Paul Lott is an experienced employment solicitor who advises both individuals and businesses.
A North East native, he is a the Deputy Chair of Trustees of the South Tyneside Citizens Advice and regularly volunteers his time working at a Citizens Advice employment law clinic and believes this gives him lots of insight into the day-to-day problems of both employees and employers. Paul heads the HR services team at Elmwoods Law & Mediation (‘Elmwoods’), which offers support to businesses of all sizes. Paul’s view is that sometimes the cost of employing someone to look after the HR needs of a business is not justified. In addition to this, his experience is that often businesses think they don’t employ enough people to warrant a HR professional – but you never know when the need for dedicated HR support might arise, and it usually does! In addition to dedicated HR support, the team at Elmwoods also offers supplemental support to existing internal HR teams within organisations and works collaboratively with other HR professionals to offer additional support and legal expertise where this is required. The HR team at Elmwoods have more than 25 years’ experience in assisting businesses to achieve the right employment set up for them. From simple terms and conditions of employment, through contracts of employment, handbooks, policies and procedures, to template documents, staff training, seminars, role play – and of course, sound legal advice when required. The team provide these services to a wide range of businesses from start-up firms to large corporations in the North East and across the country. Employment law is becoming increasingly complex and demanding on employers. The team at Elmwoods can help with all manner of employment issues either on an ad hoc basis or as a retained client as part of a package. As identified the team also provides top up HR support for businesses with an in house HR function who, for whatever reason, require additional HR capacity without employing staff. The team advise on a broad spectrum of employment matters including disciplinaries, grievances, redundancy exercises, TUPE, working time, discrimination, whistleblowing, maternity and paternity rights as well as advocacy in the Employment Tribunal. Paul feels strongly that the team needs to understand the businesses they work with and what their aspirations are, and works closely with clients to strengthen the relationship and build that knowledge. This enables the team to work collaboratively to build an understanding of the issues and tailor the employment advice and solutions to the needs of each business client. The challenges faced by most businesses during the pandemic have led many employers to seek Paul and the teams’ advice with regard to the implementation of a number of the governments’ initiatives from the furlough scheme to the accessibility of funding loans and grants. Paul sees there being many additional challenges to businesses as we come out of lockdown and employees begin to return to the workplace. Many employees may seek to permanently vary their terms and conditions after a long period of working remotely, and consider the implementation of homeworking on a more permanent basis. Employers may face restructuring and redundancy in the wake of the economic downturn, and the team at Elmwoods can assist businesses of any size to negotiate their way through these challenges. The HR service is bespoke. After a free consultation to determine the level of assistance required , number of employees etc the team will discuss a monthly fee for those employers that require a retained service and what exactly that entails or a fee for a specific piece of work.
