Weds 23rd September 2026
At this morning’s Wealden Business Group meeting, Amanda Amor presented on behalf of HR Consulting Kent Ltd, bringing a wealth of expertise to the room. Amanda shared her extensive background spanning over 26 years across highly regulated industries—including nuclear, education, financial services, and medical research—alongside her CIPD fellowship and her role as owner of Amor Photography Ltd. Emphasizing the close connection between photography and HR, she highlighted that both are fundamentally “people businesses”. Amanda introduced the team behind HR Consulting Kent, led by CIPD Kent Branch Chair Lyndsey Moore, and outlined their “Why-Based” HR methodology. Adapted from Simon Sinek’s principles, this approach starts with a company’s overarching business plan rather than standard HR tasks, converting operational friction into strategic design questions that align leadership and capability with commercial goals.
The presentation focused heavily on the major upcoming legal shifts introduced by the Employment Rights Act reforms, which are already generating significant advisory work for HR Consulting Kent. Key changes slated for October 2026 include extending employment tribunal claim limits from 3 to 6 months, strengthening the duty on employers to take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment (with policies and training taking center stage), and imposing a new legal duty to prevent third-party harassment by customers or clients. Amanda also looked ahead to January 2027, when the qualifying period for unfair dismissal protection will drop drastically from two years to six months—a change estimated to affect up to 6.3 million employees—and statutory caps on compensation will be removed.
Wrapping up, Amanda stressed that these statutory changes mean local businesses can no longer treat onboarding as an afterthought. With shorter unfair dismissal timelines and removed compensation limits, employers must establish tight, transparent, and well-evidenced probation terms, structured reviews, and robust documented support from day one. HR Consulting Kent offers both retained and ad-hoc services to help local organisations smoothly navigate these regulatory hurdles with practical, commercially aligned solutions.
You can see Amanda’s presentation here:
