial solicitors are commonly £200 to £350 +VAT an hour for this kind of work, so £249 buys roughly an hour of somebody's time — long enough to read your contract, not to tell you what to do about it. Here the same £249 buys the finished job. The figure is agreed in writing before anything starts and does not move unless the scope does.
Yes, against a scope you have agreed. The prices are what each job costs at ordinary size and complexity, which is why they are written as “from”. If what you have is bigger — twenty staff on four sets of terms, a handbook covering shift patterns and sector rules, or anything already in dispute — we stop and re-quote before any of it reaches an invoice. Nothing begins until you have approved the scope and the figure, and there is no clock running while you think about it.
You must give every employee and worker a written statement of the main terms of their employment, on or before their first day. It is not the same as a full contract and it is not optional. This is one of the more common findings against small employers, because it is straightforward to get right in advance and impossible to fix once someone has already started and things have gone wrong. The employment starter pack covers the statement and the contract around it, so you are not choosing between them.
The Buzz Legal team. Employment documents, policies, handbooks and contract reviews are non-reserved work under the Legal Services Act 2007, so an authorised firm is not required to carry them out — which is why they can be priced as ordinary work, not billed by the hour. Reserved and contentious matters go to AD Solicitors, regulated by the SRA under number 8011228, at rates confirmed before that work starts.
If employment questions come up regularly, a subscription is usually cheaper than paying per job. Plans start at £49 +VAT a month, and Virtual HR Manager at £499 +VAT a month includes the contracts, handbook and core policies built for you — which is why that one runs on a twelve-month agreement, since the setup is included and not charged separately. Ask and we will work out which is cheaper for your situation.
Partly, and the line matters. Preparing the file, building the chronology and working out what the evidence supports is work we can do, and doing it well and early is what makes everything afterwards cheaper. A live tribunal claim moves to tribunal defence, priced per stage, with the groundwork already done so you do not pay for it twice. If it needs a barrister or a court, it goes to AD Solicitors. Employment tribunal defence sets out how that works.
One line is enough — a first hire, a handbook that is out of date, a contractor you think may not be one. You get back which package it falls under and one fixed price, or an honest answer that it is not one of these and what it would cost instead. See the privacy policy for how we use your details.
Contracts, the written statement and the documents for your first hire, from £895 +VAT, fixed in writing before work starts. 10% off for subscribers.
