Your what-ifs, sorted.
Based in Caterham, Surrey, and working across London, the South East and the UK.
Some what-ifs keep you awake. Others are the reason you started. What If HR is where they get sorted, calmly and early, by one named consultant who knows your business.
Something happening right now? Call 07557 982407, Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, or email hello@whatifhr.co.uk. We reply the same working day.
30+ businesses helped since 2020 · Surrey · London · South East · Remote UK
FSB member · CIPD Associate · ICO registered · ClarityLoop Partner · BreatheHR Partner · Hireful Partner
Where to start
You do not have to know exactly what you need. Most owners arrive at one of these four points. All prices + VAT.
Your first hires and the basics
"I think our contracts need updating, I just don't know where to start."
More people, more structure
"We've doubled in two years and HR hasn't kept up."
A live issue with someone on your team
"I've got a situation with a member of staff and I want to handle it properly."
Managers, culture and leadership
"My managers were promoted for doing the job well, not for managing people."
Not sure which fits?
Answer three quick questions and see the one service that fits, with its price. Under a minute, and no form to fill in.
Ongoing HR support
One consultant who knows your team, on call for you and your managers, so small questions get answered before they become big ones.
Every plan starts with a three-month trial. At the end, stay, change your plan or leave, with no exit fee.
What If HR is our go-to HR partner. We don't have an in-house team, so having Elena on hand for payroll, employment contracts and tricky compliance matters like statutory sick or holiday pay has been invaluable.
Proof
Client story
Around 35 to 40 people. Two HR providers tried before us, live cases with no plan for how they would end and an HR inbox nobody was answering.
Now the inbox is answered, contracts and a handbook match how people really work, probation has letters again and managers have somewhere to go before a problem escalates.
Read the full storyElena was exactly what we needed: practical, clear and easy to understand. She explained what we needed in plain English, without making HR feel scary or corporate.
She responded quickly, explained our options in plain English and helped us resolve the issue informally, without turning it into an expensive or overly complicated HR process.
Comparing providers?
The big providers are good at scale: advice lines that never close and insurance-backed cover. We are built for something else.
Checked on 30 September 2026 on each provider's own website. If you want advice at 2am or insurance that pays tribunal awards, a national provider may suit you better, and we will say so on the call.
Why What If HR exists
Before HR, I worked as a tour guide, helping people find their way somewhere unfamiliar. Then I moved to the UK and became the lost one, learning how everything works here from scratch, the written rules and the unwritten ones.
Becoming an employer feels a lot like that. You are capable and good at what you do, and still unsure how things work here. What If HR is calm guidance from someone who has walked this ground before.
Elena Suhova, founder
I lead the client work today. As we grow, you are matched with one named consultant who works the same way, and you keep them.
Read our storyEmployment law changes
The Act cuts the qualifying period for unfair dismissal from two years to six months, among other changes. Contracts and probation written for the old rules are worth a look while nothing is going wrong. See what changes and when (kept up to date), or start with an HR Health Check or our free self-diagnostic.
A ten-minute online self-check against current UK employment law.
What is in force and what is coming, kept up to date.
How to write one that attracts the right person and stays legal.
Check whether someone qualifies and for how long.
Good to know
One question at a time: what the law says, and what it means for a business your size.
Where we work
We are based in Caterham, Surrey, and work with businesses across South London, London, Surrey and the wider South East, and remotely across the UK. Day-to-day support is by phone, email and video, and we come to you in person whenever the work needs it.
HR updates, now and then.
Occasional emails for business owners: employment law changes explained simply, and the things worth knowing before they become a problem.
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Straight answers
Can't see your question?
Ask us directly. We reply the same working day.
Book a free 20-minute callor email hello@whatifhr.co.uk
We are outsourced HR support for small and growing UK businesses with no in-house HR team, usually somewhere between a first employee and around fifty. We work with owner-managed businesses across Surrey, South London, London and the South East, and remotely across the UK. If you want to be fair to your people and do things properly without turning into a corporate machine, you are who we are here for.
The written terms are the law from your first employee, so that one starts on day one. After that it is usually a trigger rather than a headcount: a resignation that raised a question, someone off sick with no return date, or contracts nobody has looked at in years. If you ring and the answer is that you do not need us yet, we will say so.
Every recommendation has to pass one test: will this be used, or will it sit in a folder? If it will sit in a folder, we do not recommend it. Proper HR at eight people is a few documents and one or two habits, not the version a 250-person company runs.
Yes, and this is a good part of what we do. Most situations are recoverable if you stop and follow the right process from here, and finding out where you stand is what the first call is for. You can tell us what really happened, including the part you handled badly, and nobody is going to grade you for it.
Yes. We start by reading what you have, because a lot of it is usually fine and rewriting everything wastes your money. Where something is out of date or missing, we will say which parts matter now and which can wait.
Our founder, Elena Suhova, leads the client work and holds an MSc in Human Resource Management from Birkbeck, University of London, and is a CIPD Associate. Our consultant partners are Chartered Fellows of the CIPD. What If HR is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office, and we are an FSB member, a BreatheHR Partner and a Hireful Partner. We are HR specialists rather than solicitors, and we will tell you when something needs a solicitor.
Book a free 20-minute call, or ring 07557 982407 and we talk there and then if the line is free. You describe what is going on, and we say what we would do, what it costs and whether you need us at all. If it makes sense, you get a scope and a fixed price in writing before anything starts.
A free 20-minute call, no obligation and no judgement. If the answer is that you do not need us yet, we will say so.
