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HR Consultancy Launch Programme · Stage 4 of 10
Set Your Scope & Terms
Draw the line between the HR advice you can give and the reserved legal work you cannot, then protect it with written terms, current knowledge and a clear referral protocol. This is a signpost, not legal advice.
How long
About a day, plus one solicitor review
You’ll have
A clear scope line, signed terms with a liability cap, and a referral protocol
Steps
4 steps
Resources
2 resources
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01 Step 01
Step 01
Draw your scope line
Stepping over the line into reserved legal work is both unlawful and uninsured, and the line is not where most people assume it is.
Do it yourself
- Learn the six reserved legal activities under the Legal Services Act 2007: rights of audience in the courts, the conduct of litigation, reserved instrument activities, probate activities, notarial activities, and the administration of oaths. Only these are reserved.
- Know what you can do, all of it unreserved: give HR and employment-law advice, draft contracts, handbooks and policies, run disciplinary, grievance and redundancy processes, and represent a party at the Employment Tribunal, which permits non-lawyer representation.
- Know what you cannot do: conduct litigation in the courts (issuing or managing County Court or High Court proceedings), exercise rights of audience in the courts, or hold yourself out as a solicitor, which is an offence.
- Note the two traps. Legal professional privilege does not attach to advice from a non-lawyer, so an employer’s communications with you may be disclosable in litigation. And you cannot be an employee’s relevant independent adviser on a settlement agreement, which needs an insured solicitor or qualified adviser, and you should not advise both sides.
Common mistake · Believing "I can’t touch tribunals", which is false because lay representation is allowed, or the opposite, drifting into court litigation and privileged-style advice because it all feels like "just HR".
Time~2–3 hours CostFree DifficultyHardResource for this step
CHECKLISTScope-line one-pager
The line between the HR work you can do and the reserved legal work you cannot, with the two traps called out. A signpost, not legal advice.
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02 Step 02
Step 02
Write your engagement terms and limitation of liability
Clear written terms with a liability cap are your main contractual defence when advice is later blamed for a tribunal outcome.
Do it yourself
- Cover scope, exclusions, fees and payment terms, intellectual property, confidentiality, data protection (cross-referred to your Data Protection module) and termination.
- Include a limitation-of-liability clause, for example capped to the fees paid, set to sit consistently with your professional indemnity cover.
- State clearly that you provide HR advice and not court representation, and that clients should take independent legal advice on litigation.
- Have an employment or commercial solicitor review or adapt the template once, then reuse it.
Common mistake · Working on an emailed "yes, go ahead" with no signed terms and no liability cap, so you carry unlimited exposure on a fixed fee.
Time~3–5 hours, plus one solicitor review Cost~£300–£800 for a solicitor to review or adapt a template DifficultyMediumResource for this step
CHECKLISTEngagement terms checklist
The clauses a good engagement letter should cover, with a note to have a solicitor review it once. A signpost, not legal advice.
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03 Step 03
Step 03
Build your employment-law currency system
UK employment law is changing substantially right now, and out-of-date advice is a direct liability.
Do it yourself
- Know the current landscape. The Employment Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025 and rolls out on a phased roadmap: day-one paternity leave, day-one Statutory Sick Pay and the Fair Work Agency from April 2026, and the unfair-dismissal qualifying period dropping from two years to six months from 1 January 2027. These dates (as at July 2026) are still moving, so verify the current status and timing on GOV.UK before you rely on them.
- Subscribe to reliable feeds: GOV.UK, ACAS, the CIPD, and briefings from a reputable employment-law firm.
- Set a recurring review to update client handbooks and contracts when the law changes, which becomes a retained-service selling point.
Common mistake · Using a policy or handbook template that pre-dates the current reforms and never revisiting it.
Time~2 hours to set up, then ongoing CostFree feeds, up to a few hundred £/yr for a paid update service DifficultyEasy -
04 Step 04
Step 04
Set your referral protocol
Knowing exactly when to hand a matter to an employment solicitor protects the client, your insurance and your reputation.
Do it yourself
- Define your refer-out triggers: court litigation issued or threatened, complex discrimination, whistleblowing, TUPE or restrictive-covenant matters, anything needing legal privilege, high-value or reputationally severe cases, and being an employee’s settlement-agreement adviser.
- Line up one or two employment solicitors as referral partners, which also feeds the referral network you build in Winning Clients and works both ways.
- Script how you tell a client about a referral without losing the relationship: you stay as the HR lead, the solicitor handles the legal file.
Common mistake · Hanging on to a matter that has clearly become litigation because you do not want to lose the fee.
Time~1–2 hours CostFree DifficultyEasy
What you’ll have after this stage
- A scope line you can state plainly: what you can do, including tribunal representation, and what you refer out
- An engagement-letter template with a liability cap, reviewed once by a solicitor
- A system for keeping your employment-law knowledge current
- A referral protocol, with one or two employment solicitors lined up