Stirling Hunter delivers executive search, project recruitment, succession planning, HR, leadership and strategy consulting. Executive Search & HR Consulting Strategic Talent Solutions for High-Growth Organisations About Us Our Mission Stirling Hunter a privately held professional services firm that helps organisations to improve business results through the timely delivery of executive search, project recruitment, succession planning, background screening, leadership, strategy, and HR consulting. Operating across the United Kingdom and internationally, our cross-functional expertise spans financial services, financial technology, private equity, professional services, biotechnology, sustainable developments, and the adult and children's care sector. We understand the unique leadership challenges facing care providers and help organizations build strong, compassionate leadership teams that deliver exceptional care outcomes. Our mission is to empower individuals and organisations to reach their full potential by making meaningful connections and driving success through people. Learn More What we do Executive Search & Assessment Stirling Hunter was founded as an executive search firm, this remains a cornerstone of our business. Our executive search services are tailored to each client's unique situation, whether you're a regulated bank needing FCA-approved directors, a PE firm building a portfolio company C-suite, or a family business planning founder succession. Our task is to identify, evaluate, attract and help to develop extraordinary culturally aligned executives who will drive new levels of organisational performance for your short and long-term growth. Recent placements include CFOs for fintech scale-ups, Managing Directors for PE portfolio companies, and C-suite executives for regulated financial services firms. Project Recruitment Our "search class" project recruitment expertise aligns high calibre professional and technical talent needs with business strategies. We seamlessly help organisations meet target hiring goals across the full spectrum of the recruiting and resourcing life cycle. From attraction and engagement, to development and retention, we deliver without compromising candidate quality and provide meaningful reductions in both the cost and time to hire. When candidates are thoroughly assessed and culturally aligned, the benefits are clear: fewer interviews, fewer rejected offers, and significantly less management time spent on recruitment. Succession Planning All organisations lose good people, whether it’s for personal or professional reasons, planned or unplanned. The loss of talented employees can leave a large gap and brings periods of uncertainty, change and turbulence. Succession planning ensures an organisation remains ready to continue growing and performing by minimising the impact of losing key talent and leaders. We help build coordinated succession strategies that connect the assessment and development of internal and external candidates with your goals and culture. When working with early stage or family businesses, our consultants help align the founders or family, the board and management with the succession planning process. We can further advise on wider board composition including adding independent directors to a board. This can offer much-needed experience and objectivity when it comes to the planning and the assessment of succession candidates in family businesses. Background Screening Background screening has become a crucial step in the hiring process, enabling employers to make informed decisions about who they are hiring. We can deliver a variety of employment screening and background checks including Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), legal and regulatory referencing (SMCR), online verification and Right to Work checks and executive digital profiling. HR Consulting At Stirling Hunter, we're not a corporate HR firm with a one-size-fits-all approach. We tailor our services to each client, whether you're an ambitious SME, a family business, or a PE-backed growth company. Our HR consulting services help your team perform better, enhance employee engagement, and align HR strategies with business objectives. Our HR Consulting Services Include: Talent Acquisition & Workforce Planning - Helping businesses attract and retain the right talent through strategic hiring and workforce optimization. HR Strategy & Organizational Design - Aligning HR policies, structures, and processes with business goals to enhance operational efficiency. Leadership Development & Training - Providing customized training programs to strengthen leadership capabilities and employee performance. Compensation & Benefits Advisory - Designing competitive compensation structures that attract and motivate top talent. Employee Engagement & Culture Transformation - Creating high-performing workplace cultures through engagement strategies and initiatives. HR Compliance & Risk Management - Ensuring organizations meet regulatory requirements and mitigate HR-related risks. We partner with businesses from 10-person startups to FTSE 100 firms, helping them build a people-first culture that fosters innovation, productivity, and long-term success. Leadership Advisory We understand that strong leadership is the foundation of any successful organization. Our tailored advisory solutions ensure that companies have the right leaders in place to navigate change, foster innovation, and create lasting impact. By leveraging 30+ years of executive recruitment and assessment, we empower organisations to build high-performing leadership teams that thrive and grow. Key Offerings Include: Board Advisory - Enhancing board effectiveness through governance best practices, director search, and strategic counsel. Leadership Development & Succession Planning - Building leadership pipelines to future-proof organizations. Culture & Organizational Effectiveness - Aligning leadership strategies with corporate culture to drive performance. With a client-centric approach, we partner with financial services firms, PE portfolio companies, biotechnology ventures, and care providers from Series A startups to FTSE 250 enterprises Strategy & Intelligence We offer bespoke strategy and intelligence advisory services to mitigate the risks for organisations considering entry into new markets or during the acquisition process. This evaluation of the capability of the target company leadership team and key people to deliver in the long term, is just as crucial as assessing the value of any other asset. Acquiring a company is also about acquiring people. Our "people" due diligence helps improve the chances of a successful acquisition. It also helps retain top talent and where key people do leave, ensures succession plans in place for key positions that minimise disruption and damage to morale. Our benchmarking draws on salary surveys, industry reports and our proprietary knowledge of 1,000's of executive placements. We can also help innovators and investors with feasibility studies, venture funding, academic research and market entry.

