How to choose an outsourced HR provider
Last reviewed 23 August 2026
馃敶 HR advice is not a regulated activity. There is no licence, no register to check, and no protected title, so unlike asbestos or fire there is no accreditation that settles the question. CIPD is the professional body and Chartered membership signals assessed experience rather than a qualification alone, but it attaches to individuals rather than to the firm you are contracting with. That makes this the one page on this site where the contract matters more than the credential, and the terms that decide it are below.
The accreditations that matter
What each one actually means, rather than the logo.
-
CIPD membership
The professional body for HR. Individual membership is graded, and Chartered status is the level that signals assessed experience rather than a qualification alone.
-
Professional indemnity insurance
The practical protection if advice turns out to be wrong. Ask for the certificate and the limit, and check the limit against the size of a tribunal award rather than against the fee.
-
Named adviser, in writing
Not an accreditation. It is the single term that most often separates a retainer that works from one that does not.
Sources
Every claim above is checked against the primary text, and the date is the day we last opened it.
-
1
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Primary text read and checked Checked 22 August 2026
-
2
Employment contracts: written statement of employment particulars
GOV.UK Primary text read and checked Checked 22 August 2026