Staff handbook for a business with fifty employees

Fifty employees is where the law starts to treat a business as an organisation: staff can require information and consultation arrangements, collective redundancy consultation is a realistic prospect, the bribery and whistleblowing regimes expect procedures, and employees expect the policies larger employers have on wellbeing, menopause and flexible working. The handbook has to meet the thresholds, provide the department-level processes an HR function will run, and be governed so that the version in use is the current one. I draft that handbook for the employer for a fixed fee of £995, delivered in five working days.

Who this is for

Businesses in England and Wales with thirty to a hundred employees, departments, managers and an HR function or an HR adviser, whose handbook needs to work as a system rather than a document.

What matters in a handbook for a business of fifty

The thresholds that arrive at fifty

From fifty employees the Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004 allow a stated proportion of the workforce to request a formal information and consultation agreement, which the employer must then negotiate or default to the standard provisions; collective redundancy consultation under section 188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 applies to twenty or more proposed redundancies at one establishment within ninety days; and at this size a tribunal expects the procedures and the consistency of a mature employer, with the duty to prevent sexual harassment under the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 met by training, reporting routes and a response process rather than a paragraph; the handbook should reflect each.

Information and consultation and the arrangements staff can require

The handbook should explain how the business informs and consults staff (team meetings, a staff forum, a representative body where one exists), so that a request under the 2004 Regulations can be met by an existing arrangement where the business has one that staff have endorsed, and should set out the consultation processes for redundancy, TUPE transfers under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006, and changes to terms, with the election of representatives where the law requires it; a business that has to invent consultation at the moment it needs it has left the handbook too late.

Policies for a business with departments and an HR function

The handbook at fifty should contain the full set: recruitment and references, induction and probation, disciplinary, grievance and capability under the Acas Code, sickness absence and long-term absence, holiday, flexible working under section 80F of the Employment Rights Act 1996, the family leave policies (maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental, parental, neonatal care and carer's leave, with the Employment Rights Act 2025 day-one changes on the timetable the regulations set), time off for dependants, redundancy, retirement and succession, expenses, IT, email and social media, bring your own device, data protection, health and safety, driving for work, drugs and alcohol, and dress and appearance, each saying who decides and who hears appeals, with HR's role and the managers' role distinguished.

Bribery, whistleblowing and the compliance policies the size justifies

A business of fifty that deals with suppliers, customers and public bodies needs an anti-bribery policy with the adequate procedures that provide the defence under section 7 of the Bribery Act 2010 (gifts and hospitality registers, limits, approval), a whistleblowing policy under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 with an independent route for concerns, a conflicts of interest policy, and where the business is in a regulated sector the policies the regulator expects; the handbook should contain them and the business should be able to show that they are applied, because a policy that exists only in the handbook is not an adequate procedure.

Wellbeing, menopause and the policies staff now expect

Employees of a business this size expect a mental health and wellbeing policy (support, adjustments, the employer's duty of care under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974), a menopause policy (adjustments, absence, the Equality Act 2010 protections that may apply), a hybrid and homeworking policy, a policy on time off for medical appointments and on carer's leave under the Carer's Leave Act 2023, and a learning and development policy; the handbook should contain the ones the business will apply, and should treat them as management tools rather than statements of values, because a wellbeing policy that promises support the business does not provide is a grievance.

Governance of the handbook and version control

At fifty employees the handbook should have an owner (HR or a named director), a review cycle, version numbering with a change log, a process for issuing updates and recording acknowledgements, a managers' guide and training records, and a statement that the policies are non-contractual and may be changed, with the contracts cross-referring to the handbook by name rather than by version; the Employment Rights Act 2025 will require several updates as its provisions come in, and a handbook with version control absorbs them where one without becomes a set of contradictory documents.

What it costs

Staff handbook and core policies, £995. Five working days.

Employment contract, £595. One template you can reuse for a grade of staff. Five working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the employment contracts and handbooks page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A bespoke contract drafted for how you employ people
• Restrictive covenants drafted at a scope a court will uphold
• Confidentiality and intellectual property provisions that put ownership where it belongs
• The statutory particulars, so the document does the job section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 requires it to do
• Flexibility clauses where you genuinely need them, drafted to survive challenge
• Core policies: disciplinary, grievance, sickness absence, equal opportunities, data protection and, increasingly, AI use
• One round of amendments

What is not included

• Acting for employees
• Employment tribunal representation
• Payroll, pensions auto-enrolment and tax
• Immigration and sponsor licence work
• Day to day HR handling, disciplinaries, grievances and redundancy processes

Questions I am often asked

Staff have asked for a consultation body. Do we have to agree?

From fifty employees a valid request under the 2004 Regulations obliges the employer to negotiate an agreement or default to the standard provisions. The handbook sets out the arrangements the business already has, which may satisfy the request.

Do we need an anti-bribery policy?

A business that deals with suppliers, customers and public bodies needs adequate procedures to have a defence under the Bribery Act, and a policy with registers and limits is the core of them. The handbook contains it.

How do we stop the handbook going out of date?

An owner, a review cycle, version control and a change log, with updates issued and acknowledged. The 2025 Act will test the process several times.

Related guidance and services

• Employment contracts and handbooks, £995, the service this page describes
• Consultancy and contractor agreements, £595
• Staff handbook for a business with twenty employees

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: October 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.