Stirling Hunter is a UK executive search and HR consulting firm serving financial services, private equity, and high-growth businesses with bespoke talent solutions. Who we are Stirling Hunter are a privately held professional services firm that helps organisations to optimise business performance through executive and project recruitment, succession planning, leadership, strategy, background screening, and HR consulting. Our expertise is rooted in financial services, private equity, clean technology and professional services. Within these sectors, we help to identify, evaluate and attract outstanding executives and innovators who positively impact the current performance and future health of our clients. Our client partners combine many years of direct experience with deep industry knowledge and finely tuned intuition to win over apparently unobtainable people. They are supported by analysts who continually track the careers of leading executives, rising stars and innovators. Our Team David Tuscarny David leads our executive search, project recruitment leadership and strategy consulting services. He has over three decades of retained executive search expertise within financial and professional services. Beyond recruitment, David has helped clients deliver turnaround and operational reviews spanning commercial, financial, people and HR matters. He is dedicated to creating successful partnerships and discreetly connecting financial services and private equity executives and innovators. Oliver Tuscarny Ollie leads our HR team, he has a MSc in Human Resource Management, he is currently studying for his CIPD Level 7. He has a deep understanding of the human aspect of business and organisational behaviors. Beyond supporting SME clients with day-day HR operations, he helps build positive human cultures in workplaces, ones that enable people to be more productive, happier and inspired so they can do their best work and feel more fulfilled. Tony Pike Tony is a Board Advisor to Stirling Hunter. He plays a key role in guiding our strategic direction and growth initiatives. His career spans more than three decades where he managed pension risks and delivered investment solutions for employers and their workforces. Tony previously held senior roles at Mercer, River and Mercantile Solutions, Aon, Willis Towers Watson, JJT, and Buck Consultants. Helen Town Helen is our Head of Administration and Research, she ensures everything runs smoothly across finance, HR, marketing, IT, and client delivery teams. Helen previously had roles where she led billings and administration for a telecoms business, was head of research at a boutique executive search firm and was an insurance wordings specialist for the financial institutions team at a global insurance Broker.

< Back Save time and costs with easy-to-use HR software David T. LinkedIn Facebook X (Twitter) Pinterest WhatsApp Copy link 5 Jun 2025 Sign up for your 14-day free trial. No credit card required. Stirling Hunter are an Accredited Partner of Breathe HR Software. With ISO 27001 certification all personal data is stored to the highest GDPR-compliant security standards . Make sense of your HR information and ensure the actions you take are data-driven with Breathe’s extensive reporting tools . All payroll data is available at your fingertips. Breathe lets you export payroll-ready data and upload it to your payroll system in seconds. Contact us for more information or to organise a 14 day free trial. Contact Us | Stirling Hunter Stirling Hunter is a Breathe Accredited Partner Previous Next

< Back Small businesses solutions for common HR issues David T. LinkedIn Facebook X (Twitter) Pinterest WhatsApp Copy link 12 Mar 2025 Here are some practical solutions that small businesses can implement to address common HR challenges. Limited Resources Partner with freelancers or part-time professionals to meet short-term needs without overextending budgets. Use cost-effective HR software to automate processes like payroll, recruitment, and compliance tracking. Attracting Talent Highlight non-monetary benefits like flexibility, personal growth opportunities, or a strong company culture in job postings. Build a solid online presence through social media and networking to attract candidates organically. Retention Issues Offer recognition programs to celebrate achievements and reinforce employee value. Provide clear career progression paths, even if limited, to give employees a sense of purpose and growth. Compliance with Employment Laws Regularly consult with HR advisors or use affordable online tools to stay up-to-date with UK employment laws. Conduct periodic audits to ensure policies and practices align with regulations. Building a Company Culture Involve employees in defining the company’s values and mission. Foster team-building activities and open communication to strengthen relationships and collaboration. Performance Management Introduce simple but effective review systems, such as quarterly one-on-one check-ins, to provide feedback and address issues early. Use cloud-based tools to track goals and performance without overwhelming employees or managers. Scalability of HR Functions Adopt modular HR solutions that grow with the business, such as subscription-based tools for recruitment and onboarding. Train managers and team leads to take on basic HR responsibilities during periods of rapid growth. Managing Employee Well-Being Promote work-life balance by offering flexible schedules or extra time off when possible. Share free or low-cost resources for mental health support, like access to local community programs or online platforms. By taking these steps, small businesses can overcome many HR hurdles while cultivating an engaged, loyal, and productive workforce. Previous Next

< Back Potential impact of U.S. tariffs and recession on UK jobs? David T. LinkedIn Facebook X (Twitter) Pinterest WhatsApp Copy link 11 Mar 2025 U.S. tariffs and a potential recession could have far-reaching consequences for the UK job market due to the interconnectedness of the global economy. While the exact impact would depend on the severity of the U.S. recession and the UK's overall economic resilience, industries closely tied to U.S. trade, finance, and investment are the most vulnerable including: Trade and Exports - The U.S. is a major importer of UK goods, including manufacturing products (such as automotive, aerospace components and machinery) and services (like financial and professional services). A U.S. economic slowdown could lead to reduced demand, putting pressure on UK industries that rely on exports. Financial Markets - Given that London is a global financial hub with strong ties to U.S. markets, a recession in the U.S. could lead to market volatility and reduced activity in banking, investment, and related sectors, potentially impacting jobs in finance. Tourism and Hospitality - A U.S. recession might lead to fewer U.S. tourists visiting the UK, negatively affecting jobs in tourism, hospitality, and retail sectors tied to visitor spending. Technology and Startups - Many UK technology and innovation-driven industries firms benefit from U.S. investment. A slowdown in venture capital and private equity from U.S.