Sectors

Charities

WorkNest has provided valuable support to UK charities for almost two decades. A trusted partner of ACEVO, NCVO and the Charity Finance Group, we have a special affinity with voluntary and community organisations and are known for our unrivalled sector expertise.

Because of this, we understand the unique world in which charities operate. We understand that you face more day-to-day constraints, more checks and more tightly-controlled compliance requirements than many other businesses. We understand that your employees and volunteers are your greatest asset, and that keeping them happy and productive is key to growing your charity and achieving your objectives.

We also know that, when you’re focused on your mission, managing these areas can be challenging. That’s why we offer a range of services designed to help you get the most from your people, overcome the complexities of employment law, and operate compliantly.

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How we help

Specialist advice and support for charities

Employing an experienced team of HR, Employment Law and Health & Safety specialists, WorkNest enables charities to fulfil governance requirements, develop their people strategy, act as a model of good employee relations, and maintain their reputation as a responsible employer.

Whether you need support with team development and management training, advice on restoring workforce harmony, or help to ensure your premises and practices are safe and compliant, our clients benefit from:

  • Highly-experienced, specialist teams who truly understand the third sector
  • Specific service offerings and discounts for charities on our HRC services
  • Flexible solutions to accommodate the cyclical nature of charity funding

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Employment Law & HR

Our team of highly-experienced Employment Lawyers and HR Consultants work closely with charities and their trustees to ensure that the decisions they make comply with the law, align with best practice and promote stable and productive working relationships across all levels. We can support your charity on an ongoing or project basis, depending on your needs.

High-quality HR Consultancy support

WorkNest HR’s charity specialists have a deep understanding of the third sector human resources agenda as it relates to charities and the wider not-for-profit sector. We appreciate, for example, that you are subject to heightened controls and safe guarding checks, that volunteers come and go, that you need to invest surplus cash in new staff.

Our services are entirely flexible, to suit your needs. This means we don’t have a one-size-fits-all approach but rather provide advice and services that reflect your ethos, your appetite to risk, your priorities and your policies, as well as your size and funding levels. We then work towards ensuring that the HR support we provide you with matches these.  

Our team are passionate about helping you take a proactive approach to your particular people management challenges. They can hand hold you, project lead you and guide you step by step though day-to-day issues and strategic organisational development projects, such as:

  • Policy, handbook and contract creation;
  • Dignity at work training;
  • HR and people-related governance;
  • Recruitment;
  • Performance management;
  • Values, culture and engagement strategies;
  • Management and leadership training programmes;
  • Dispute resolution, including grievance and disciplinary investigations;
  • Redundancy, restructuring and TUPE;
  • Equality and diversity audits and projects; and
  • Wellbeing and mental health initiatives.

By working with you to understand your organisation’s needs, we can devise bespoke support and strategies to help you meet all your administrative, operational and HR requirements. To support your need to closely manage your finances, we offer different options for engaging with us – whether that’s occasional advice or a fully outsourced service – all at a discounted rate for charities. 

WorkNest is currently recruiting on behalf of our third sector clients. View vacancies or call our recruitment team on 01403 240205

Expert Employment Law advice

Even the best-run organisations will encounter employee relations issues from time to time. If you don’t have the resources or expertise to manage these situations, they can go unchecked or mistakes may be made, potentially leading to bigger problems.

Fortunately, WorkNest Law’s Employment Law experts are on hand to guide you through workforce matters efficiently and compliantly so that you can minimise disruption, reduce legal risk and move forward positively. Our team are well-versed with common third-sector employment challenges such as:

  • Redundancy, restructuring and TUPE;
  • Grievance investigation;
  • Whistleblowing;
  • Volunteers and employment status;
  • Contractual issues; and
  • Employment Tribunals.

Again, recognising the funding pressures facing charities, our Employment Law advice and support is provided for a fair, fixed fee, enabling you to keep better control of your budget.

It’s clear that WorkNest (formerly Ellis Whittam) has vast experience of working within the charity sector – they understand how we operate and, as such, have made our lives a whole lot easier.”
Merseyside Youth Association

Hands-on Health & Safety support

At WorkNest H&S, we understand the pressure on charities to keep employees, volunteers and members of the public safe. Whether you operate from a shop, a call centre or an office, we assign named professionals to support you as one of your legally-required competent persons.

Having visited your premises to conduct a health and safety audit and produce your policy and handbook, your dedicated consultant will be well placed to help you to take a sensible and proportionate approach to reduce the risks associated with:

  • Managing volunteers;
  • Events and non-domestic premises;
  • Lone workers;
  • Slips, trips and falls;
  • Manual handling;
  • Working at height;
  • Fire;
  • Stress; and
  • Musculoskeletal disorders.

We believe that third sector organisations shouldn’t have to choose between great charity work and safe charity work. With a wealth of experience in the voluntary sector, our consultants offer realistic advice and support to protect your organisation against financial and reputational risk – without compromising your ability to deliver on key objectives or creating a barrier to volunteering activities.

Explore our Employment Law and Health & Safety Services

Discover more about how our services could support your care organisation

Experts in the Charity Sector

Experts in Employment Law, HR and Health & Safety

What makes us unique is that we combine the service quality of a law firm with the certainty of fixed-fee services to provide expert, solutions-focused Employment Law, HR and Health & Safety support tailored to your organisation.

Our people are the basis of our service. They are the reason why we have a 95% client satisfaction rate and an annual client retention rate of 97%.

Our sector experts help business leaders like you to:

  • Proactively solve problems;
  • Ensure regulatory compliance; and
  • Achieve commercial objectives.

Who you’ll be working with

We been using WorkNest (formerly HRSP) since 2007 and have made use of a variety of the services they offer from basic advice to relocation/redundancy consultation, recruitment and training, grievance and disciplinary. The response to all queries is fast, helpful and friendly; their advice is clear and comprehensive; their support invaluable. For organisations too small to field their own HR department, you cannot do better than enlist the services of WorkNest for a competitively priced, highly competent, flexible and friendly service.”

Miranda Litchfield
Director, The Society of the Little Flower

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