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Policies, contracts, letters, guidance and HR support tools for UK employers.
View full libraryPolicies, contracts, letters, guidance and HR support tools for UK employers.
View full libraryThe Handbook Policies and Templates Library gives employers a practical collection of workplace policies to establish clear expectations, support consistent people management and keep key HR processes documented. It covers the core policies businesses need across the employee lifecycle, from absence and conduct through to equality, flexible working, health and safety, family leave, pay, recruitment, data protection and termination.
Includes 16 HR policy toolkits with practical support, plus 132 documents:
Use this library to:
If you're dealing with several HR issues, buying individual templates can quickly add up. Get access to the complete HRDocBox library instead, with practical, ready-to-use HR resources covering recruitment, contracts, performance, absence, employee relations, policies, disciplinary procedures, redundancy and more.
Manage employee absence and attendance with a complete, practical set of HR templates covering reporting, recording, review, support and management — helping you establish a clear, consistent and supportive approach.
Manage workplace conduct with a complete, practical set of HR templates covering expected standards, employee responsibilities, concerns, investigations and disciplinary action — helping you establish a clear, consistent and fair approach.
Manage employment contracts with a complete, practical set of HR templates covering terms, drafting, review, issue and updates — helping you establish clear, consistent and appropriately documented employment arrangements.
Manage equal opportunities with a complete, practical set of HR templates covering standards, application, support, concerns and review — helping you establish a fair, inclusive and consistent approach across the employee lifecycle.
Manage ethical workplace standards with a complete, practical set of HR templates covering expectations, communication, concerns, investigation and response — helping you establish a clear, consistent and responsible approach.
Manage employee expenses with a complete, practical set of HR templates covering expense rules, claims, approvals, reimbursement and record keeping — helping you establish a clear, consistent and transparent process.
Manage flexible working with a complete, practical set of HR templates covering requests, consideration, discussion, decisions and review — helping you establish a clear, consistent and fair approach.
Manage workplace health and safety with a complete, practical set of HR templates covering responsibilities, risk assessment, implementation, training and review — helping you establish a clear, consistent and effective approach.
Manage parental leave with a complete, practical set of HR templates covering notification, eligibility, planning, leave and return to work — helping you establish a clear, consistent and supportive approach.
Manage pay and benefits with a complete, practical set of HR templates covering review, decisions, communication, implementation and ongoing administration — helping you establish a clear, consistent and transparent approach.
Manage recruitment and selection with a complete, practical set of HR templates covering vacancies, advertising, shortlisting, interviews and appointment — helping you follow a clear, consistent and fair recruitment process.
Manage information security with a complete, practical set of HR templates covering information handling, access, employee responsibilities, monitoring and leavers — helping you establish a clear, consistent and secure approach.
Manage workplace sustainability and environmental responsibilities with a complete, practical set of HR templates covering planning, implementation, employee involvement, measurement and review — helping you establish a clear, consistent and responsible approach.
Manage employment termination with a complete, practical set of HR templates covering reasons, process, decisions, notice and closure — helping you establish a clear, consistent and appropriately managed approach to ending employment.
Manage employee training and development with a complete, practical set of HR templates covering training needs, planning, delivery, application and evaluation — helping you establish a clear, consistent and effective approach.
Support workplace wellbeing with a complete, practical set of HR templates covering wellbeing needs, assessment, support, communication and review — helping you establish a clear, consistent and supportive approach.
The Handbook Policies and Templates Library is a collection of customisable workplace policies designed to help employers establish clear expectations and consistent approaches to managing employees. The current library contains 131 policy templates covering a broad range of employment and workplace issues. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}
The policies can be used individually or brought together to create a more comprehensive employee handbook. This allows an organisation to select the policies relevant to its size, workforce, working arrangements and business activities rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all handbook.
A well-structured handbook gives employees and managers a clear reference point for workplace expectations, procedures and employment arrangements. The library provides policies covering everyday matters such as annual leave and sickness alongside more complex areas such as disciplinary procedures, flexible working, equality, data protection, TUPE and redundancy.
The policies are designed to provide a practical starting point that can be adapted to reflect the organisation's own approach, benefits, working arrangements and internal procedures.
The library is suitable for HR professionals, business owners and managers who need to create, refresh or expand an employee handbook. It can be particularly useful for SMEs that want a structured set of policies without having to research and draft every policy individually.
It can also be useful for established HR teams carrying out a handbook review, identifying gaps in their current policies or updating documentation following changes to employment law or workplace practices.
Policies should be selected according to the organisation's actual requirements and adapted before being issued to employees. Not every employer needs every policy, and some policies may need additional procedures, forms or guidance to operate effectively.