-based investors could impact this sector, leading to reduced job growth or layoffs. Global Supply Chains - Industries linked to international supply chains, such as manufacturing and logistics, could face disruptions if a U.S. recession and tariffs affects global trade flows. Consumer Confidence - Economic uncertainty in the U.S. could spill over into the UK, affecting consumer spending and business confidence, this could hit the domestic economy even further and lead to cautious hiring or layoffs. What measures can the UK take to mitigate these impacts? To prepare for the potential impacts of a U.S. recession on jobs, the UK could adopt strategies tailored to its economic strengths and vulnerabilities. Many of these would be Government led through fiscal stimulus, subsidies, grants, and tax relief to attract non-U.S. investment and support the domestic economy. With a potential U.S. recession driven by President Trump’s recent actions, reliance on the UK Government to act in time to avert the potential impact is not realistic. Governments have finite budgets and competing priorities, such as healthcare, education, and infrastructure. This could limit the scale of intervention. The UK economy is deeply interconnected with global markets. Even with government action, external factors like trade and investment flows are beyond its control. Government measures often take time to implement and show results. By the time policies are enacted, the economic impact might already be significant. Government interventions, such as subsidies or tax cuts, can sometimes lead to inefficiencies or unintended market distortions. Political disagreements or changes in leadership can delay or dilute the effectiveness of government action. Businesses and individuals play a crucial role in economic resilience. Diversifying trade, innovating, and upskilling the workforce are areas where the private sector can act more swiftly than the government. A balanced approach, involving both government initiatives and proactive measures by businesses and individuals, would be far more effective in addressing the challenges of a U.S. recession. The adage of “failing to plan is planning to fail” in particularly true in times of economic uncertainty. The key to UK businesses building resilience and protecting jobs in the process is to regularly assess potential risks (domestic or international), develop contingency plans and adjust strategies accordingly. Previous Next

Privacy Notice, Stirling Hunter executive and project recruitment, succession planning, background screening, HR, leadership and strategy consulting. Privacy Notice Your privacy is important to us. This privacy notice explains how Stirling Hunter may collect, use, transfer, and disclose your information. Personal Information is information that identifies you as an individual or relates to an identifiable individual. This Notice describes how we process, collect, and use this information in connection with: Websites operated by us from which you are accessing this Notice (the “Site”); Software platforms and applications we make available for use on or through computers or mobile devices (the “Applications”); Our social media pages from which you are accessing this Notice (collectively, our “Social Media Pages”); HTML-formatted email messages we send to you that link to this Policy; Communications, including subscribing to receive information about our Services or any of our marketing materials such as our regular newsletters, surveys, via emails, SMS/text messages we send to you manually and via automated software. Offline business interactions you have with us, including in person discussions, telephone conversations, and non-electronic communications. You do not have to provide any personal information to us, but if you do not, there may be limits on the recruitment, advisory and consulting services we are able to provide you. Who we are We are Stirling Hunter Limited, a management consulting business. We are a registered company in the United Kingdom with a registration number of 12086860, our registered office is at Greenwood House Greenwood Court, Bury St Edmunds IP32 7GY. Our Services help our clients to develop their business, we help them with executive search and project recruitment. organisation design and strategy, talent strategy, rewards and benefits, assessment and succession, leadership development, and other talent needs. We also provide HR consulting Services that range from day-to-day advice to full HR project management, background screening and a range of career advisory services including executive coaching and job-hunting preparation. Our executive search Services help clients find talent at the board-level, chief executive, and other senior professional and executive positions, our specialist and interim management recruitment Services help senior executives select and hire the talent they need to execute their strategy. Stirling Hunter is committed to keeping your information secure and managing it in accordance with our legal responsibilities, under the privacy and data protection laws applicable wherever we operate in the world, as well as the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR along with the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EC) 2016/679 (“GDPR”) in the European Union (“EU”). Who this policy applies to We collect a variety of personal information to provide our services to you and our clients. This policy applies to you whether you are a candidate for one of our clients, an individual we are assessing as an employee of one of our clients, a client or whether you are a source or a referee in respect of a candidate or an employee of one of our clients. For the purposes of this policy: candidate(s) means an individual who is a candidate, applicant, potential candidate, employee of a client; client(s) means any, business, firm, organisation, government body or individual that mandates us to perform any of our Services; a referee is a person who provides a personal or work reference in respect of a candidate and; a source is a person who provides us with information or intelligence about a candidate. If you disclose any Personal Information relating to other people to us, you represent that you have the authority to do so and to permit us to use the information in accordance with this Policy. Gathering information Our clients expect us to identify the best people to fill their roles. We need to research systems, online databases, and other information sources, and talk to many individuals to achieve this. Besides our clients, these will include referees and sources to help inform our decision-making process. We need to process personal data quickly, discreetly, and often without reference to the data subject. Accordingly, we process such data in accordance with the Data Protection Laws, using our legitimate interest where it is not possible or feasible to speak directly with the data subject. Beyond this, we will seek consent in the circumstances explained later in this policy document. We collect information from candidates directly when you upload your resume to our candidate portal or when you send this to us via email or post. We also collect information from you when you speak with a Stirling Hunter employee. We also collect information from you in automated ways, including using cookies and similar technologies as well as using tracking pixels and tokens in our email communications (e.g. to understand whether you have opened a marketing email from us). How we collect and use personal information Candidate(s) - We use the personal data we collect from you for several purposes: Processing job applications for our