HR Consultancy, Manchester & North West
HR Consultancy in Manchester and the North West:
Senior, Practical, Local
DaisyHR is a Manchester HR consultancy providing CIPD-qualified consultants across Bolton, Salford, Stockport, Wigan, Warrington, Preston, Lancaster and Cheshire. Outsourced HR, fractional HR directors, employment law compliance. Serious HR services for growing Manchester businesses that are done doing it on their own.
CIPD Qualified
Bolton-Based, Serving Greater Manchester & the North West
Senior HR Director Level
Typically Up and Running in 2 Weeks
An HR consultancy gives you senior HR capability without the salary. ONS puts median full-time pay for a UK HR manager at £57,529 — about £66,700 once employer NI and minimum pension are added. A Manchester HR consultancy covers contracts, policies, casework and Employment Rights Act 2025 compliance for a fraction of that, scaled to your headcount.
What Is the Deadline for an Employee to Bring a Tribunal Claim, and What Changes on 1 October 2026?
From 1 October 2026 the time limit for most employment tribunal claims doubles from three months to six months. That is a structural change to how long risk stays open after every dismissal, grievance outcome or disciplinary decision a Manchester employer makes.
In practical terms: a badly handled January dismissal used to be clear by May. From October that exposure runs to July. Investigation notes, meeting minutes and the decision rationale must still exist and be findable six months on — and the manager who ran the process may have left the business by then.
Action: check every disciplinary, grievance and dismissal from April 2026 onwards has a complete, dated, retrievable file. If your HR records are in email threads and desk drawers, that is the gap to close now.
How Many Employment Tribunal Claims Are Being Brought in 2026?
The Ministry of Justice recorded 14,000 single employment tribunal claims in April to June 2026, up 28% year on year. The previous quarter (January to March 2026) saw 12,000, up 50% year on year. The open single-claim caseload hit 70,000 at the end of June 2026, up 51% year on year, with disposals down 6%.
In January to March 2026, the three most common complaint types were unfair dismissal (23%), disability discrimination (16%) and unauthorised deductions from wages (13%). None of the top three are exotic. All three are prevented by documentation and consistent process rather than litigation — which means they are preventable with the right HR infrastructure.
How Much Can an Employment Tribunal Award Against an Employer?
From 6 April 2026 the statutory limits were uprated in line with the 4.5% RPI increase to September 2025:
| Limit | 2025/26 | 2026/27 |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum compensatory award (unfair dismissal) | £118,223 | £123,543 |
| Limit on a week's pay | £719 | £751 |
| Minimum basic award (s.120 ERA 1996) | £8,763 | £9,157 |
The compensatory award is capped at the lower of £123,543 or 52 weeks' gross pay. For most Greater Manchester SMEs the 52-week figure is the binding constraint, not the headline number.
From 1 January 2027 the cap on the unfair dismissal compensatory award is removed entirely and compensation becomes unlimited. Discrimination awards have never been capped — which is part of why disability discrimination is 16% of claims. From January 2027 that structural distinction disappears.
None of this is a reason to be afraid of managing people. It is a reason to manage them properly. A fair, documented process is the defence and always was — what has changed is the cost of not having one.
How Many Businesses in the North West Employ Between 10 and 100 People?
Around 25,900, employing roughly 649,000 people between them. This figure is not published as a headline anywhere — it is summed from the Government's own regional table and the working is shown below so it is checkable and citable.
| Employee band | Businesses | Employment |
|---|---|---|
| 10–19 employees | 14,795 | 202,000 |
| 20–49 employees | 8,380 | 256,000 |
| 50–99 employees | 2,760 | 191,000 |
| Total (10–99 employees) | 25,935 | 649,000 |
The wider regional picture from the same source: 508,785 private sector businesses in the North West, 2,689,000 people employed by them, £465.7 billion combined turnover — and only 143,305 of those businesses actually employ anyone.
Nearly 26,000 employers across the region sit in the band where the HR problem is real but a full-time HR hire is hard to justify. That is precisely where the ERA 2025 changes land hardest — these businesses have obligations without infrastructure.
What Does an In-House HR Manager Actually Cost in 2026?
About £66,700 a year at the median — before you have hired anyone.
ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) 2025 provisional data, Table 14.7a, for Human resource managers and directors (SOC 1136), April 2025:
| Percentile | Annual pay |
|---|---|
| 25th percentile | £43,676 |
| Median | £57,529 |
| Mean | £69,039 |
| 75th percentile | £78,677 |
Median pay for the occupation rose 8.3% year on year, against 4.3% for UK full-time employees as a whole, whose median was £39,039.
Employer cost build (2026/27 rates):
| Salary (median) | £57,529 |
| Employer NI (15% above £5,000 secondary threshold) | £7,879 |
| Minimum auto-enrolment pension (3% of qualifying earnings £6,240–£50,270) | £1,321 |
| Total employer cost | £66,729 |
This excludes recruitment fees, HR software, training and cover. A single HR hire has no cover — if they are off sick, on leave or leave the business, your HR function disappears with them. An outsourced HR consultancy in Manchester provides continuity by design.
What Does an HR Consultancy in Manchester Do?
HR consultancy means bringing in external HR expertise to support your business, whether that is a one-off project, ongoing support, or taking full responsibility for your HR function.
For most Manchester and Greater Manchester SMEs the reality is straightforward: you need good HR and you cannot justify a full-time HR team to provide it. An HR consultancy fills that gap, giving you access to CIPD-qualified, senior HR experience at a fraction of the cost of employing it directly.
DaisyHR is not a call centre providing generic employment law advice down a telephone line. We are a team of HR consultants in Bolton and the wider region who become part of your business, understanding how you work, who your people are, and what your specific risks and priorities look like. When something happens, you speak to the same person who knows your business, not whoever happens to answer the phone.
HR Services in Manchester: What DaisyHR Covers
Fractional HR Director
A senior HR professional embedded in your leadership team on a part-time basis. They attend your meetings, own your people strategy, advise your board, and operate at director level — without the full-time salary. The right model for businesses between 10 and 100 employees that need HR leadership, not just HR administration.
Read More About Our Fractional HR Director Service
Outsourced HR
DaisyHR manages your entire HR function. Employment contracts, employee handbook, disciplinaries, grievances, absence management, ERA 2025 compliance — all handled on your behalf. Outsourced HR for businesses that want HR properly covered without building an internal team.
Read More About Our Outsourced HR Service
Employment Law Advice
Employment law advice from qualified HR consultants who understand what it is like to run a business in Greater Manchester in 2026. ERA 2025 changes, dismissal risk, redundancy obligations, TUPE. Practical advice you can actually act on, not legal opinion written to protect the advisor rather than help you.
Read More About Employment Law Advice
HR Policies and Documentation
Employment contracts, employee handbooks, disciplinary procedures, absence policies — written, reviewed, and kept up to date with current employment law. Most SME documentation across Greater Manchester was last properly reviewed before 2023. After ERA 2025, that is a serious risk.
Read More About HR Policies and Documentation
Strategic HR and People Planning
For businesses going through growth, change, acquisition or restructure. Building the people infrastructure that matches where the business is going, not just where it has been. Workforce planning, manager development, culture, retention strategy: the work that makes the difference between a business that scales well and one that falls apart under its own growth.
HR Project Support
Sometimes you need expert HR input for a specific situation: a redundancy programme, a TUPE transfer, a management restructure, an investigation. DaisyHR provides project-based consultancy support for businesses that do not need ongoing HR but are facing something they should not handle without help.
Why Manchester Businesses Choose DaisyHR
We Are Based Here
DaisyHR is based in Bolton, right next to Manchester. We work across the region, Lancashire, Cheshire and beyond. We are not a national call centre pretending to be local. Our consultants work with businesses in Salford, Stockport, Wigan, Warrington, Bury, Rochdale, Trafford and everywhere in between. We know this market.
Clear, Decisive Guidance
Peninsula and Acas provide general HR guidance that tries to cover every angle. DaisyHR gives Manchester businesses direct, actionable recommendations tailored to your specific situation. We tell you what to do, not just what the options are. That clarity helps you manage your people well and make confident decisions.
Senior, Not Junior
When you call Peninsula, you speak to an advisor. When you work with DaisyHR, you work with a CIPD-qualified consultant with real senior HR experience: someone who has sat in leadership teams, managed complex people situations, and understands what good HR looks like at director level. You get that, not a call handler with a script.
