HR Consultancy providers across the UK

What hr consultancy covers, and what it does not

What hr consultancy costs

How it is priced: Day rate, or a fixed fee scoped against a defined deliverable. Day rates commonly run £500-£1,500 depending on seniority and city. London and the South East sit at the top of that range, with £800-£1,500 typical for a senior consultant in central London, while £500-£800 is more usual in the North and Midlands. Smaller consultancies also sell light-touch retained access from around £300 a month, which is a different product from project days.

What moves the price

• Seniority of the consultant actually doing the work, not the one who pitched
• Whether the scope is a fixed deliverable or open-ended days
• On-site days versus remote
• Whether documents produced are yours to reuse afterwards

Ranges are indicative of what UK employers commonly pay and are not quotes. City pages carry local bands where they differ.

Who hr consultancy suits

Questions to ask before you sign

1. 1Who will actually do the work, and what have they run that looks like this?
2. 2Is this scoped as a fixed fee or open days, and what triggers extra days?
3. 3What are the deliverables, and do I own the documents afterwards?
4. 4What happens if the project runs beyond the estimate?
5. 5Will you hand over to my team, or do you need to be there at every stage?

Key terms

Scope of work

The written definition of deliverables. Vague scopes are how day counts drift.

TUPE

The regulations transferring employees, and their terms, when a business or service contract changes hands.

Collective consultation

The statutory process, with minimum timescales, triggered when 20 or more redundancies are proposed at one establishment.

Cities with the most HR consultancies

• Birmingham12
• Leeds11
• Manchester10
• Glasgow10
• Bristol10
• Sheffield10
• Liverpool9
• Edinburgh9

HR Consultancy by city - England

• London7
• Birmingham12
• Manchester10
• Leeds11
• Liverpool9
• Bristol10
• Sheffield10
• Newcastle upon Tyne9

HR Consultancy by city - Scotland

• Glasgow10
• Edinburgh9

HR Consultancy questions employers ask

What is hr consultancy?

HR consultancy is project work bought by the day or by the piece: a restructure, a TUPE transfer, a pay and grading review, a culture or engagement programme, or an independent investigation. You are buying senior judgement on a defined problem, not ongoing cover.

How much does hr consultancy cost in the UK?

Day rate, or a fixed fee scoped against a defined deliverable. Day rates commonly run £500-£1,500 depending on seniority and city. London and the South East sit at the top of that range, with £800-£1,500 typical for a senior consultant in central London, while £500-£800 is more usual in the North and Midlands. Smaller consultancies also sell light-touch retained access from around £300 a month, which is a different product from project days. The figures move most on: seniority of the consultant actually doing the work, not the one who pitched; whether the scope is a fixed deliverable or open-ended days; on-site days versus remote. Always compare quotes on what is inside the fee rather than the headline number.

What is included in hr consultancy, and what is not?

Normally included: diagnostic work and a written recommendation; restructure and redundancy planning, including consultation timetables; tupe transfer support on either side of a deal; pay, grading and job evaluation reviews. Normally excluded or charged separately: day-to-day advice between projects; contract and handbook maintenance over time; payroll and systems administration.

Who should buy hr consultancy?

Employers who already handle routine HR but face a one-off event with real legal or financial exposure, and organisations wanting an independent view where an internal investigator would not be seen as impartial. It is a poor fit for the opposite case: employers who need someone to answer a question every week. Buying that as consultancy days is the most expensive way to get it.

What should I ask before signing?

Five questions worth asking every provider on your shortlist: Who will actually do the work, and what have they run that looks like this? Is this scoped as a fixed fee or open days, and what triggers extra days? What are the deliverables, and do I own the documents afterwards? What happens if the project runs beyond the estimate? Will you hand over to my team, or do you need to be there at every stage?

How many HR consultancies are in this directory?

89 of the 96 providers we researched offer hr consultancy: 11 operate UK-wide, 50 cover a region, and 28 work mainly around one city. National firms are easier to buy from anywhere; local firms are usually easier to get into the room for a hearing.

Do UK employers legally have to have HR?

No. There is no legal requirement to employ an HR person or buy HR support. The duties themselves are not optional: written particulars of employment, statutory pay, working time records, pension auto-enrolment and a fair process before dismissal all apply from the first employee. Most small employers buy support because the cost of one badly handled dismissal exceeds the annual fee.