clients, on whose behalf we are managing a job vacancy. If you apply for a specific job, we may pass your details to the relevant client to proceed with the application. As a result, you may receive further direct correspondence from them. Searching for relevant candidates for confidential executive recruitment assignments where our client is not initially named. If we feel you are suitable for a specific role, we may pass your basic details on to the relevant client. If that client agrees that you might be suitable, we will then discuss this with you in more detail. You may be interviewed for the role by one of our consultants. If successful, you may be shortlisted for interview by our client. At this point, we will pass further details to the client, you may then receive further direct correspondence from them. We may conduct mapping and strategic research exercises to help a client mitigate the risks when considering entry into new markets, territories or during the acquisition process. Here, we may include certain aspects of your personal data. You will not be contacted by any third party about this unless we first obtain your consent. To provide our Services to you as an individual, most likely an assessment or coaching programme. For equality monitoring purposes, to understand the diversity of our applicant pool, but only if admissible under the applicable law. (This information is anonymised and aggregated). Improving the service we offer. For example, you may be asked to complete one of our online satisfaction surveys. For direct marketing purposes, to understand how you use and interact with our recruitment Services, our website and previous communications we have sent you, and to then send you information on our Services, white papers, newsletters, events and so forth which we believe will be relevant to your expressed or inferred interests, or which would generally be relevant to someone in your position. Please note you may opt out from receipt of marketing materials at any time by writing to us. We will only use your information in accordance with this Policy, where required or authorised by law to disclose your information to others or, have your permission to do so. Please be aware we are not responsible for the data processing activities of others, such as our clients. Client - We will use client data to perform our Services to you and other legitimate business purposes such as marketing. Source and Referee - We will use source and referee data to perform our Services to enable us to obtain your opinions on a candidate. We may also use this information to enable us to market our Services to you as a potential client. We may as well invite you to become a candidate in respect of the provision of our Services. The type of personal data we collect and process - In all cases, we collect and process personal data about you, including your name, address, telephone number and email address. Candidate - If you proceed with a job application, or should we consult you about a role, you may be required to submit additional personal data. For example, education and career history and curriculum vitae (CV), or resume. Your CV or resume may contain employment history, education, professional qualifications, memberships, details of papers written, references and referees, amongst other things. Based on your explicit consent, we will also process any relevant psychometric assessments, psychological tests, or results from such assessments or tests. We may occasionally ask you to provide information relating to protected characteristics, such as your race or marital status. We do this for equal opportunity monitoring purposes and from time to time online, but only if that is admissible under local law. This information is always anonymised and aggregated and will not be revealed to third parties without your specific consent. We might also collect personal data from third-party databases and other public sources. Client - As well as basic contact information we will also collect information about your role and other information provided to us by your organisation. Source and Referee - As well as basic contact information we will also collect information regarding your credentials as a source, details of your relationship/knowledge of a candidate and your opinions of that individual. We may obtain this information directly from you or publicly available information. What we do We may run job adverts you may respond to, either electronically or via mail. Other roles may involve one of our researchers or consultants calling you to discuss the details. Then, we will either inform you verbally that we will process your personal data or send you a Data Privacy Notice. Both will direct you to this Privacy Policy. Besides filling particular leadership vacancies, we also process personal data mapping and strategic research exercises to help clients understand the available talent within certain sectors or functions. Newsletters and other communications If you would like to receive one of our newsletters, we will ask you to provide us with your name, email address, job title, company name and country of residence. When receiving a newsletter(s) from us, we may send email alerts and bulletins about our Services and any roles that might interest you. You can unsubscribe from our electronic marketing messages by following the “unsubscribe” instructions included in our communications. Also, you may change your preferences and cease receiving direct marketing from us through your email account settings. From time to time, we may contact you with updates on our Services, terms of business or simply to ensure that the data we hold is current, relevant, and up to date. Satisfaction surveys If you take part in a user satisfaction survey, we may ask you to provide us with personal data, including your name, email address, and your views and opinions. Providing information to others To help us run this website, and to provide our Services in certain countries, we collaborate closely with trusted partners with whom we need to share personal data. We will share information only as anticipated within this Privacy Policy and, wherever appropriate, limit disclosure to information in aggregated form, to avoid or limit identifying you personally. Where we share information with such a third party, you will not be contacted by them, unless we have obtained your prior consent. Third parties We may also provide information to third party service providers who process information on our behalf. This is to help run our internal business operations, including email distribution, marketing, IT Services, and customer Services. As part of our agreements with them, these third parties are required to process such data securely and only in accordance with our instructions. Your information may be shared with organisations located elsewhere in the world. As their privacy laws may not match your home country’s standards, we will only make a transfer if we have first implemented any safeguards, most commonly the ‘standard contractual clauses,’ as required by applicable law. You have a right to request a copy of any safeguards we use to transfer your personal data to third countries. We may need to disclose information about you to law enforcement bodies, agencies or third parties, under a legal requirement or court order. We will act responsibly and take account, where possible, of your interests when responding