Can I represent my relative?

[SuperJon]

Hi there,

Newbie here!

A relative is going through a financial settlement with their current employer after they absolutely messed up a consultation process. My relative is happy to leave and his employer has now drafted a financial settlement and has been offered some money to get some(but not much based on the amount!) independant advice.

I have a corporate background where I have literally employed hundreds if not thousands of people over the past 30 years and have managed pretty much every HR process you can imagine so my relative has come to me to ask if I could represent him! I can already see that there are gaps within the draft settlement agreement which needs to be resolved and it seems clear to me that the employers have received professional advice which has told them that if the case was referred to ACAS Concilliation or a Employment Tribunal, there is a high chance that the employee case would succeed.

Of course I have reservations about being 'independant'(because I am related) but is there any reason I couldn't represent him apart from that and could the employer challenge that if he put my name forward?

Thanks for all of your help.

[ULA]

If your relative is being asked to sign a settlement agreement (SA) this is a document which set out the terms of what the company is going to pay as “compensation” for your relative giving up any rights they have to make a subsequent claim against the employer.

Part of the process of signing a SA is that your relative as you have said will be required to take independent legal advice from an employment law specialist, notwithstanding the fact that you are a relative you would not qualify unless you were any of the following:

• Practising Barristers and Solicitors
• CILEx registered Legal Executives authorised to carry out litigation or advocacy
• Chartered Legal Executives who are not authorised to carry out litigation or advocacy, providing they are employed by an SRA regulated Solicitor Practice and is supervised when giving advice by a solicitor with a valid practising certificate.
• Registered European Lawyers (registered either with the SRA or the Bar Standards Board).

Most employment advisers have a standard payment for providing this advice which is between £250 and £500 which is generally the rate that the employer offers to pay. This is usually enough to cover the costs if the SA is straight forward and there is not much back and forth the negotiating terms.