Employment Status & Workforce Structuring Advice for Employers

Understanding the true status of individuals working in your business is essential to managing risk.

We carry out detailed assessments of working arrangements, reviewing both contractual documentation and day-to-day practices. This allows us to identify whether individuals are correctly classified and where there may be exposure if the reality of the relationship differs from how it is described.

Our advice is clear, practical, and aimed at helping you take steps to align your arrangements with your intended structure and reduce the risk of your workforce structure being challenge.

Agency worker arrangements can provide flexibility but also give rise to specific legal obligations.

We advise employers on compliance with the Agency Workers Regulations, including day-one rights and equal treatment after 12 weeks. We also help you understand how responsibility may be shared between your business and the agency.

Our focus is on ensuring your arrangements are workable in practice and minimise the risk of claims or disputes.

Consultancy arrangements and other alternatives to employment can be effective, but only if they are structured and implemented correctly.

We advise on a wide range of alternative working arrangements, helping you understand how different models operate in practice and the risks associated with each.

This includes reviewing how relationships work day to day and identifying where there may be a risk of reclassification or challenge.

Well-drafted documentation plays an important role in supporting your position on employment status.

We prepare and review consultancy agreements, agency documentation and other contracts relating to alternative working arrangements. We ensure that documentation is clear, consistent and aligned with how the relationship operates in practice.

Strong documentation can significantly improve your position if employment status is later challenged.

Disputes can arise where individuals challenge their status and seek to claim entitlement to employment rights.

We advise employers on managing employment status disputes, including claims for worker or employee rights such as holiday pay and other statutory entitlements. We also represent businesses in Employment Tribunal proceedings where necessary.

Where appropriate, we help you resolve disputes at an early stage to minimise cost, disruption and risk.