Do you offer retained support or only project work?

Both. Some clients hold a monthly retainer that covers advisory calls, document reviews and a set number of days — useful if you have no in-house HR or a very small team. Others engage us per project, per investigation, or per restructure. There is no minimum term on a first engagement. We would rather earn the retainer than lock you into one.

London · Public Sector HR Specialists

HR expertise builtfor the public good.

Civitas HR advises schools, NHS organisations and local authorities on the employment decisions that carry real risk — and supplies the interim HR professionals who see them through.

Book a Consultation Request a Contractor

100%

Public sector focus

48hrs

Typical contractor shortlist

CIPD

Qualified practitioners

UK-wide

Delivery, London based

Built for public sector realities CIPD-qualified practitionersDiscretion as standardPublic sector onlyLondon based, UK-wide

Two ways to work with us

Advice when you need judgement.
People when you need capacity.

Most HR problems in the public sector are one of two things: a decision that needs to be right first time, or a gap in the team that needs filling fast. We do both, and we do them for the same sectors.

Pillar One

HR Consultancy

Senior HR judgement on the matters where getting it wrong is expensive — tribunals, transfers, restructures and investigations. Retained, project-based or on demand.

Employment law advice and tribunal risk assessment
Grievances, disciplinaries and formal investigations
TUPE, restructuring and redundancy consultation
Policies, contracts and staff handbooks
Manager training and HR capability building

Explore consultancy

Pillar Two

Interim HR Contractors

Vetted interim HR professionals who already know how the public sector works — deployed for maternity cover, project peaks, vacancies and transformation programmes.

HR Advisors, Business Partners and Managers
ER and casework specialists for backlogs
Interim Heads of HR and change leads
Payroll, reward and HR systems contractors
IR35 status assessed, references verified

See how supply works

Consultancy services

The work we are called in to do.

Each of these is a service we deliver end to end — not a referral. Follow any of them for scope, process and typical timescales.

Employment Law Advice

Practical, current advice on the employment questions that reach your desk — with a clear read on where the risk actually sits.

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Employee Relations & Investigations

Independent investigators and ER support for grievances, disciplinaries, whistleblowing and safeguarding-adjacent matters.

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TUPE & Restructuring

Transfers, service reconfigurations and redundancy programmes run to a defensible process with the consultation properly documented.

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Policies & Documentation

Handbooks, contracts and policy frameworks written for your sector's regulatory reality — and written so managers actually use them.

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Performance & Capability

Frameworks and hands-on support for capability, absence and performance cases that have stalled or become entrenched.

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Manager Training

Half-day and full-day sessions that leave your line managers able to run a fair process without calling HR every time.

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Sectors we serve

Three sectors. No generalist detours.

We turned down the option of being an HR firm for everyone. The trade-off is that when you describe your problem, we already know the framework it sits in.

Schools & Academy Trusts

Burgundy Book and STPCD terms, trust-wide restructures, safeguarding interfaces and the governance layer that sits above every decision.

Multi-academy trusts
Maintained schools
Sixth form & FE colleges
SEND and specialist provision

Education HR support

NHS & Social Care

Agenda for Change structures, professional regulation, rota and rostering pressures, and ER casework in genuinely 24/7 environments.

NHS trusts & foundation trusts
Primary care networks & GP practices
Residential & domiciliary care
Voluntary sector providers

Health & care HR support

Local Government

NJC terms, political oversight, statutory consultation duties and the public scrutiny that follows every workforce decision.

Councils & combined authorities
Arm's-length bodies
Blue light services
Housing associations

Local government HR support

Why Civitas HR

A different kind of
HR partner.

We built Civitas HR around a specific gap: public sector organisations that need commercial-grade HR judgement, without the layers, the juniors or the hourly rates of a large firm.

Sector knowledge, not sector vocabulary

Plenty of firms list ‘public sector’ on a services page. We work inside its pay frameworks, its consultation duties and its accountability structures every week — so you are not paying us to learn them.

You get the senior person

The practitioner who scopes your matter is the practitioner who handles it. No handover to a junior consultant once the engagement is signed, and no advice written by someone who has never run the process themselves.

Proportionate to the risk

Not every issue needs a full investigation and a legal opinion. We will tell you when something can be resolved in a conversation — which is the cheaper answer, and often the better one.

Both arms, one relationship

If an engagement reveals you need a person rather than advice, we can supply one from the same conversation. No second procurement exercise, no briefing a new supplier from scratch.

