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Investigation services

Getting to the heart of a problem

Sometimes it is difficult to get to the heart of a problem – fractious working relationships; complaints about culture; allegations of bullying and harassment; a serious incident; a dispute; a mistake.

Sometimes you need an entirely independent, forensic and authoritative pair of eyes to be able to identify it, describe it and outline the consequences. Sometimes you just do not have the resources to investigate an issue yourselves.

Our specialists offer our Investigation Services – a network of highly skilled and experienced investigators chosen for their sector specific knowledge and their ability to deliver clear outcomes.

The teams we support

People and Employment

We regularly work with HR units within organisations to investigate:

Grievances
Disciplinaries
Allegations of a breakdown in working relationships
Allegations of bullying and harassment
Allegations of discrimination
Allegations that someone has suffered a detriment for raising whistleblowing concerns
Whistleblowing concerns

Commercial and contracts

We work with in house legal teams, looking at:

The value of a commercial contract
Potential contract breaches & the consequences
Governance, including review of procurement of services (including legal services) & internal legal teams
Risk management in relation to the termination of contracts
Due diligence on commercial contracts

Regulatory

Acting for regulators we often work on:

Fitness to practise / professional disciplinary investigations
Independent regulatory investigations following a serious incident
Audits or regulatory reviews relating to inspections
Investigations following a complaint

The other ways we can help

Our specialist investigators can provide practical and interactive training for your internal investigators on:

The importance of carrying out a good investigation
What a good investigation should look like
The skills for carrying out a good investigation
Handling tricky situations that can often crop up during an investigation

Our lawyers offer a support service to your internal investigators where they can:

Review and provide feedback on the draft investigation report to ensure that the report will stand up to scrutiny.
Act as buddy during the process, answering any questions about tricky issues or just to be a check and challenge when considering their findings.

The benefit of this support service is that any advice will be legally privileged and can’t be disclosed to any other interested party.

Why Ward Hadaway

Quality: All our investigators are highly trained in the forensic examination of evidence and know what a good investigation should look like. We all have litigation experience and know what an Employment Tribunal will be looking for when assessing the reasonableness of any investigation.
Expertise: Our team of investigators will be chosen based on their specialism and sector expertise.
Personable: Investigations can be a worrying and stressful time for those involved – our investigators understand this and have the skills to adapt to the situation.
Timely response: Because a specific investigation team will be appointed to your case, you can be assured that they will be dedicated to you, able to work flexibly and will meet your deadlines.
Cost certainty: Cost will be agreed with you at the outset so that there are no surprises.
Best use of resource: Having an external investigation team means that your managers and HR team are can focus on their “day” job.
Security and confidentiality: You can be assured that we have systems in place to ensure the highest levels of confidentiality and security.