ERA 2025 Ready
The Employment Rights Act 2025 is the biggest change to UK employment law in a generation. Most Greater Manchester SMEs have not updated their contracts or handbooks since it became law in December 2025. DaisyHR’s consultancy includes full ERA 2025 compliance: we make sure your business is ahead of every deadline, not scrambling to catch up.
Transparent Pricing
You know what support costs before you commit to anything. We give you a clear, specific quote upfront. No hidden fees, no lock-in contracts, no surprises.
How Our Manchester HR Consultancy Works With You
Free Consultation
A 30-minute call with a DaisyHR consultant. You tell us what is going on. We tell you honestly what the HR picture looks like and what, if anything, you need to do about it. No sales pressure, no obligation.
Rapid HR Audit
For new clients we conduct a rapid audit of your existing HR documentation: contracts, handbook, policies, any recent correspondence. We identify the gaps and the risks and give you a clear priority list. This is where most businesses discover how exposed they actually are.
Agree the Right Model
Based on what we find, we agree the right type of support: fractional HR director, outsourced HR, project consultancy, or a combination. You see the cost before you commit to anything.
We Get Started
Within the first 30 days most clients have updated documentation, briefed managers, and an active consultancy relationship in place. The reactive firefighting stops. The organised HR management starts.
Ongoing Relationship
HR consultancy works best as an ongoing relationship: we understand your business, your people, and your history. We scale support up when things get busy and back when they settle down. No long-term contracts, no fixed commitments beyond reasonable notice.
Employment Rights Act 2025: Are You Prepared?
The Act received Royal Assent in December 2025. Changes are rolling out now and continue through 2026 and into 2027. For Manchester and Greater Manchester SMEs with outdated documentation, the risk is real:
6 April 2026 – SSP payable from day one. Your absence management process needs updating.
6 April 2026 – Paternity and parental leave become day-one rights. Your contracts and handbook must reflect this.
6 April 2026 – Redundancy protective award doubles to 180 days’ pay. Every redundancy must be handled correctly.
January 2027 – Fire and rehire effectively banned. Contractual changes require proper consultation.
January 2027 – Unfair dismissal protection after 6 months’ service. Every hire and exit carries increased risk.
DaisyHR includes ERA 2025 compliance management as standard across all services. We update your documentation, advise your managers, and keep your business ahead of every deadline.
Who DaisyHR Works With
Our HR consultancy clients are typically Manchester and North West businesses between 10 and 100 employees. They come to us at one of four moments:
The First Serious HR Problem
A dismissal that went wrong. A grievance that escalated. A redundancy that was handled without proper process. The moment when an MD realises that doing HR by instinct is no longer acceptable, and the cost of getting it wrong is higher than the cost of getting it right.
The Growth Inflection Point
The business has grown from 10 to 40 people and what worked informally does not work anymore. Managers are making it up as they go. Documentation does not reflect what actually happens. Culture is fracturing under the weight of rapid growth.
The Compliance Wake-Up Call
ERA 2025 landed. A solicitor mentioned something about unfair dismissal after six months. A payroll provider flagged SSP changes. Suddenly the MD is aware that employment law has moved on and the business has not kept up.
The Planned Professionalisation
A private equity investment. A management buyout. A trade sale in 18 months. The business needs its HR function in shape before the due diligence starts, not during it.
Sectors We Serve
HR Consultancy Across Manchester & Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Lancashire
Cheshire
Merseyside
Many of our consultancy engagements are delivered remotely or as a combination of on-site and remote. We go where the business needs us.
What Manchester and North West Businesses Say
Placeholder Testimonials. Replace With Real Client Quotes Before Launch.
“Placeholder testimonial, replace before launch. Focus on what it felt like before DaisyHR and what changed.”
[Client Name]
[Job Title]
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“Placeholder testimonial, replace before launch. Focus on a specific HR situation handled: the problem, the process, the outcome.”
[Client Name]
[Job Title]
[Lancashire/Cheshire location]
“Placeholder testimonial, replace before launch. Focus on ERA 2025 compliance work: updating contracts, handbook, being ready.”
[Client Name]
[Job Title]
[Greater Manchester location]
Who You'll Be Working With
Founder & HR Director
MCIPD · Fractional HR Director, Bolton & North West
Sam spent 10 years building HR functions in North West businesses, not just managing the day-to-day, but shaping how companies hire, develop and retain their people as they scale.