to these requests. If you are concerned about these arrangements to disclose or share personal data with third parties, you should contact us and ask us not to process your personal data. Sensitive data We will seek your consent to process personal data in respect of certain specific and limited purposes such as racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, data concerning health or sex life and sexual orientation, genetic and/or biometric data. We encourage you not to provide us with sensitive personal data unless it is specifically requested, and we have your consent. Information about others If you provide us with information about other individuals, such as the details of a referee or personal contact, you must ensure they have agreed to this. We would advise you to keep a record of their agreement and provide them with a copy of, or link to, this Privacy Policy. Data Security We invest significant resources to protect your personal data, from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, modification, or disclosure. However, no system can be 100% secure, and so we cannot be held responsible for unauthorised or unintended access that is beyond our reasonable control. International transfers Our Services are global, your personal data may be stored and processed in any country where we have operations, our staff are located. We will take all steps necessary to ensure that your personal data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy. This means that your personal data will only be transferred to a country that provides an adequate level of protection (for example, where the European Commission or the UK Data Protection Authority, (“ICO”) has determined that a country provides an adequate level of protection) or where the recipient is bound by standard contractual clauses according to conditions provided by the European Commission or ICO. Our Site and Services are accessible via the internet and may potentially be accessed by anyone around the world. Other users may access the Site or Services from outside the EEA, Switzerland, or the UK. This means that where you chose to post your personal data on our Site or within the Services, it could be accessed from anywhere around the world and therefore a transfer of your personal data outside of the EEA, Switzerland or the UK may be deemed to have occurred. If you are concerned about these arrangements, you should not use the website and contact us to ask us not to process your personal data. Keeping Your Information We keep your personal data for as long as required to provide our Services, and in accordance with legal, tax and accounting requirements. Where your personal data is no longer required, we will ensure it is disposed of in a secure manner. Where required by law, we will notify you when this has happened. Your right to object and to have your data erased You are not obliged to provide any personal data to us and may withdraw consent previously given. You have the right to ask us to stop processing any personal data and to have it erased if we no longer have a lawful reason to continue processing your data. You also have the right to object to any processing of your data that we conduct on a ‘legitimate interest’ basis, or to processing conducted for direct marketing purposes. In these circumstances, we reserve the right to maintain basic personal data such as your name and address. This is to ensure your personal data is not processed by us in the future. Access rights In some jurisdictions, you may have the right to request copies of your personal data held by us. If you think any of that data is inaccurate, you may also ask us to correct it. You may also have a right, in certain circumstances, to require us to stop processing your personal data. Also, you have the right to ask us to transfer your personal data to someone you nominate for your own purposes. To contact us about any of this, please email us using the contact information below. Please note that we may request proof of identity. We will respond to your requests within the period that applies in the country concerned. In certain circumstances, in countries where it is required or permitted by law, we may not be able to provide you access to your personal data. Wherever possible, we will notify you of the reasons for this. Updating your account and preferences - If you register an account with us, please keep your details up to date, and notify us of any changes to your personal data. You can do this by updating your user preferences through your account login, or by contacting us using the details below. Cookies Cookies are small, often encrypted text files, located in browser directories. We use cookies to help users navigate our websites efficiently and perform certain functions. Information from cookies also allows us to make improvements to our Services. We only collect "session" cookies, these are usually not stored after your browsing session has ended. We notify website users that our website uses cookies when first arriving at our website. This is through a one-time pop-up notification that allows you to agree to the use of cookies and provides details on how to delete and control cookies. If you choose to block or delete cookies, this may affect the functionality of this website. More information about cookies, including how to block them on all sites or delete them, can be found at https://allaboutcookies.org/ . Analytics - We use analytics tools to help deliver our online services, identify any service issues, improve our online services, provide content tailored to users' personal preferences, and monitor site traffic/usage. These tools may be provided by third-party service providers and may include the collection and tracking of certain data and information regarding the characteristics and activities of visitors to our website. We may disclose data, including personal data, to certain third-party Services providers to obtain such Services. One of these providers is Google Analytics. More information about how Google Analytics collects and processes personal data can be found at www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners . To opt out of all Google Analytics tracking visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout . Third party websites This Policy only applies to this website. If you land on our site from other websites or move to other ones from our website, you should read their respective privacy policies. Terms & Conditions This Privacy Policy explains the ways in which we collect and process personal information, for the terms and conditions which apply to your use of this website, please refer to our Terms & Conditions. Contact information If you have questions concerning this website or its policies, or to exercise your rights with respect to your personal information, please contact us at data@stirlinghunter.com . How to complain If you have any concerns about our use of your personal data or have a complaint, please use the contact information above. If you remain unhappy with how we have used your data after raising a complaint with us, you can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Helpline number: 0303 123 1113 Website: https://www.ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint. Last updated 02 March 2025 We keep this Privacy Policy under regular review and update it from time to time. Please review this policy periodically for any changes.

