An employee is repeatedly absent or has disclosed a health condition.
We help you plan the conversation, consider workplace impact and identify sensible next steps.
One retained support service for managers of UK SMEs
HR support.
Safety support.
One team to call.
When an employee issue, site problem or compliance question lands on your desk, you get named HR and health and safety specialists who know your business and help you decide exactly what to do next.
YOUR SUPPORT TEAMACTIVE
01Direct
People
Your named HR adviser02On site
Workplace
Your H&S competent personONE ROUTE IN
Explain the issue once. We involve the right person and agree the next action.Phone, email & Teams advice
Agreed workplace visits
Documents built around you
Actions followed through
CHOOSE YOUR STARTING POINT
One relationship when you need both
Start with the support
your business needs now.
Choose HR, health and safety or one joined-up North East service. Each route is practical, clearly scoped and built around named people.
HR / 01
Outsourced HR support
Manager advice, contracts, policies, absence, capability, conduct, performance and fair employee processes.
Explore HR support H&S / 02Retained safety support
Competent-person advice, workplace visits, risk documents, action tracking and incident support.
Explore safety support LOCAL / 03North East HR + Safety
On-site and remote support across Teesside, County Durham, Newcastle and the wider North East.
See local coverage CONTACT / 04Bring us the current issue
Call, email or book a conversation. You do not need to decide which discipline should lead.
Contact the team01 — THE DIFFERENCE
Good on paper isn't good enough.
Advice is only useful when a manager knows what to do next.
Most employers are not short of policies. They are short of time, confidence and somebody who will help them apply those policies to a real person, job or workplace.
HR + SAFETY gives you a practical route from question to action: understand the issue, decide who should lead, provide the right advice or document, and check that the action has actually been completed.
See when managers call us02 — WHEN WOULD I CALL?
The normal messy situations—not just emergencies
Call before a manageable issue becomes a serious one.
You do not need to know whether the issue is “HR” or “health and safety” before contacting us. Tell us what has happened and we will help you work out the safest, fairest and most practical next step.
A supervisor is struggling with performance, conduct or a difficult conversation.
We help them prepare, stay fair, keep a clear record and avoid making the problem worse.
You need to start a disciplinary, grievance, capability or change process.
We explain the stages, help with letters and meetings, and flag when specialist legal input is needed.
You are introducing new work, equipment, premises or working arrangements.
We help you identify the people, safety, training and documentation implications before work begins.
There has been an accident, near miss, allegation or client complaint.
We help you protect people, preserve the facts, decide what needs reporting and create an action plan.
A client, insurer or regulator has asked for evidence or raised concerns.
We help you understand the request, find the gaps and present a clear, evidence-based response.
03 — WHAT YOU GET
Two disciplines.
One joined-up service.
Your agreed retainer combines day-to-day manager advice, planned improvement work and practical support when something unexpected happens. The exact scope is confirmed before the service starts.
HR / 01PEOPLE
Confident decisions when people issues get difficult.
Practical HR support for the everyday questions and sensitive situations that can consume management time.
- Contracts, handbooks, policies and agreed updates
- Day-to-day advice on absence, conduct, performance and capability
- Guidance through disciplinary, grievance and change processes
- Meeting plans, draft letters, notes and practical manager scripts
- Health conditions, adjustments and occupational-health next steps
- Clear escalation when specialist employment-law advice is needed
Clear advice, explained in plain English and shaped around the real situation.
H&S / 02WORKPLACE
Safety support that leaves the desk and reaches the workplace.
Competent-person support built around how your work is actually carried out—not how a generic template imagines it.
- Competent-person advice and an initial compliance baseline
- Policies, risk assessments, RAMS and safe systems of work
- Workplace inspections with prioritised action tracking
- Accident, near-miss and incident investigation support
- Fire, training, contractor and wider compliance planning
- Practical help responding to client or regulator concerns
Documents that match the job, backed by support that helps people use them.
04 — THE REAL WORLD
One view of the business
The employee issue and the safety issue are often the same issue.
An absence may involve a health condition and a workplace adjustment. A performance problem may be caused by poor training or an unsafe process. An incident investigation may reveal supervision, conduct and wellbeing concerns at the same time.
Where an issue overlaps, one adviser takes the lead and coordinates only the information needed with the other. You spend less time repeating the story, while responsibilities and confidentiality remain clear.
PEOPLEOne clear action planRISK
05 — HOW IT WORKS
A practical route forward
From problem
to under control.
You do not need to arrive with a perfect brief. Bring us the issue, the pressure point or the thing that keeps being put off. We help turn it into clear priorities, named actions and support that keeps moving.
- 01
START HERE
Tell us what's happening.
One straightforward conversation about the current issue, your business and where management time is being lost. - 02
MAKE SENSE OF IT
We identify the priorities.
We separate what needs action now from what can be planned, and decide whether HR, safety or both should lead. - 03
AGREE THE ROUTE
Set the right level of support.
You receive a sensible starting scope, named contacts and clarity about what will happen next. - 04
DO THE WORK
Put the advice into practice.
Advice becomes meetings, documents, workplace visits and actions with clear owners—not another forgotten report. - 05
UNDER CONTROL
Keep it moving.
We stay alongside your managers, follow actions through and adapt the support as your people, sites and risks change.
