For owner-managed businesses with a difficult employee situation
Difficult employee situation? Get it handled properly, before your next move.
Grievances, disciplinaries, dismissals, appeals, investigations and redundancies, plus the everyday HR alongside it. You get the risk assessed, your options set out, and someone who can run the process with you.
Employment lawyers advise on the legal position. ACAS provides the Code and guidance. I work alongside you to manage the people process properly in practice.
Plenty of HR people will write you a contract. Far fewer will sit in the room when it gets difficult. That's the part I specialise in, and I've spent 25 years doing it.
Contracts, policies, the everyday HR. All of it, if you'd rather have one person who knows your business.
Samantha Newton FCIPD · Chartered Fellow CIPD
✓FCIPD Employee Relations specialist
✓25+ years' HR experience
✓Trusted by owner-managed businesses
✓Practical, commercial advice
✓£1m professional indemnity insurance
Start here
What's happening right now?
Tap the one closest to yours. Each page sets out what needs to happen, what I can do, and what stays your decision as the employer.
From a second opinion to running the whole process
Some owners want a plan and will handle it themselves. Others want the process taken off their desk. Both are fine, and I will tell you honestly which one your situation needs.
Option one
The Sort It Session
£495 + VAT, fixed
A focused session on your situation. Where you stand, your realistic options, and a written plan within 48 hours, plus the letter or script for your immediate next step. Best when you are capable of running it yourself and want to know you are doing it right.
I take defined parts of the formal process and carry them out. Independent investigations, grievance and disciplinary processes, appeals, restructures and redundancies, and complex situations that have already become difficult.
·Scope, responsibilities, deliverables, timescales and fee agreed in writing before anything starts
·You remain the employer and you make the decisions. I do not decide outcomes on your behalf
·Samantha leads the work personally, with experienced associate support where agreed with you
From £350 + VAT a monthDepending on how many employees you have
An experienced adviser on call, so the next issue is caught early rather than after it has grown. Suits owners who would rather pick up the phone than wait for a problem to become formal. Formal casework is quoted separately and is not included unless we have expressly agreed it.
Not sure which fits? Book a free 20-minute call and I will tell you straight, including if the answer is that you do not need me.
1 January 2027 · the law is changing
The qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal drops from two years to six months, and the cap on the compensatory award is removed.
Anyone with six months' service by that date is covered. Awards still follow the loss a claimant can evidence. Here is what it means and what to do now.
It has to be fair, and it has to be seen to be fair.
An investigation that looks biased is worse than no investigation at all. In an owner-managed business you usually know everyone involved, which makes it very hard to investigate credibly yourself.
I am brought in from outside to establish the facts, hear everyone properly, and produce a documented report you can rely on to make a decision. You remain the employer and the decision stays yours.
“I've had the privilege of working with Samantha, and she is one of the most capable ER specialists I've encountered in my career... Her approach is pragmatic, thorough, and grounded in deep expertise. She brings clarity and structure to even the most complex cases, balancing firmness and detail with genuine warmth and approachability... If you are looking to manage organisational risk effectively or need support with serious or high-stakes cases, I would not hesitate for a moment in recommending Samantha. She is outstanding.”
Patrick Enright · Google review
★★★★★
“Samantha has been an invaluable partner for our agency as we navigated a challenging period of leadership transition. Her depth of HR expertise provided the clarity and strategic direction needed to handle complex management situations with total confidence. What truly sets Samantha apart is her empathy, she brings a genuine, heartfelt concern for the well-being of everyone involved. We couldn't recommend her highly enough.”
We Are IPOS Ltd · Google review
★★★★★
“Samantha at Magenta Core HR Solutions has been absolutely excellent for us. She stepped in at short notice when our existing HR consultant was unavailable and supported us through a difficult HR issue.”
Everyone can tell you what the rules are. Almost nobody will handle it with you.
When a people problem hits, you have options. Here's the honest difference, and why owner-managed businesses choose a specialist who deals with the situation itself, not just the theory.
Handle it yourself
Free, but one wrong step can turn a manageable issue into a costly claim. You carry all the risk.
A national HR helpline
A script and a call centre. A different person each time, usually on a long, tied-in contract.
Your solicitor
Explains the law and handles litigation, at solicitor rates. Not the day-to-day people management.
ACAS
Sets out the rules and the Code. Genuinely useful, but it won't handle your situation for you.
Hire your own HR person
Around £58,000 a year all in for an HR Manager, and the right call once the daily volume justifies it. Below that you can usually only afford someone junior, who then gets handed the hardest situations.
What you get instead
An external ER specialist
You get one named FCIPD specialist, from outside the business, handling the situation alongside you. You buy 25 years of experience for the few times a year you need it, instead of a salary for a level you can't justify full time. No call centre, no junior. And if you can handle it yourself, I'll tell you.
A mishandled dismissal can run into five figures, and from 1 January 2027 the cap on the compensatory award for unfair dismissal is removed, so an award follows the loss a claimant can evidence rather than a set ceiling. Add 12 to 18 months of management time and stress. A focused session with me starts from £495 + VAT, one-off, with no Ongoing Support plan required and nothing to tie into, and a written action plan within 48 hours. The maths usually makes itself.
Owner-managed businesses, with or without someone doing HR internally.
Owners who want a difficult employee situation handled properly, without a corporate HR department or corporate fees. If you have someone doing HR already, I work alongside them for the situations that need an outside pair of hands, or someone genuinely independent.
Some situations you can run yourself with the right steer. Others you want off your desk entirely. You choose. Hand it over and the investigation, the hearing and the letters are covered, so the process is handled properly and you are not the one doing it.
“I brought Sam in to represent my consultancy on a complex TUPE transfer. The client couldn’t tell the difference, seamless, flexible and closely aligned with my approach.”
Laura Mathews · HR consultant, on bringing Samantha in to cover her own client
P.S. The employee situations that end up costing the most are rarely the dramatic ones. They are the ones that sat untouched for three months because nobody was sure what to do first. If that is where you are, the call is free and you will get an honest answer, even if the answer is that you can handle it yourself.
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