Contact Stirling Hunter for executive search, HR consulting, or succession planning. Discuss your leadership and talent needs with our expert consultants. Get in Touch Complete this form to request information or a meeting with one of executive search or HR client partners, ask our opinion, submit your CV for general consideration, learn about working for us, ask a question or tell us about a glitch on our website. * First Name * Last name Job Title * Company * Phone Number * Email Address LinkedIn Profile URL * Nature of Enquiry Please choose your area of interest * Your message and any additional comments * By submitting your email address and any other personal information to this website, you consent to such information being collected, held, used and disclosed in accordance with our Privacy Notice and our website Terms and Conditions. Yes, subscribe me to your newsletter. Submit Office Address The Top Floor Kings Road Bury St Edmunds Suffolk IP33 3DE United Kingdom +44 (0)1223 482007 Monday - Friday: 8:30am - 6pm

Terms and Conditions - Stirling Hunter executive and project recruitment, succession planning, background screening, HR, leadership and strategy consulting. Terms & Conditions These Terms and Conditions of website use tell you the terms of use on which you may access the Stirling Hunter website. The owner of this website is Stirling Hunter Limited, an independent professional services firm providing executive search, specialist recruitment, leadership, organisational strategy, and human resource consulting. We are a registered company in the United Kingdom with a registration number of 12086860, our registered office at Greenwood House Greenwood Court, Bury St Edmunds IP32 7GY. Definitions In these Terms and Conditions and in the Privacy Policy, Stirling Hunter and its affiliated entities are referred to as "SHL" or "we" or "us". Please read these Terms and Conditions of use ("Terms") carefully before using our website. By using our website and submitting any personal information, you accept these Terms and the SHL Privacy Policy and agree to abide by them. If you do not agree with these Terms, you must not use our website. Your obligations In using our website, you must: Use our website for lawful purposes such as when seeking information on SHL consulting services, help with your career or when recruiting staff; Not infringe the rights of, or restrict or inhibit the use of our website by, any third party; Not engage in any conduct which is unlawful, or which may harass or cause distress or inconvenience to any person; Not upload, post, transmit or distribute any material or information (i) where you do not own or have the right to use the intellectual property rights in that material or (ii) which is unlawful, or which is potentially harmful, threatening, abusive, libellous, defamatory, pornographic or otherwise obscene, racially or ethnically or otherwise objectionable, or damaging to the reputation of SHL; Not interfere with, damage, or disrupt any part of our website, any equipment, systems or network used to operate our website; Not transmit any data or send or upload any material that contains viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time-bombs, keystroke loggers, spyware, adware or any other harmful programmes or similar computer code designed to adversely affect the operation of any computer or hardware; Use current virus checking software; and Not reproduce, duplicate, copy or re-sell any part of our website. Viewing and applying for jobs This website may allow you to view job listings and to apply for those jobs on the SHL website and through a secure portal. All jobs are listed on behalf of third-party clients of SHL who have instructed us to manage a recruitment project on their behalf. We do not make any representation or warranty on the accuracy of any information contained in a job listing, or the suitability of any applicant for a listed job. If you apply for a job listed, your application will be managed in accordance with a process which we will have agreed with the relevant client. Whilst we will use reasonable endeavours to remove expired job listings from the website, we can give no guarantee that any job listed on this website remains open at any given time. Please refer to our Privacy Policy for a description of the personal data we may collect from job applicants, and how that information is used and managed. 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< Back The Impact of Agentic AI on UK HR Workforce David T. LinkedIn Facebook X (Twitter) Pinterest WhatsApp Copy link 7 May 2025 What is Agentic AI in HR? Previous Next

< Back The Care Home Staffing Crisis: A System on the Brink DT LinkedIn Facebook X (Twitter) Pinterest WhatsApp Copy link 7 Oct 2025 The HR Gap Nobody Talks About Sarah has worked in care homes for seven years. She loves her residents, knows their favourite songs, how they take their tea, the stories they repeat about their youth. But last month, she handed in her notice. Not because she stopped caring, but because she couldn’t afford to keep caring. "I was earning £12.50 an hour to do one of the hardest jobs I've ever done," she explains . "When the supermarket down the road advertised for shelf stackers at £13.85, I had to think about my own bills. My own family." Sarah's story isn't unique. It's the story playing out in care homes across the United Kingdom right now. In facilities caring for elderly adults and in residential children's homes alike and it is getting worse. The Reality on the Ground Walk into most UK care homes today and you will find exhausted staff covering multiple roles, agency workers who don't know the residents' names, and managers desperately scrolling through phone contacts trying to fill tomorrow's shift rota. The staff turnover rate in adult social care hovers around 28-30% annually meaning nearly one in three workers leaves each year. In some homes, it is far higher. Children's residential care faces similar if not worse challenges, with some homes experiencing near-complete staff turnovers within a year. The mathematics are brutal. Care workers in adult care earn between £11.50 and £13.50 per hour typically. In children's homes, residential support workers might earn £12 to £15 per hour, despite needing to manage complex trauma, behavioural challenges, and safeguarding responsibilities that would test experienced professionals. For this, they lift residents, change continence pads, manage challenging and sometimes violent behaviours from people with dementia or from traumatized young people, comfort the dying or the distressed, and absorb verbal and physical aggression. They work twelve-hour shifts, often without proper breaks. They go home with aching backs and emotional exhaustion that seeps into their evenings and weekends. Then they see job advertisements for warehouse work, retail positions, or hospitality roles offering similar or better pay, supermarkets now advertising roles at £13.50 to £14.50 per hour, with regular hours and significantly less emotional burden. The choice can become obvious. Two Systems, Same Problems While adult care homes answer to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and children's homes to Ofsted, both regulatory frameworks share a troubling blind spot: they inspect care quality but do not adequately address the employment crisis driving quality down. Children's residential care faces unique pressures. Young people placed in these homes often have experienced