THE OUTCOMEClear priorities. Named people. Less uncertainty.Start with a conversation
06 — YOUR FIRST 30 DAYS
No dramatic document replacement exercise
First understand what you have. Then fix what matters.
We do not replace working policies or systems simply to make them look like ours. The first month is about gaining control, identifying urgent gaps and agreeing a realistic improvement plan.
Kick-off and access
Confirm named contacts, sites, workforce profile, live cases, urgent risks, existing advisers and how managers should request help.
Focused baseline review
Review the core HR documents, health and safety arrangements, open actions, training position and any current employee or incident matters.
Priorities and rhythm
Agree immediate fixes, named owners, planned documents, workplace visits, management check-ins and the actions to carry into the next quarter.
BY THE END OF MONTH ONEA clear support route, an agreed scope, a prioritised action plan and no uncertainty about who is doing what.
07 — COST & SCOPE
Clear retainer.
No surprise extras.
The monthly fee is based on the size and complexity of your business—not an invented package. We consider employee numbers, sites, risk profile, existing arrangements and the level of manager support likely to be needed.
- Day-to-day advice for owners and nominated managers
- Agreed document drafting, review and updates
- Planned management reviews and action tracking
- An agreed programme of workplace visits
- Coordination between HR and safety where issues overlap
- +Tribunal, court or other formal legal representation
- +Specialist surveys, testing, engineering or third-party fees
- +Large standalone projects, training delivery or document programmes
- +Support beyond agreed sites, hours or retained capacity
- +Major incident work requiring a separate investigation scope
If a request falls outside your retainer, we explain why, set out the options and agree the cost before additional work begins.
Get an indicative starting price08 — WHO IT'S FOR
Typically 10–100 employees
Big enough to have real risk. Too busy for two more departments.
HR + SAFETY is designed for owner-led and growing UK businesses that need dependable expertise without building a full in-house HR and health and safety team.
Construction & tradesManufacturing & engineeringAutomotive & workshopsProfessional servicesWarehousing & logisticsMulti-site employers
09 — CLEANER ADMIN
A useful HR system. Kept simple.
Where Breathe HR is right for the business, each employer can have a separate organisation for employee records, leave, documents and essential workflows. Whether it forms part of your proposal is agreed before the service starts.
Adviser access is limited to the organisations they are assigned to. That means cleaner ownership, fewer crossed wires and a system that supports the relationship instead of becoming a substitute for human advice.
Separate client organisation Controlled adviser access Clearer records and workflows
10 — STRAIGHT ANSWERS
Know what you're
signing up for.
01Is this just a library of templates?
No. Documents matter, but the service is built around advice, implementation, workplace understanding and follow-through.
02Who will actually support us?
You will have named contacts for HR and health and safety, with the scope and responsibilities agreed from the outset.
03Is all support delivered in-house?
Health and safety is led by Safety Inspectors UK. Some HR and specialist legal input may be delivered with carefully selected external partners. We are clear about who is responsible, and confidentiality and data arrangements are documented.
04Do we have to buy everything at once?
No. We prefer a sensible starting scope, clear priorities and a support arrangement that can grow with your needs.
05Can you represent us in court or tribunal?
Formal legal representation and other specialist services are not assumed within the retainer. If they are needed, we will explain the route, provider and separate scope clearly.
06How often will you visit our workplace?
The visit programme is agreed around your sites, risk and priorities. Some businesses need regular scheduled visits; others need targeted visits around specific work or change.
07How quickly will you respond?
Access routes and response expectations are confirmed in your proposal. We avoid vague “unlimited support” promises and agree a level of service that can be delivered properly.
08Can employees contact you directly?
The service normally supports owners and nominated managers. Employee-facing meetings or contact can be agreed for specific processes, but are not assumed without a clear purpose and authority.
09Do you take responsibility away from us?
No. You remain the employer and retain operational responsibility. We provide competent advice, practical support and evidence to help you make and implement better decisions.
10What if we already have internal HR or safety staff?
That is not a problem. We can support an existing manager or internal adviser, fill a competence or capacity gap, or take ownership of clearly defined workstreams.
11Do we have to use Breathe HR?
No. Breathe is an option where it will make records and workflows cleaner. We first consider what you already use and whether changing or adding a system would genuinely help.
12How is confidential information handled between advisers?
Access and data-processing responsibilities are documented. Where HR and safety overlap, only relevant information is coordinated, with a clear reason, lead adviser and agreed route of access.
13What happens when an issue is urgent?
You use the urgent contact route agreed for your business and give us the key facts. Immediate danger or emergencies must still be managed through your emergency arrangements and the appropriate emergency services.
14Can the service cover several sites?
Yes. The proposal identifies which sites are covered, who manages each location, how visits will be prioritised and whether any site needs additional specialist support.
11 — ADVICE & GUIDES
Useful before the next problem lands
Clear thinking for people and workplace issues.
Short, practical guidance for owners and managers—written to help you recognise the issue, ask better questions and decide what should happen next.
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Browse all guidesNo sales script. Start with the real issue.
Bring us the
current headache.
Tell us what is taking management time, creating risk or simply not getting done. We'll help you identify what needs attention now, what can wait and whether this model is the right fit for your business.