You are hiring, changing someone’s terms, or dealing with a problem at work. Every employment and HR job here has a published fixed fee, 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 one costs little to put right before anything goes wrong, and a great deal more once it is being argued about.
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.
Including putting people on a proper footing after years of paying them 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 +VATThe starter pack covers a first hire, or putting people on a proper footing after years of paying them 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 people who are self-employed.
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.
Each employment job below has its own page setting out what is included. Prices are +VAT, agreed in writing before work starts, and subscribers get 10% off each one.
Employment contracts for small businesses: the day-one statement, contract and offer letter, in the starter pack.
The handbook, disciplinary and grievance procedures, and absence policies, in the pack above.
One employment or consultancy agreement read and marked up, through the fixed-fee contract review.
A settlement agreement for someone leaving on agreed terms, at a fixed price agreed first.
Tribunal defence for employers, priced per stage, from the response form onwards.
Agreements for freelancers and associates, at a fixed price agreed first.
Illustrative figures. A business with six staff has never had a handbook, and is about to hire a seventh. Two of the six have contracts; four have only a payslip.
The starter pack writes the new contract, the day-one statement and the offer letter, and brings the four existing staff onto written terms: from £895 +VAT. The handbook pack adds the policies and the disciplinary and grievance procedures: from £1,495 +VAT. Together that is £2,390 +VAT, or £2,151 +VAT for a subscriber, each figure fixed before work starts.
If the same business expects employment questions most months, Virtual HR Manager at £499 +VAT a month includes that setup and the day-to-day questions, at £5,988 +VAT over its twelve-month agreement. The fixed fees cost less for one set of documents. The plan suits a business that also wants somewhere to ask employment questions most months.
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?
For one hire a year, pay the fixed fee. If employment questions come up most months, a plan from £49 +VAT a month costs less, and we will tell you which applies to you.
Somebody has sent you terms to sign, or you want the contract you already use read before the next hire.
An employment law subscription, for when the questions are about people as well as paperwork and 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. We defend tribunal claims ourselves, with our employment lawyer associate, at a fixed price for each stage (see employment tribunal defence). Court work goes to AD Solicitors, SRA no. 8011228, and you are told which applies at the scoping stage, before any invoice.
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 a solicitor's time. Here £249 buys a finished contract review. 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.
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 a legal requirement. A missing statement is a common finding against small employers. The employment starter pack covers the statement and the contract around it.
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 fixed fees. 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 can cost less 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.
Yes, up to a point. Preparing the file, building the chronology and working out what the evidence supports is work we do, and doing it early reduces the cost of what follows. 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.
All of the paperwork an employer needs. The employment starter pack, covering contracts, the day-one written statement and the offer letter, is from £895 +VAT. HR policies and a staff handbook are from £1,495 +VAT. An employment contract review is £249 +VAT. Settlement agreements for employers, consultant and associate agreements, and tribunal defence are each priced in writing before work starts, tribunal defence one stage at a time. Subscribers get 10% off each fixed fee.
The starter pack covers the documents each person gets: the contract, the written statement, the offer letter, and confidentiality and covenants. The handbook pack covers the rules that apply to everyone: policies, absence, and the disciplinary and grievance procedures. A business making its first hire needs the starter pack. A business with a team and nothing written down usually needs both, and that is £2,390 +VAT before the subscriber discount.
Describe it in one line: a first hire, a handbook that is out of date, a contractor you think may not be one. We reply with the package it falls under and one fixed price, or with the cost if it is not one of these. 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.