severe trauma, abuse, or family breakdown. They need consistency, attachment, and therapeutic relationships with staff who understand trauma-informed care. Instead, they get a revolving door of workers, many inadequately trained, some leaving within weeks of starting. Jamie, who worked in a children's home for three years, describes the impossible situation: "You'd build trust with a young person over months, become one of their safe adults, then watch two other staff members leave. The kids would act out because they'd been abandoned again which is exactly what their trauma history had primed them for. Then more staff would leave because the behaviours got worse. I was earning £13.20 an hour to be assaulted, to be told I was useless, to file incident reports at midnight, and to carry the guilt of knowing these kids deserved so much better." The Ofsted inspection framework focuses heavily on safeguarding, outcomes, and care planning, all crucial, but doesn’t penalize homes for haemorrhaging staff or failing to invest in workforce development. A home can have excellent policies on paper while staff are breaking under impossible pressure. The HR Gap Nobody Talks About Here's what many people don't realize: most care homes, whether for adults or children, don't have real HR departments. The home manager, already working 60-hour weeks dealing with residents or young people, families, inspections, and crises, is expected to also handle recruitment, retention, training, staff welfare, and employment issues. It is like asking a brain surgeon to also run an entire hospital's administration and HR process while operating on patients. But it's worse than that. These managers are doing the granular, time-consuming administrative work that proper HR departments exist to handle. They're chasing references from previous employers who take weeks to respond. They're submitting DBS checks and following up when applications get stuck in the system. They're maintaining spreadsheets tracking who's completed which mandatory training, whose DBS is due for renewal, who needs a supervision session. They're often using paper-based systems or clunky software that doesn't talk to other systems, meaning information gets duplicated, lost, or overlooked. When did this staff member last have an appraisal? The manager can’t tell you without digging through files. When did they last have a proper one-to-one supervision session to discuss their wellbeing and development? Probably months ago, if ever. There's simply no time. The manager knows they should be having monthly supervisions, conducting annual appraisals and pay reviews, checking in on staff mental health, recognizing good work, addressing performance issues early, all the basic HR practices that maintain motivation and retention. But when you're simultaneously trying to cover a night shift gap, deal with a safeguarding incident, and chase a DBS check that's holding up a start date, those "soft" HR matters get endlessly postponed. In children's homes particularly, this creates dangerous situations. A residential home might have eight young people with complex needs requiring a staff ratio of at least 1:2 or even 1:1. Lose three staff members and the manager is suddenly working direct care shifts themselves while trying to recruit replacements, complete paperwork, and manage a home that's barely functioning. Recruitment becomes a desperate scramble rather than a strategic process. Job adverts go up on Friday because Monday's rota has holes in it. Interviews are rushed. References are chased frantically, with managers phoning previous employers multiple times, sending emails that go unanswered, eventually settling for whatever they can get. DBS checks are submitted urgently then the manager spends hours on hold to the DBS helpline trying to expedite them. The person who can start immediately, even if their references are patchy or their interview was mediocre, gets the job over the person who might be better suited but needs two weeks' notice and has a DBS check that will take three weeks to process. Induction and training? Often minimal beyond the legal requirements. A new care worker might shadow a colleague for a few shifts, complete some online modules about fire safety and manual handling, then find themselves alone on a night shift with thirty elderly residents, half of whom have complex dementia. A new residential support worker might get a week's training before being left in charge of teenagers who've set fires, self-harmed, or been involved in serious violence. Career development? In most homes, there isn't any. You're a care assistant or residential support worker when you start and you're still in that role five years later unless you become a senior (for perhaps £1 to £2 more per hour) or leave the sector entirely. The Vicious Cycle High turnover creates its own momentum. When experienced staff leave, the remaining workers carry heavier loads. They train newcomers while doing their own jobs. Quality of care suffers. Staff become more stressed and burnt out. More people leave. The cycle intensifies. In adult care, residents notice. They lose the familiar faces who understood that Joan needed her cardigan buttoned a particular way, or that Mr. Patel became agitated in the evenings and responded better to certain staff members. Continuity of care, one of the most crucial factors in dementia care especially, becomes impossible. In children's homes, the damage is even more profound. Young people whose core trauma often involves abandonment, and broken attachments experience repeated losses as staff leave. Their behaviour deteriorates, they stop trusting new workers, their emotional development stalls. The very people meant to provide therapeutic stability instead reinforce the message that adults can't be relied upon. Families notice. Elderly residents' relatives arrive to find agency workers who don't know their mother's dietary requirements. Parents of children in care receive incident reports describing violent episodes that coincide with yet another staff departure. Trust erodes. Complaints increase. Staff morale drops further. The False Economy of Low Wages There's a bitter irony at the heart of the care sector's approach to staffing: the strategy of keeping wages low to save money is costing providers far more than paying decent salaries would. Consider the true cost of staff turnover. Every time someone leaves, the home must advertise the position, process applications, conduct interviews, chase references, pay for DBS checks, provide induction and training, and absorb the productivity loss while the new worker gets up to speed. Industry estimates suggest replacing a care worker costs between £3,000 and £6,000 when you factor in all these elements, including the manager's time and temporary agency cover for shifts that can't be filled. A typical 50-bed care home with 30% annual turnover might employ 60 staff. That's 18 staff leaving each year, costing £54,000 to £108,000 just in recruitment and replacement costs. Add to that the increased use of agency staff to plug gaps, often costing 40-60% more per hour than permanent staff and the financial haemorrhaging becomes clear. Now imagine the same home instead invested £30,000 annually in raising wages by £1 per hour across the board. Staff retention would improve significantly, reducing turnover to perhaps 15-20%. Recruitment costs would halve. Agency usage would plummet. The quality of care would improve, reducing complaints and