Health Employment

At DAC Beachcroft we understand that health and social care organisations are increasingly facing complex issues, ranging from strategic change to financial challenges and greater regulatory scrutiny. The introduction of the NHS Five Year Forward View and new models of care, combined with the implications of the Brexit vote, have only added to the uncertainty around the future landscape of health and social care and how this will affect both public and private players in the market. One thing is clear - the future direction of travel will present health and social care organisations with even more workforce challenges.

Our employment team are experts in the health and social care market; we understand the context, internal ramifications and wider sensitivities of advising about people. We share our experiences and knowledge of advising more than half the providers in the NHS, as well as the leading organisations in private health and social care to ensure you receive more than just legal advice. We provide a clear and pragmatic approach in an uncertain and changing environment.

What we do

Our national employment team is recognised as the market leader in health and social care.

We offer expert guidance on all aspects of employment law, from day-to-day employment issues to highly specialised areas of health and social care employment law. In advising, we always have regard to the wider context, for example the regulatory, reputational and service impact of employment issues. Our clients look to us to guide them in managing the most complex and sensitive strategic issues. We advise on discrimination, transfer of undertakings and detriment claims in employment tribunals, but more than this we pride ourselves on advising on the management of difficult internal situations to avoid claims in the first place. We have extensive experience of dealing with a broad spectrum of issues affecting health and social care clients, ranging from individual matters, such as whistleblowers, grievances and doctors issues, to strategic advice on transactional matters such as mergers and acquisitions, integration, joint ventures, shared services and outsourcing.

Our international presence means we are uniquely placed to provide employment advice on matters affecting heath and social care providers in different jurisdictions. Our experience of multi-jurisdictional advice includes the employment aspects of enabling clients to set up business abroad, or enter into joint-ventures with foreign organisations. We have also advised on other workforce related issues associated with international operations, such as employing staff abroad, bringing foreign staff to the UK or transferring domestic staff abroad.

What we are known for

DAC Beachcroft is widely recognised as the leading strategic, commercial and regulatory legal adviser to the health and social care sector in the UK. The legal directories rank us higher than comparable employment teams who work in the area of health and social care.

Our market leading employment team provides innovative solutions to difficult problems, working from specialist units where lawyers are focussed on areas such as doctors' issues, industrial relations and equal pay, and where we can give an authoritative view on areas that are less run of the mill.

The pensions lawyers in our team are genuine experts, particularly recognised for their knowledge of the NHS Pension Scheme. They have advised countless public and private bodies on the implications of transfers of staff between public and private sectors.

Detailed elements of our services

• Providing strategic employment advice on restructuring and re-organisation, mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures;
• Outsourcing/insourcing the creation of shared services and other joint contracting arrangements;
• Advising on doctors' capability and conduct issues, including dealing with doctor's injunction applications;
• Advising on all aspects of employment litigation;
• Developing strategies to address historic holiday pay liabilities;
• Implementation of 24/7 working patterns and, more broadly, new contractual arrangements/models of working (including the introduction of new pay frameworks);
• Employment issues arising from new models of care and integrated care pathways, and joint ventures with other NHS and non-NHS bodies;
• Advising on difficult discrimination and whistleblowing issues;
• Advising on pensions issues, especially those related to public sector pension schemes such as the NHS Pension Scheme.