Before the letter lands: the People Check‑Up
Is your business ready for the employment changes from 1 January?
A document check and a 60-minute session with Nick Hurt, then a written action list in priority order within three working days. £249 plus VAT, credited in full if you go on to work with us.
Book your People Check-UpOne session a week. On sale until 31 January.
The rules changed this autumn, and the biggest change is still to come
From 1 January 2027, an employee needs six months’ service to claim unfair dismissal, down from two years, and the cap on the compensatory award goes. Anyone who joined you by 1 July this year is protected from the New Year, and a December dismissal whose notice runs past 1 January can be caught too.
Two changes take effect this autumn. Since 1 October, most tribunal claims can be brought up to six months after the event, double the old limit. And from 30 October, employers must take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their staff, including harassment by customers, clients and contractors.
None of this calls for panic. It does call for a look at your paperwork before anyone else looks at it, because the letter from a solicitor or Acas tends to arrive months after the decision it is about, and by then your paperwork is whatever it was on the day.
Sources: Employment Rights Act 2025, sections 20 to 22 and 25; SI 2026/559 (unfair dismissal, 1 January 2027); SI 2026/954 (tribunal time limits, 1 October 2026); SI 2026/1065 (all reasonable steps on harassment, 30 October 2026). Checked on legislation.gov.uk on 22 October 2026.
How the People Check-Up works
You share three documents
We set up a private OneDrive folder for your business, and you copy three things into it: your contract template, your handbook or main policies, and a list of staff start dates with no names attached. If a disciplinary, grievance or absence case is open, flag it against a start date and nothing more.
Nick reviews, then you meet
Nick checks the documents with names and personal details removed, and he reviews every finding himself before you meet. Then you spend an hour together on Teams, going through what he found and what to do about it.
Your action list follows
Within three working days you have a written action list in priority order, with each item marked as needed before 1 January or able to wait. There is no site visit and no follow-up call to book. If you want help with any of it, that conversation happens at the end of the session.
The five things Nick looks at
Your contracts and probation terms, and how probation works once unfair dismissal protection starts at six months.
Everyone who will have six months’ service on 1 January, and any performance, conduct or absence issue among them.
Your disciplinary, grievance and capability procedures, checked against the Acas Code of Practice.
What all reasonable steps on harassment means in your business, customers and contractors included.
What your line managers write down, now that a claim can arrive six months after the event.
What we usually find
When Nick takes on a new client’s files, four gaps come up more often than any others.
Probation clauses with no review points, or no probation clause at all, so probation ends by default and nobody ever decides anything.
Disciplinary and grievance procedures lifted from a template that the managers have never read, so the Acas Code steps get missed at the moment they matter.
No written record of probation reviews or performance conversations. The decision was made, but nothing shows how it was reached.
Policies far more complicated than the business needs. Every extra step a company writes in is another one it can fall foul of, because a tribunal holds an employer to its own procedure.
When good paperwork becomes the problem
A recent client was confident it was in good shape. Its policies were long, detailed and very prescriptive, and that was the trouble. A new manager had never been trained on them, because there were so many steps that nobody could realistically learn them all.
With procedures that detailed, missing a step is easy, and an employer that departs from its own written procedure walks into a tribunal on the back foot. The business thought its paperwork protected it. In practice it had built a trap for its own managers, and finding that kind of trap is what the People Check-Up is for.
What it costs, and what happens to the fee
£249 plus VAT, which is £298.80, paid by card when you book. If you go on to a Business Health Check, retained HR support or our HR software by 31 March 2027, the full £249 comes off your first invoice. Courses do not count towards the credit.
You can cancel for a full refund up to seven days before. After that, you can move it once at no charge with two working days’ notice. If we have to cancel, you get a full refund. A missed session is not refunded.
If you want the whole picture (HR, health and safety and your management systems together), that is the Business Health Check. Ask Nick about it on a short call.
Who it is for
Businesses with 20 to 150 people and no full-time HR person, where the owner or managing director carries the employment decisions alongside everything else. If you already have retained HR support with us, you do not need it, because this is part of what we do for you anyway.
What clients say
Recognising that UK employment law was undergoing rapid changes, we initially sought external HR support from a large industry name via our banking provider. However, after an initial review of our existing contracts and a referral to an online portal, their enthusiasm seemed to fade. … With Progressa, we have moved beyond simple compliance to a place where our staff are truly supported.
Paul Shoobridge, from his review of Progressa, January 2026
Nick & the team at Progressa have added real value to our business. The pace and unpredictability of the film, TV and events industry mean we need someone who understands both the creative environment and the responsibilities that come with leading a growing team. Nick brings exactly that. He combines deep expertise, with a calm, straightforward approach that makes complex matters easy to navigate. What stands out is his ability to balance compliance with commercial reality — giving us confidence that we’re doing things properly while keeping the business moving.
Nick has become a trusted and highly respected partner to our leadership team. His involvement has strengthened how we look after our people and how we operate as a company. I would recommend Progressa to any organisation looking for experienced, no-nonsense support delivered with genuine care and professionalism.
John Wasmuth, Chief Financial Officer, Supply 2 Location
Your documents stay private
Each client gets its own OneDrive folder. Documents are never sent by email and never go into our CRM. Nick works from copies with names and personal details removed, and the files are deleted three months after your session, or sooner if you ask.
Book your People Check-Up
Nick runs one check-up session a week, so there are four a month at most. Choose a date at least a week ahead, which leaves time to upload your documents. The last session before Christmas is on Friday 18 December. Sessions resume on Friday 8 January, and the People Check-Up is on sale until 31 January.
Questions
Will I get a VAT invoice?
Yes. A VAT invoice follows within one working day of your booking.
My files are a mess. Is that a problem?
Send what you have. Untidy files are normal, and the check is built around them.
Can I move my session?
You can cancel for a full refund up to seven days before. After that, you can move it once at no charge with two working days’ notice, using the link in your confirmation email.
What happens after the session?
Your action list arrives within three working days. If you want help putting it right, say so at the end of the session. If you go on to a Business Health Check, retained HR support or our HR software by 31 March 2027, the £249 comes off the first invoice.
Is this legal advice?
No. It is an HR review by Nick Hurt, a Chartered Member of the CIPD. Where something needs a solicitor, Nick will tell you.
Practical HR and health and safety support that keeps you on the right side of the law, without telling you how to run your business.
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