regulatory issues. Staff would stay long enough to become genuinely skilled and efficient. The mathematics are straightforward: retention is commercially cheaper than replacement. Yet the sector remains trapped in short-term thinking, viewing wages as the primary cost to minimize rather than recognizing that chronic turnover creates a devastating cascade of hidden expenses. Care homes are spending thousands to repeatedly hire new staff at low wages when they could spend less overall by paying existing staff enough to stay. The Money Problem At the heart of everything sits a funding crisis that makes all other problems harder to solve. Adult care homes operate on razor-thin margins, heavily reliant on local authority fee rates that haven't kept pace with inflation, minimum wage increases, or rising operational costs. A typical care home might receive £600-900 per week per resident from the local authority, while the actual cost of providing quality care is closer to £1,000-1,200. The gap gets filled by self-funding residents paying premium rates, but as more people exhaust their savings, this cross-subsidy model is collapsing. Children's residential care is even more expensive, local authorities pay £3,000-5,000 per week per placement, sometimes much more. Yet even at these eye-watering rates, staff wages remain stubbornly low and turnover catastrophically high. Where does the money go? Complex regulatory compliance, insurance costs, management overheads, and in many cases, profits for private equity-backed providers who've acquired much of the sector. With limited budgets or squeezed margins, operators face impossible choices. Pay staff more, or keep enough staff to be safe? Invest in training, or replace broken equipment? Hire an HR professional, or keep the heating on? Many operators have chosen a low-wage, high-turnover model not because they're heartless, but because the numbers don't work any other way. But this approach is reaching its breaking point. You can't run a care home for elderly people or traumatized children when you can't get staff to show up. The Challenges Ahead The immediate future looks grim. The UK's elderly population is growing rapidly. By 2040, there will be around 10.4 million people over 75, up from 6.2 million in 2020. Demand for care is surging just as the workforce is shrinking. Children's social care is simultaneously in crisis. The number of children in care has risen steadily, reaching over 84,000 in England alone. Many need residential placements, but homes are closing because they can't recruit. Local authorities describe searching desperately for placements, sometimes sending children hundreds of miles from home because nothing's available locally. When placements break down due to inadequate staffing, children move repeatedly, compounding their trauma. Brexit has significantly reduced the flow of EU workers who previously filled many care positions. The health and care visa scheme has helped adult social care somewhat, but it doesn't extend to children's residential care workers. The sector needs an estimated 480,000 additional care workers by 2035 across adult and children's services. Meanwhile, younger generations increasingly view care work as exploitative and unsustainable. Why would a 22-year-old choose a career path offering near-minimum wages, no progression, and probable burnout when other options exist Supermarkets, hospitality chains, and logistics companies are competing for the same workforce with better pay, more predictable hours, and less emotional trauma. Technology is often mentioned as a solution, robots, sensors, AI, but these are years away from widespread implementation and will never replace the human elements of care: the conversation, the gentle touch, the emotional support, the therapeutic relationship building that traumatized children desperately need. What Happens Next? Without significant intervention, the trajectory is clear. More homes will close because they can't recruit staff. Waiting lists for care placements will lengthen. More elderly people will languish inappropriately in hospital beds or struggle unsafely at home. Family caregivers, predominantly women, will be forced to leave employment to care for relatives, with cascading economic and social consequences. For children in care, the outcomes are bleaker still. Without stable placements, young people end up in unregulated accommodation, temporary hotels, or worse. Some are exploited by criminal gangs. Their educational outcomes collapse and their life chances narrow too almost nothing. We're failing the most vulnerable children in our society at the exact moment they need us most. Some areas are already experiencing this. Rural regions particularly are seeing care deserts emerge where services simply aren't available at any price. Children are being placed increasingly far from their home areas, some in different Countries, because local provision has collapsed. The situation demands systemic reform. Care workers whether supporting elderly people or vulnerable children need professional pay structures reflecting the skill, responsibility, and emotional labour involved. This means wages starting at £15-16 per hour minimum, rising with experience and specialization. It means proper funding from central government, not just shuffling limited resources around. It means building genuine HR infrastructure across the sector recruitment specialists, training programs, career pathways, wellbeing support for staff. It means recognizing that social care isn't a luxury or a niche concern, but essential infrastructure like education or healthcare. It means understanding that both Ofsted and the CQC need to inspect and enforce workforce standards, not just care quality outcomes. It means accepting that a society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable members, both the elderly at the end of their lives and traumatized children at the start of theirs, and right now, we're failing that test catastrophically. A Personal Cost Back to Sarah. She took the supermarket job and feels guilty about it every day . "I dream about my residents sometimes," she says. "Wonder if they're okay, if they miss me. But I couldn't keep sacrificing my own life. Nobody should have to make that choice." Jamie, from the children's home, echoes this: "I still think about those kids. Wonder if they're safe, if they remember me, if they think I abandoned them too. But I was having panic attacks before shifts. I couldn't sleep. My own mental health was collapsing. I had to leave to survive." They're both right. Nobody should have to make those choices. But until we fundamentally reimagine how we value, fund, and support care work in this country, thousands more Sarah's and Jamie's will walk away. And the people who need care, elderly adults who gave their working lives to building this country, and children who deserve a chance at a decent future will be the ones who truly pay the price. The care home staffing crisis isn't a future problem we need to prepare for. It's happening right now, in homes across the UK, in the tired eyes of overworked staff, in the confused faces of elderly residents who can't understand why their favourite carer didn't come in today, and in the angry, scared eyes of children who've learned once again that adults can't be trusted to stay. The question is not whether we can afford to fix it. It is whether we can afford not to? Previous Next

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