Case studies

How it looks in practice.

Three engagements, one from each sector, showing what we are brought in to do and what ‘done properly’ looks like when we leave.

Schools & Academy Trusts

Restructuring a trust's central team without a single appeal

SituationA growing multi-academy trust with a central services team designed for six schools, now supporting eleven.

Our roleOptions appraisal, collective consultation design and hands-on delivery alongside the CEO and COO.

ResultNew structure in place for the autumn term, consultation completed on time, no appeals and no claims.

Read the case study

NHS & Social Care

Clearing an employee relations backlog in a community health provider

SituationA community NHS provider with more than forty open ER cases, some over a year old, and an HR team of three.

Our roleTwo interim ER caseworkers within a week, a triage framework, and a senior practitioner reviewing the oldest cases.

ResultBacklog cleared in four months; the trust's own team kept the triage model.

Read the case study

Local Government

An independent investigation into a grievance against a senior officer

SituationA London borough received a collective grievance against a director. Nobody senior enough to investigate was independent enough.

Our roleIndependent investigator with agreed terms of reference, reporting to the Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer.

ResultA report the council could act on and publish in summary, delivered inside the agreed timetable.

Read the case study

Anonymised composites — assembled from the kind of work we do, with identifying details changed and no client named. How we handle case studies.

All case studies

How engagement works

Straightforward from the first call.

No discovery phases you pay for and no proposals that take three weeks. Here is what actually happens.

STEP 01

Initial conversation

A free 30-minute call to understand the matter, the deadline and the constraints. If we are not the right fit, we will say so on that call.

STEP 02

Scope and fee

A written scope with a fixed fee or a clear day rate, plus what is included and what is not. You approve before any work starts.

STEP 03

Delivery

Advice, documents, investigation or a deployed contractor — with a single named point of contact throughout and agreed response times.

STEP 04

Handover

Everything documented so your team can defend the process later, plus a short debrief on what to change so it does not recur.

“In the public sector, an HR decision is never only an HR decision. It is a governance question, a budget question and — often enough — a question someone will ask about in public. We advise with all three in view.”

Civitas HR — founding principle

Common questions

Questions we are
asked most often.

If yours is not here, ask it on the call — the first conversation is free and we will give you a straight answer.

Yes. We are based in London and a good deal of our work is with London boroughs, trusts and schools, but we deliver across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Most advisory work is done remotely; investigations, hearings and consultation meetings are attended in person where that is the right call.

Travel outside Greater London is agreed in the scope before work begins, so it never appears as a surprise line on an invoice.

For common roles — HR Advisor, HR Business Partner, ER caseworker — we aim to put a shortlist in front of you within two working days, with candidates who have already been referenced and had their IR35 status considered. Senior and specialist roles typically take longer.

If your need is genuinely same-week, say so on the first call and we will tell you honestly whether we can meet it.

No. Civitas HR is an HR consultancy staffed by CIPD-qualified practitioners, not solicitors, and we do not provide legal representation. What we provide is practical employment advice, process design and hands-on delivery.

Where a matter needs formal legal advice or tribunal representation, we will tell you and work alongside your legal advisers rather than in place of them.

It depends entirely on scope, so any number quoted before we understand the matter would be guesswork. What we can commit to is that you receive a written fee — fixed price or a stated day rate — before work starts, and we do not bill outside it without your agreement.

For public sector clients working to procurement thresholds, we will structure and document the engagement so it fits your internal rules.

Let's talk about what you are dealing with.

A 30-minute call, no charge and no pitch deck. Tell us the situation and we will tell you what we would do about it — including if that is nothing.

Book a Consultation Request a Contractor

Prefer email? [email protected] · Or call 020 0000 0000

HR expertise builtfor the public good.

Advice when you need judgement.People when you need capacity.

HR Consultancy

Interim HR Contractors

The work we are called in to do.

Three sectors. No generalist detours.

A different kind ofHR partner.

Sector knowledge, not sector vocabulary

You get the senior person

Proportionate to the risk

Both arms, one relationship

How it looks in practice.

Straightforward from the first call.

Initial conversation

Scope and fee

Delivery

Handover

Questions we areasked most often.

Do you work with organisations outside London?

How quickly can you supply an interim HR contractor?

Are you a law firm?

Do you offer retained support or only project work?

What does an engagement typically cost?

Let's talk about what you are dealing with.

Advice when you need judgement.
People when you need capacity.

A different kind of
HR partner.

Questions we are
asked most often.