Before DaisyHR, she led HR across manufacturing, professional services and high-growth SMEs. The businesses where HR wasn't a support function. It was a commercial lever. She's seen what happens when companies get their people infrastructure right early, and what it costs when they don't.
She's also been in the room when it kicks off. Disciplinaries that escalate. Grievances that get personal. Redundancy programmes that need handling properly. That's the bit most HR consultants outsource or avoid. Sam runs toward it.
She started DaisyHR because she kept seeing the same gap: businesses that needed strategic HR thinking and someone who'd roll their sleeves up when required. Not one or the other. Both.
What Sam brings
- Helped growing businesses get their people structure right before it becomes a problem
- Workforce planning and organisational design that grows with you
- People strategy that connects to commercial goals
- The calm, experienced presence when difficult conversations need having
- CIPD Chartered (Level 7) with a specialism in employment relations
Bolton based. North West focused. Strategic when you need a plan. In your corner when you need backup.
Every DaisyHR consultant is CIPD qualified with a minimum of ten years' senior HR experience. We don't use generalists. We use people who've sat at the board table and navigated the exact situations our clients face.
Frequently Asked Questions
An HR consultancy provides external HR expertise to businesses that do not have an in-house HR team or need specialist support beyond their existing capability. This ranges from day-to-day employment law advice and HR documentation through to strategic HR leadership, complex casework, and full outsourced HR management. DaisyHR provides all of these services across Greater Manchester.
An HR consultant typically supports specific projects or provides advice on specific situations. A fractional HR director is a senior individual embedded in your leadership team on a part-time basis: attending meetings, owning your people strategy, and operating at director level. DaisyHR provides both, and most clients use a combination depending on where they are in their growth.
HR consultancy is significantly more cost-effective than hiring a full-time HR professional in-house. The investment for HR consultancy depends on whether you need light advisory support, a full outsourced HR function, or a fractional HR director engagement. Project-based consultancy is scoped and quoted separately. Book a free consultation and we will give you a specific, transparent quote before you commit to anything.
If you have a specific legal question, such as can I dismiss this person or what does TUPE mean for this situation, employment law advice may be sufficient. If you are looking for ongoing support, documentation management, and a proper HR function, HR consultancy is the right answer. If you are not sure, book a free consultation and we will tell you honestly which one you need.
Peninsula and Citation are large national providers that operate largely through call centres and fixed-fee insurance-backed models. DaisyHR is a Manchester HR consultancy where you work with a named, CIPD-qualified consultant who knows your business. We are senior practitioners, not call handlers. Our advice is direct and action-oriented — we tell you exactly what to do, not give you generic guidance that tries to cover every angle. And we give you a clear, transparent quote before you commit. Peninsula and Citation do not.
Yes. DaisyHR provides project-based HR consultancy for businesses facing a specific situation: a disciplinary, a grievance, a redundancy programme, a TUPE transfer, an investigation. Call us today and we can typically begin within 48 hours.
Yes. All DaisyHR consultants hold CIPD qualifications and have senior HR experience in Manchester businesses across multiple sectors including manufacturing, professional services, healthcare, construction, technology and retail.
Yes. A large number of our HR consultancy clients are based in Manchester city centre, Salford Quays, and Trafford Park. We provide outsourced HR, fractional HR directors, and project-based consultancy to businesses across the city of all sizes. Being based in Bolton means we are a short journey away for on-site meetings and can be with you the same day when situations are urgent.
Yes. DaisyHR is based in Bolton and covers Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Cheshire and the wider North West. We deliver HR consultancy both on-site and remotely depending on the nature of the engagement and what works best for your business.
Talk to an HR Consultant in Manchester Today
You don't need to have everything figured out before you call. Most of our clients come to us because something's not right and they're not sure what to do about it: a people problem that's getting worse, an employment situation keeping them up at night, or just a sense that HR is a liability rather than an asset.
That's exactly what we're here for. Book a free 30-minute consultation. No obligation, no sales script.
HR consultancy services across Bolton, Manchester, Salford, Stockport, Warrington, Wigan, Bury, Rochdale, Preston, Lancaster, Chester, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Cheshire.
Compiled by Samantha Boyle MCIPD — Fractional HR Director, Bolton & North West. CIPD Chartered (Level 7) with a specialism in employment relations. · Last reviewed: 14 September 2026