Managed Employee Relations casework
Need someone to step in and help manage a difficult employee case?
I'm Samantha Newton FCIPD. I work with owner-managed businesses when an employee situation needs careful handling and you need someone experienced to take on part of the process.
We agree what I'll handle, what stays with you and what it will cost before work starts.
Chartered Fellow CIPD · 25+ years in Employee Relations · Oxfordshire and UK-wide
Most owners come to me part-way through
A meeting has happened without notes. An allegation has been half looked into. Something has been said that would have been better left unsaid. That is normal, and it is usually workable.
What I will not do is pretend a process was followed when it was not. I will tell you where you actually are, what can be put right and what has to be lived with. Then we deal with the situation in front of us.
What I can take on
Depending on the brief, and agreed with you before anything starts. Not every case needs all of it.
Reviewing what you already have
The correspondence, notes and policies, so the starting position is clear before anything else happens.
Planning the process
What needs to happen, in what order, and where the risks sit.
Gathering evidence
Documents, records and the written material a fair process depends on.
Interviewing witnesses
Properly structured interviews, with notes that stand up to scrutiny later.
Chairing an agreed meeting
Where it is appropriate for someone independent to chair, and we have agreed it in advance.
Drafting correspondence
Invite letters, outcome letters and the wording that often causes the most difficulty.
Preparing findings and recommendations
A written report setting out what was established and what the options are.
Commonly on grievances, disciplinaries, investigations, dismissal appeals, restructures and redundancies. See the full range of employee situations →
Who does what
This matters more than anything else on the page, so it is set out plainly and written into every proposal.
My part
- Carrying out the stages we have agreed
- Independent fact-finding where that is the brief, establishing what happened
- Setting out findings, options and recommendations in writing
- Keeping a clear, dated record as the work happens
- Telling you when something needs a solicitor rather than me
Your part
- You remain the employer throughout
- Every decision about an individual is yours to make
- Weighing my findings and recommendations alongside everything else you know
- Anything we have agreed sits outside my scope
A recommendation is not a decision. Where I carry out independent fact-finding, my job is to establish the facts and set out what they mean. Deciding what to do about them is yours, and keeping those two things separate is part of what makes the process defensible.
I lead the work personally. Where an experienced associate is involved, for instance to keep an investigator and a decision-maker separate, that is agreed with you in advance and named in the proposal.
How it starts
Nothing begins until the proposal is agreed in writing.
An initial conversation
You tell me what has happened and where it has got to. I will give you an honest read on how serious it is, and say if you do not need me.
A written proposal
Setting out the scope, who is responsible for what, the deliverables, the timescales and a fixed fee. You see all of it before anything starts.
The agreed work
I carry out the parts we have agreed. If the situation changes materially, I stop, tell you, and we agree the position again before I carry on.
Handover
You receive the documents and findings we agreed, in a form you can rely on when you make your decision.
The fee is fixed for the agreed scope and confirmed in the proposal. It depends on the case, so there is no single figure I can put on this page without misleading you.
Magenta HR Consulting carries £1 million of professional indemnity insurance. I am happy to provide the certificate before you instruct me.
Why owners trust me with this
“Samantha at Magenta Core HR Solutions has been absolutely excellent for us. She stepped in at short notice when our existing HR consultant was unavailable and supported us through a difficult HR issue.”
Anonymised case study · Grievance
A grievance against the owner
A senior, long-serving employee raised a formal written grievance against the business owner. When a grievance names the owner, there is no neutral senior person inside the business to hear it.
What I did
- Set up a properly structured, independent grievance process so the employee was genuinely heard
- Kept the owner out of the investigation itself to preserve fairness
- Established the actual facts behind the change in working arrangements
- Documented every step
The grievance was heard fairly, the facts were established and a practical resolution was agreed. The employee stayed and the working relationship recovered.
One anonymised example. Every case turns on its own facts, and no outcome can be guaranteed.
If this is not quite what you need
Two other ways of working, kept deliberately separate.
Questions owners ask
Do you take over the whole case?
Not usually, and not automatically. We agree which parts of the process I take on and which stay with you, and that is written into the proposal before anything begins. Some owners want me to run most of it. Others want help with a specific stage.
Who makes the decision?
You do. You remain the employer throughout. Where I carry out independent fact-finding, my role is to establish what happened and set out findings or recommendations. The decision, and the responsibility for it, stays with you.
Can you be genuinely independent?
For fact-finding and appeals that is often the point. I sit outside your business, so I have no history with the people involved. Where independence matters, we keep the roles separate, and I will tell you if a step I have already taken means someone else should handle the next one.
Will it be you doing the work?
I lead the work personally. Where an experienced associate is involved, for example to keep an investigator and a decision-maker separate, that is agreed with you in advance and set out in the proposal.
What does it cost?
A fixed fee, scoped and quoted in writing after the initial conversation. It depends on the type of case, how many people are involved and how much material there is, so a single price on a web page would not be honest. You will know the figure before you commit.
Is this legal advice?
No. This is Employee Relations and HR support, not legal advice or employment tribunal representation. Where you need a solicitor, I will say so and point you to an employment solicitor I work alongside.
How quickly can you start?
It depends on what is already in the diary. Tell me on the call if there is a deadline and I will give you a straight answer about whether I can meet it, rather than taking the work and letting it slip.
Talk it through before you decide anything
A short call tells you whether you need someone to step in, and what that would involve. If you can handle it yourself, I will say so.
Prefer to write? Send me a brief outline of what has happened and any deadline you are working to. Please do not include employee names, medical details or documents at this stage.