Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Coaching and mentoringLatest NewsHR practiceRecruitment & retentionHR Technology

CIPD launches HR support pilot scheme for SMEs

by Adam McCulloch 7 Oct 2024
by Adam McCulloch 7 Oct 2024 Photo: Shutterstock
Photo: Shutterstock

Small firms throughout the UK can now apply to take part in a new pilot scheme from the CIPD and Behavioural Insights Team, providing them with up to two days of free, high-quality HR consultancy support to help improve how they recruit and retain employees.

The pilot is part of a new randomised control trial designed to evaluate the value of providing HR consultancy support to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) employing between five and 250 employees.

Employment Rights Bill

Five key questions on the Employment Rights Bill

Day-one rights: the unanswered question of when

Business secretary defends Employment Rights Bill 

With the government’s Employment Rights Bill set to introduce significant new legislation, the trial will provide valuable insights on how to support small firms in improving how they manage people and comply with any changes to the law.

The trial programme has been developed by the CIPD and the Behavioural Insights Team thanks to funding from the UK government. It also includes three local HR support pilots for SMEs being run with Angus Council in Scotland, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council and Tees Valley Combined Authority.

The bespoke HR support is provided by CIPD-qualified HR consultants throughout the UK who will work with participating firms on a flexible as-and-when basis to suit each business.

The pilots will primarily designed to explore whether providing access to high-quality HR support can help SMEs improve their recruitment and retention of employees and support efforts to improve labour market participation. The evaluation of the pilots will also explore if this type of support can help improve productivity and business outcomes for participating firms.

Ben Willmott, head of public policy at the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development, said the scheme would address an urgent need: “Small firms typically have little or no access to professional HR support which can mean they lose out on recruiting the best candidates, or aren’t making the most of people’s skills or lose staff unnecessarily.

“These pilots can help SMEs get the key foundations of good HR practice in place in areas such as recruitment, job design, flexible working as well as performance and absence management. The pilots will also help inform government policy on how to deliver effective business support to improve people management capability in SMEs.”

Eva Myers, director at the Behavioural Insight Team, said: “With the help of 1,000 SMEs we aim to recruit into the project, we will gain invaluable insights into what works to improve workplace recruitment and retention of employees in an SME context.”

Of the SMEs who register, a randomly chosen 500 will receive the HR consultancy support and a further 500 will be placed in a control group that will not receive the support. All participants will receive Amazon vouchers and the chance to enter prize draw with the chance of winning £10,000. Interested SMEs can register here.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

 

Latest HR job opportunities on Personnel Today


Browse more human resources jobs

Adam McCulloch

Adam McCulloch first worked for Personnel Today magazine in the early 1990s as a sub editor. He rejoined Personnel Today as a writer in 2017, covering all aspects of HR but with a special interest in diversity, social mobility and industrial relations. He has ventured beyond the HR realm to work as a freelance writer and production editor in sectors including travel (The Guardian), aviation (Flight International), agriculture (Farmers' Weekly), music (Jazzwise), theatre (The Stage) and social work (Community Care). He is also the author of KentWalksNearLondon. Adam first became interested in industrial relations after witnessing an exchange between Arthur Scargill and National Coal Board chairman Ian McGregor in 1984, while working as a temp in facilities at the NCB, carrying extra chairs into a conference room!

previous post
Why businesses must take heed of McDonald’s slavery case
next post
Boom in firms moving to employee ownership trust model

You may also like

Number of SMEs hiring staff in decline

10 Apr 2025

Employment Rights Bill will ‘wreak havoc’, say small...

20 Feb 2025

IRIS Software Group packages the Equality, Diversity and...

20 Nov 2024

Addressing the widening skills gaps in mid-sized organisations...

3 Oct 2024

Government to pay full apprenticeship cost for SMEs

18 Mar 2024

Small business apprenticeships plummet

31 Oct 2023

Employee Benefits Awards 2022 deadline fast approaching

6 Jan 2022

More than half of small employers still to...

8 Sep 2021

Deliveroo-inspired legal services: Merlie Calvert talks to Oven-Ready...

23 Jul 2021

Oven-Ready HR Reheated: Steve Browne, Marc Effron and...

7 May 2021

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+