The handbook should also be kept under review. HRDocBox provides updates to the library during the 12-month access period, helping employers identify when relevant resources need to be reviewed. :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}
A good employee handbook should reflect how your organisation actually operates, remain aligned with current employment requirements and be easy for employees and managers to use. Whether you are creating a handbook from scratch or reviewing an existing one, the following process provides a practical way to work through it.
| Step | What to do | Responsibility | Suggested timing |
| 1 | Audit your current handbook. Gather your existing handbook, individual policies, procedures, contracts, written statements and other employee documentation. Identify what is missing, duplicated, outdated or no longer reflects how the organisation operates. | HR / Management | Week 1 |
| 2 | Identify the policies you need. Create a policy checklist covering the areas relevant to your organisation, such as conduct, disciplinary and grievance procedures, absence, holiday, family leave, flexible working, equality, health and safety, data protection and wellbeing. | HR | Week 1 |
| 3 | Check legal and contractual requirements. Review each policy against current employment law and guidance. Check whether any handbook provisions form part of the employment contract or interact with contractual terms and written statements. | HR / Management | Week 1–2 |
| 4 | Customise the policies. Adapt each policy so that it reflects your actual working practices, benefits, reporting arrangements, approval processes, management structure and employee support. Remove anything that does not apply to your organisation. | HR / Management | Week 2–3 |
| 5 | Check the handbook as a whole. Read the policies together rather than individually. Look for conflicting rules, duplicated information, inconsistent terminology, incorrect contacts, different approval processes and links to policies that no longer exist. | HR | Week 3 |
| 6 | Consider employee consultation. Where appropriate, consult employees, employee representatives or recognised trade unions before introducing or changing policies. Pay particular attention to changes that may affect contractual terms. | Management / HR | Week 3–4 |
| 7 | Brief managers. Make sure managers understand the policies they will be expected to apply. Explain their responsibilities, when HR should be involved and where managers should seek advice before taking formal action. | HR / Senior Management | Week 4 |
| 8 | Communicate the handbook to employees. Explain what the handbook is, why it has been introduced or updated, where employees can access it and who they should contact with questions. Give employees reasonable opportunity to read and understand the changes. | HR / Management | Week 4 |
| 9 | Confirm any contractual changes. Where a policy update changes an employee's contractual terms, follow the appropriate process for agreeing and documenting the change. Update written employment particulars where required. | HR / Management | Before changes take effect |
| 10 | Launch and maintain the handbook. Make the final handbook easily accessible and establish a review process. Record the version and review date, monitor how policies work in practice and update them when legislation, guidance, working practices or organisational needs change. | HR | Launch, then at least annually / when required |
Important: An employee handbook should not simply be treated as a collection of documents. Policies should reflect the organisation's actual practices and should be consistent with employment contracts, written statements and other workplace procedures. Where a policy change affects contractual terms, the employer should consider whether employee agreement and written confirmation are required.
A handbook can quickly become outdated, inconsistent or difficult for employees to use if policies are added without considering how they work together. Understand the common pitfalls and build a clearer, more practical and maintainable employee handbook.
An SME is reviewing its employee handbook after several changes to the way it manages flexible working, absence, family leave and employee wellbeing. The existing handbook contains a mixture of old policies, documents created by different managers and several areas where there is no written policy.
HR uses the policy library to identify the areas that need to be created or refreshed. Relevant policies are selected and then customised to reflect the organisation's actual benefits, working arrangements, reporting processes and management responsibilities.
HR reviews the policies together rather than individually, checking that related areas such as flexible working, absence, family leave, performance, conduct and data protection are consistent. Managers are then briefed on the changes before the updated handbook is issued to employees.
The result is a more coherent employee handbook that gives employees a clearer understanding of workplace expectations while giving managers a consistent framework for handling common HR situations. HR also has a structured set of policies that can be reviewed and updated as the organisation develops.
No. There is no general legal requirement to have a single employee handbook, although certain written policies, procedures and employment information are required by law depending on the circumstances. A handbook can provide a practical way of bringing relevant policies together.
The requirements depend on the employer and subject. For example, employers with five or more employees generally need a written health and safety policy, while written employment particulars and appropriate disciplinary and grievance arrangements are also subject to legal requirements. The ACAS Code is particularly important when handling disciplinary and grievance matters.
There is no single statutory review period for every policy. Good practice is to review policies regularly and whenever employment law, ACAS guidance or the organisation's working practices change.
Yes. Policies should be adapted to reflect your organisation's actual working arrangements, benefits, procedures and culture before being issued to employees.
HRDocBox combines deep HR knowledge, practical application and years of experience with UK employment law, ACAS guidance and established HR best practice, giving you a structured starting point for building and maintaining workplace policies.
AI can produce plausible policy wording, but a useful workplace policy needs to fit the law, the organisation and the process managers will actually follow. HRDocBox brings together practical HR experience, employment-law knowledge and a connected library of policies designed for real workplace use.
You can, but you should not automatically include every policy. A good handbook should reflect the policies that are relevant to your organisation, workforce and working arrangements rather than becoming unnecessarily long or contradictory.
How this content is developed and reviewed
The Handbook policies and templates library is developed using a practical HR methodology that considers current UK employment legislation, ACAS guidance, CIPD good practice and the real-world HR process it supports. Templates and supporting information are regularly reviewed and updated, with additional reviews triggered by significant changes to legislation, guidance or established HR practice, helping ensure each document remains practical, relevant and suitable for UK employers.
Darryl Horn, Chartered HR Director
Darryl is a Chartered HR professional with over 25 years' experience in senior HR and employee relations roles.
He has extensive practical experience of managing a breadth of HR processes and founded hrdocbox to provide businesses with practical, professionally developed HR resources grounded in UK employment law and best practice.
HRDocBox has been creating practical UK HR documents since 2009.
"Darryl provides support and advice with excellent judgement, and has a strong understanding of people, policies and UK employment legislation."
"He is someone I trust; consistent, dependable, and committed to doing things properly."
Whether you employ 5 people or 50, hrdocbox gives you the structure, documents and expertise needed to manage employees professionally and legally.
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