A named HR professional in your corner: contracts, compliance, and people decisions where an AI giving a confident answer isn't quite the same as a qualified one. For independent businesses too small for an in-house team, and too exposed to keep hoping for the best.
In scuba diving, you never go alone. Your buddy is the trained professional who stays close, watches for problems, and gets you safely back to the surface. HR Buddy works the same way, except the ocean is UK employment law, and the problems usually start with an AI giving a very convincing answer that may or may not hold up in an employment tribunal.
Not a helpline. Not a chatbot. A buddy.
Most founders of independent creative, digital, and knowledge-based businesses are going with the flow on people decisions, hoping nothing bad will happen, or asking an AI that sounds confident but isn't accountable. Sound familiar?
You rely on freelancers and fixed-term contracts to flex around work, but you've no idea if your arrangements are legally watertight. One IR35 enquiry or misclassification claim could be devastating.
Revenue dipped and you had to let someone go. You followed a process you found online, hoped it was right, and moved on quickly. You're still not entirely sure you did it correctly, and with the 2026 law changes, that uncertainty is getting more expensive.
You want someone senior enough to hit the ground running but your budget says otherwise. You're asking the market for five years' experience at a startup salary, and wondering why no one's applying.
You've got no retention strategy, no real onboarding, and performance conversations that only happen when something goes wrong. You're one resignation away from a very bad quarter.
Real expertise: not a chatbot, not a call centre, not a 200-page handbook you'll never read. A named HR professional who knows your business.
Ask your question, get a clear answer, usually within a few hours and always within one working day. Monday to Friday, 9–5.
Calls, email advice, document reviews, written guidance. Tracked in fair increments; most clients use 45–90 minutes.
When you need a contract, a probation letter, a policy, or a leaver document, I draft or adapt it for your specific situation. UK-compliant, written in plain English, not lifted from a generic library.
We flag risks early so you act before they become grievances, claims, or HMRC enquiries.
30 minutes every quarter to review what's ahead: hires, renewals, team changes, before they become emergencies.
Plain-English summaries of what's changing, what it means for your business, and what you need to do. No jargon, no panic.
Contracts, right-to-work, equipment, first-week structure, probation setup. Built for small teams doing this for the first time.
Using contractors? We'll review your setup and flag any misclassification risks before HMRC does.
We walk you through your options (fixed-term contract endings, redundancy, restructuring) so you act quickly without creating tribunal risk. Full case management available as a project add-on.
We review each arrangement against the IR35 indicators and advise clearly whether you need to restructure or formalise any relationships before HMRC asks.
We give you a straight answer on market rates, help scope the role realistically, and advise on structuring the offer to attract the right person within your budget.
We help with the immediate response: counteroffer options, handover. Then we fix the underlying issue so you're not in this position again in six months.
We provide a compliant fixed-term contract template, explain the rights that come with it including the 2026 changes, and make sure you're covered on renewal, non-renewal, and redundancy entitlements.
You've probably got permanent staff, a few fixed-term project hires, and some freelancers who are somewhere in between. A large consultancy retainer isn't the right fit, and off-the-shelf documents don't reflect how your business works. HR Buddy is designed for exactly this kind of team.
Contracts, probation frameworks, performance, onboarding: the foundations that keep your core team protected and productive.
Project-based hires need proper contracts with clear terms on renewal, non-renewal, and redundancy rights. Most small businesses get this wrong.
IR35, contractor agreements, and the boundary between self-employment and employment. If your freelancers work like employees, you're carrying risk.
The Employment Rights Act 2025 introduces the biggest changes in a generation. If your contracts and processes aren't updated, you're carrying risk you can't see yet.
Employees no longer need qualifying service. Your contracts and absence policies need updating now. This is already in force.
"All reasonable steps" standard for preventing harassment. Tribunal time limits extended from 3 to 6 months. Policies and training need to be in place.
This is the big one. Every hire becomes a potential tribunal risk after just six months. Your probation framework and documentation need to be watertight before this date.
The retainer is for founders who want consistent support before things go wrong. On Demand is for when something's already on fire and you need a straight answer today.
Founders who want a named HR professional on hand every month, before something goes wrong, not just when it does.
Founders who need senior HR support right now for a specific situation, or who aren't ready for a monthly commitment yet.
Or call: 07557 982 407
Elena Suhova, CIPD qualified, MSc HRM (Birkbeck), 15 years of operational HR across insurtech, real estate, fintech, professional services, and more. She has also built and run her own business, so she knows what the founder experience feels like from the inside.
What If HR exists because most small businesses get one of two things: expensive corporate HR that treats them like a case number, or cheap advice lines where nobody knows their name. HR Buddy is neither. Proper expertise. Plain English. One person who knows your situation.
Based in Surrey. Works remotely with founder-led businesses across the UK.
Book a free 20-minute discovery call. We'll talk through where your business is, what risks you're carrying, and whether HR Buddy is the right fit: retainer or On Demand.
No commitment. No sales pitch. Just a straight conversation.