HR Support for Charities and Purpose-Led Organisations in Leeds
Senior HR leadership for charities, social enterprises and purpose-led organisations . Without the cost or commitment of a full-time hire.
HR Support for Charities and Purpose-Led Organisations in Leeds
Leeds has one of the largest and most established third sectors in the North of England. There are an estimated 3,500 voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations in the city, ranging from large housing associations and disability charities to grassroots community groups working in some of the most deprived wards in West Yorkshire.
Infrastructure bodies like Forum Central, Doing Good Leeds, Voluntary Action Leeds and Leeds Community Foundation provide coordination, voice and funding across the sector. The Leeds Third Sector Health Grants programme alone invested £2.3 million in over 50 community organisations working on health inequalities. Social prescribing, Local Care Partnerships and the Leeds Health and Care Academy have all deepened the relationship between statutory services and the third sector.
That infrastructure is a strength. But it also creates complexity. Charities in Leeds are increasingly drawn into integrated commissioning, multi-agency partnerships and devolution-era governance arrangements that demand more of their leadership teams and their people management than ever before.
The HR challenges we see in Leeds charities
The organisations we work with in Leeds tend to share a few common pressures.
Growing into commissioning and contract delivery without the employment infrastructure to support it. When a charity moves from grant-funded project work to delivering a commissioned service, the workforce implications are significant: TUPE, performance management, sickness absence, staff deployment across multiple sites. These things need proper HR frameworks, and many Leeds charities are trying to manage them informally.
Trustee boards asking harder questions about employment risk. Governance expectations have tightened across the sector. Boards want assurance that the charity is compliant, that grievances and disciplinaries are handled properly, and that employment decisions won't expose the organisation to reputational or financial risk. Most boards don't have HR expertise, and the CEO is left trying to provide that assurance alone.
Staff wellbeing and retention in high-demand roles. Leeds charities working in homelessness, mental health, domestic abuse and youth services are dealing with staff burnout, high emotional labour and turnover that's hard to address without a strategic approach to workforce wellbeing, pay and reward, and management capability.
Restructures driven by funding cycles. When a three-year grant ends or a commissioned service changes hands, Leeds charities face redundancy consultations, TUPE transfers and organisational redesign. These are high-stakes processes that need senior HR expertise to manage properly.
How we support Leeds organisations
King HR Advisory is based in Sheffield, 40 minutes from Leeds city centre. We work with a small number of charities and purpose-led organisations at any time, providing the kind of senior HR thinking that these situations demand.
Whether that's a fractional Head of People embedded in your leadership team, an ongoing advisory relationship for the steady stream of people questions, or a scoped project to deal with a specific challenge, the approach is always senior, consistent and built around your organisation's actual situation.
Three services. Each one built for where you are right now.
Fractional Head of People
Your organisation needs a Head of People but can't justify — or fund — a full-time hire. We embed as your senior people leader on a part-time, ongoing basis. Attending board meetings. Building your people strategy. Handling the complex ER cases. Giving your CEO back the headspace to focus on mission delivery. This is our lead service for charities that are growing, going through change, or simply past the point where the CEO can keep doing it all.
HR & People Advisory (retained)
Ongoing access to senior HR advice on a retained basis. Not a helpline — a named, dedicated advisor who knows your organisation, your people, and your context. For charities that need consistent, reliable HR support without the overhead of a fractional appointment. Covers employee relations, compliance, policy, manager coaching, and the steady stream of people questions that don't stop coming.
Strategic People Projects
Defined-scope projects with a clear beginning and end. Restructures. TUPE transfers. Handbook and policy builds. Employment law readiness, including the Employment Rights Act changes rolling out through 2026 and 2027. Pay and reward reviews. Investigations. The one-off pieces of work that need senior expertise and proper process.
We don't just work with charities.
We understand how they work.
Most HR consultancies list "charities" as one of fifteen sectors on a dropdown menu. We've chosen this sector deliberately because the people challenges here are different, and they deserve an advisor who genuinely understands them.
Governance matters more. Trustees carry legal responsibility for how a charity manages its people, but most boards don't have HR expertise around the table. We bridge that gap, providing the board-level assurance that employment decisions are sound, proportionate, and compliant. We've sat on charity boards ourselves.
Funding shapes everything. When income depends on grants, contracts, and donations, workforce planning can't follow a standard corporate model. Restructures happen when funding shifts, not when strategy says so. TUPE transfers are common when contracts move between providers. We've managed these situations and understand the pressure they create.
Safeguarding is non-negotiable. Charities working with children, young people, or vulnerable adults operate under additional employment obligations — DBS frameworks, safer recruitment, Charity Commission reporting. Getting this wrong doesn't just create legal risk, it puts people in harm's way.
Mission and management pull in different directions. Purpose-led organisations attract people who care deeply. That's a strength — until it means poor performance goes unaddressed because everyone's too kind to have the conversation, or a grievance escalates because the CEO doesn't want to seem heavy-handed. We help you manage people with both compassion and clarity.
The experience behind the advice.
Jason King — Chartered MCIPD, MSc in Human Resource Management, 15+ years of senior HR leadership across charities, financial services, care, manufacturing and regulated environments. Experience of being a Board trustee at two Yorkshire charities, the Children's Heart Surgery Fund and Age UK Sheffield.
That trustee experience isn't a CV line. It means we understand Charity Commission expectations, governance tensions, safeguarding obligations, and the reality of volunteer-led boards from the inside, not as observers.
Becky King — co-founder and operational lead, with a decade of leadership experience across not-for-profit and hospitality sectors.
We're based in Sheffield and work across the UK.
Why this sector. Why it's personal.
Our daughter Amelia was seriously ill as a young child. During that time, the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund provided support to our family that we didn't know we needed and couldn't have asked for. It changed how we understood what these organisations actually do, not in the abstract, but when it matters most.
That experience is part of why we chose to focus King HR Advisory on charities and purpose-led organisations. Not as a niche to fill, but because we've seen first-hand what happens when these organisations work well. We want to help them stay that way. The people behind the mission are where that starts. Your people strategy isn't separate from your impact. It's what makes it sustainable.
