The PEEL Club

The PEEL Club has run successfully for over 25 years. It was initially hosted by the then Industrial Society (now the Work Foundation) at the Society’s London premises.

In 2002 Capita Learning & Development acquired the Society’s portfolio of programmes and took over the running of The PEEL Club. In 2003 Professor Patricia Leighton became The PEEL Club Leader.

The original aim of the Club was to bring together a group of senior HR (at the time referred to as 'Personnel') practitioners to consider the implications of the then burgeoning area of employment law.

The idea was always one of informality, networking and discussion. Reflecting on the period since The PEEL Club’s inception, it is incredible to think that at the beginning employment law was a relatively new topic, even though some areas such as equality law, unfair dismissal, redundancy payments and maternity rights were well established.

Over recent years The PEEL Club has evolved to provide a range of facilities and opportunities as well as a number of scheduled half-day sessions to update employment law knowledge and to enable employment planning at organisation development level. There has been an increasing emphasis on EU law recognising the importance of both EU employment law but also the key role of decisions of the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

Sessions include a 'Hot Topic' where an area of HR practice, such as recruitment, performance management, diversity, making changes to terms of work, including through acquisitions and mergers, pay and benefits and managing sickness absence is explored in more detail. In order for members to benchmark their knowledge of law, sessions include a quiz or problem solving exercise.

In addition, members enjoy an annual study visit to Brussels where an intensive and high level specially designed programme of meetings with policy and law makers is combined with a social programme.