Company profiles from Sports Management magazine: Croner

About us
Our HR, employment law, health & safety, and pay & reward services free employers from admin, reduce their legal risk, and give them more time to grow their business.

We do this by providing clients with 24/7 expert advice on any workforce challenge. Businesses can access a team of legal experts, ready to assist you with employee disputes, grievances, or tribunals. Plus, we provide software solutions to reduce the time you spend on workforce management.

In other words, we’re like hiring an HR team, a health & safety manager, and an employment law solicitor all in one—but for a fraction of the cost.

Background
Croner was founded in 1941, making us the most established and trusted business support service in the UK. In the 2000s, the company acquired an international reach and expanded its offering to include pay & reward and wellbeing services.

USPs
Our primary service focuses on HR, employment law, and health & safety for employers and business owners. What really sets us apart from other providers is our 24/7 advice line, accessible 365 days a year. Our clients will always have a team of HR experts and employment law solicitors on the other end of the phone.

We also offer health & safety solutions, to ensure your business is safe, and your employees’ wellbeing is protected. This includes access to our advice line, but also on-site visits, risk assessments, audits, and health & safety software to ensure HSE compliance.

Our pay & reward services make sure you stay compliant with current national minimum wage requirements, as well as making your salaries as competitive as possible. Our salary benchmarking tool will give you the latest pay rates for your roles in your industry. We can also assist you with market rate and pay gap reports.

Our software solutions will help you in all of these areas. Our software partner, BrightHR, has a range of solutions, including holiday planners, payroll navigators, expense trackers, to help you manage HR and pay functions. BrightSafe will assist you with health & safety, including sector-specific safety navigators.

Finally, we have additional services, such as our employee assistance programme (EAP) from our partner company Health Assured. The EAP provides your staff with counselling and support services to boost their wellbeing and provide crisis support. Companies providing their staff with this EAP see a decrease in absence as well as an increase in productivity.

case study: Northwick Associates

Northwick Associates is a family-run business based in Kershaw, Worcestershire. The organisation works across the country providing repairs and maintenance to gym and fitness equipment, such as treadmills, cross-trainers, bikes, etc.

The company’s director, Jon Isaacs, sought out Croner’s services to help assist with a variety of employment and health & safety problems.

“Croner has helped us better the way we manage our staff. We’ve now got a company handbook and employee profiles set up online which help manage their holidays…

“Working with Croner has been really good, really easy, and I’m very impressed with the specific knowledge the advisors have relating to our industry. Some of the more challenging queries that can be difficult to find advice on have been made straightforward.”

“Everything that we’ve needed resolving has now been resolved thanks to Croner.”

case study: Inverclyde Leisure

Inverclyde Leisure is a charitable leisure trust, based in the Waterfront Leisure Complex in Greenock, Inverclyde. Kieron Vango, CEO, was made aware of the company’s gender pay gap reporting responsibilities through his regular Croner consultant: “It was through her that we sought Croner’s help with our Gender Pay Reporting. We discussed the report in detail, particularly whether we were eligible or not, as we are right on the cusp of eligibility for reporting.”

“It wasn’t something we wanted to commit days and days’ worth of resources to,” says Audrey Lavelle, Finance Manager, “because of the business size, and the fact we were working with the time and attendance system at the time, a lot was coming at us at once. To us, it was just good value to get it done and outsource it.”

“The advice was great. The report was explained thoroughly, and as well as what we could do in terms of updating our own website, we received information on what was required for the government portal.”

“We were absolutely satisfied with the finished result, I’d 100% recommend using Croner for their Gender Pay Reporting services.”

case study: Party & Play Funhouse

Featuring two storeys of indoor play, as well as a new outdoor adventure area, Party and Play is busy all year around. It also features a café, sensory studio, go-karts, party-rooms and balloon shop.

“When I first joined we were members of a trade association which included Croner’s helpline, and we used it extensively”, says Jill Hewett, PA to the owner.

“When the association stopped offering the service we decided to sign up independently and have used it regularly ever since. The biggest challenge we have is issues with suppliers, particularly where we have been mis-sold.”

“The helpline saves us time because we can get an answer straight away, and it saves us money because we know we have the right advice to deal with it the right way, as quickly as possible. It’s also good because the advisors create records of the issues so that topics can be easily resumed whenever we call.”

Plans for the next 12 months

Croner are looking to maintain our growth and we are utilising several outlets to do this. We’re in the planning stages of a large-scale advertising campaign, pushing towards the 15,000 customer mark and investing in our workforce. With a circa. 1.5 million pound office refit on the horizon and plans to introduce a graduate scheme, we’re looking to the future.

Testimonial

“Fantastic Service. I was guided through the necessary processes and given as much time as I needed with the caller. Excellent!”

– Rob Archibald, Urdang Academy

“Great knowledge and support for my new business, feel like I am in very capable hands to ensure my business is compliant.”

– Mohammed Ibrahim, Imstrong Trading