Should an HR Consultant be recognised as a Competent Person?

The question whether an HR Consultant should be recognised as a competent person depends on the context in which the term “competent person” is being used. As an HR professional that sees the benefits of having a qualified HR role in your business the short answer is YES they should, but if only it was that simple.

I still find that the role of HR in a business needs to be justified, and it doesn’t have the legal backing of it’s more common counterpart in Health and Safety. Try googling HR Competent Person – it defaults back to the H&S requirement.

Legal & Regulatory Definition of a competent person

In the UK, under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, a competent person must have “sufficient training, experience, and knowledge” to assist an employer in meeting their legal obligations.

In HR and employment law contexts, a competent person may need specific qualifications or experience in handling employment matters correctly in line with legislation.

HR-Specific Competence

If you define competence based on HR expertise, then an HR Consultant can be recognised as competent if they have:

• ?????Relevant qualifications (e.g., CIPD, HR Management Degree, or equivalent certifications).
• ?????Practical experience in HR functions like recruitment, employee relations, compliance, and organisational development.
• ?????Knowledge of employment laws and best practices to provide accurate advice.

Employer’s Perspective

A competent HR Consultant should be able to:

• ?????Provide accurate and strategic HR advice.
• ?????Help ensure legal compliance with employment laws.
• ?????Improve HR processes and contribute to workplace culture and efficiency.

So, I believe you can justify an HR Consultant can being recognised as a competent person if they meet the relevant qualifications, experience, and knowledge requirements for the role they are advising on.

So why isn’t it required in the same way as a Health and Safety competent person?

It is legally recognised in the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 that as an employer you must appoint a competent person to help you meet your health and safety legal duties. This is justifiably so, considering the average HSE fine in 2024 was ￡150,000 and that every employee deserves the right to work in a safe environment.

By comparison the average award for unfair dismissal and discrimination cases at Tribunal in 2023/2024 was ￡40,000 but can be as much ￡995,000 for a sex discrimination case; and it is worth noting that there is new legislation come into force on how employers are expected to address sex discrimination in the workplace. And every employee deserves fair and equal treatment at work.

There is as much case law, legal procedure and best practice in HR as there is in Health and Safety and quite often the two overlap. Personally, I have worked alongside H&S consultants in sickness absence cases, looking at reasonable adjustments, risk assessments and safe working practices.

We have already identified the benefits of outsourcing HR in our blog here;

Employment law is becoming more complex, getting things wrong can be costly and lead to stresses for both the employee and employer – which circles us back round to the HR and H&S overlap.

Based on our experience here at Slice in supporting business owners with the trials and tribulations of having staff, a competent person is a need to have not a nice to have and would benefit employers and employees alike.

So if you want to get ahead and break the mould – we would love to chat to anyone that wants to ensure their employees are not only safe but fairly treated and can offer bespoke services to businesses of all shapes and sizes to ensure you are getting the right advice for you and your people.