Staff handbook for a business with twenty employees

At twenty employees the owner no longer handles every issue personally: there are managers who need to know what the process is, a redundancy of a handful of staff can trigger collective consultation, and the complaints that a larger workforce produces (harassment, grievances between colleagues, long-term absence) need procedures that managers can apply consistently. The handbook has to grow from the small-business version into one that tells managers what to do, without becoming the corporate document that nobody follows. 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 ten to thirty employees, a layer of managers and a handbook that was written for a smaller company or never written at all.

What matters in a handbook for a business of twenty

What changes between five employees and twenty

The law's thresholds do not move much between five and twenty (the written health and safety policy under section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 applied at five), but the business changes: decisions are taken by managers rather than the owner, consistency becomes the test a tribunal applies, and the procedures have to be ones that managers follow without the owner in the room; the handbook should be written for managers to apply and for staff to understand, with the owner's discretion replaced by stated processes, because the first unfair dismissal claim against a growing business is usually about a manager who did what seemed sensible.

The core policies and the ones a second tier of managers needs

The core policies (disciplinary and grievance under the Acas Code, equal opportunities and anti-harassment under the Equality Act 2010, sickness absence, holiday, flexible working under section 80F of the Employment Rights Act 1996, data protection, IT and social media, health and safety) should be supplemented by the policies managers need to run a team: performance management and capability, probation and induction, expenses, time off for dependants and the family leave policies, a recruitment and references policy, and a policy on how managers handle requests and complaints they cannot decide themselves; each should say who decides, who hears an appeal and what is recorded.

Collective consultation thresholds and the policies that anticipate them

An employer proposing to make twenty or more employees redundant at one establishment within ninety days must consult collectively under section 188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, which a business of twenty can trigger with a closure, and from fifty employees the Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004 can be invoked by staff; the handbook should contain a redundancy policy that sets the process for individual and collective situations, so that a manager asked to reduce a team knows that the process exists before the announcement, and should anticipate the thresholds the business will reach as it grows.

Performance, capability and absence management

A business of twenty has staff whose performance or attendance the managers need to address, and the handbook should contain a capability procedure (informal stage, formal stages with targets and support, dismissal only after warnings) kept separate from the disciplinary procedure, and a sickness absence policy with reporting, fit notes, return to work interviews, triggers for review, occupational health referrals, the handling of long-term absence and the Equality Act 2010 duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled staff; the procedures should be ones the managers will apply consistently, because inconsistency between managers is the claim.

Harassment, whistleblowing and the complaints a bigger workforce brings

The duty to prevent sexual harassment under the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 requires reasonable steps, which for a business of twenty means a policy, training, a reporting route and a response process, and the handbook should contain an anti-harassment and bullying policy that covers conduct by colleagues, managers and third parties; a whistleblowing policy under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 gives staff a route to raise concerns and protects the business from the claim that it had none; and the grievance procedure should handle complaints between colleagues, with a manager from outside the team hearing them.

Training managers to apply the handbook

A handbook is only as good as the managers who apply it, and the handbook should be issued with a short guide for managers (how to hold an investigation, a disciplinary hearing, a return to work interview, a flexible working meeting), with records kept of the training, because the reasonable steps the harassment duty requires and the fairness the unfair dismissal law requires both depend on managers knowing the process; the handbook should be non-contractual, dated, reviewed as the Employment Rights Act 2025 provisions come in on the timetable the regulations set, and acknowledged by staff on issue.

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

Our handbook was written when we had six staff. Is it still fine?

Probably not: it was written for the owner to apply, not for managers, and the law has changed since. The update rewrites the procedures for managers and adds the policies a larger team needs.

We may close a department of twelve. Does collective consultation apply?

Not at twelve, but at twenty or more proposed redundancies at one establishment within ninety days it does. The redundancy policy sets the process for both so that managers know it exists.

Do we need to train managers on the handbook?

The harassment duty requires reasonable steps and unfair dismissal law requires fair process, and both turn on managers knowing what to do. A short guide and recorded training are part of the handbook's delivery.

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 fifty employees
• Staff handbook for a business with five 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.