POSH Partner, Trainer, Investigator or Advisor: What Does Your Organisation Actually Need?

Before hiring a PoSH provider, separate training, advice, inquiry support and external membership. This guide helps employers define deliverables without transferring statutory responsibilities.

PoSH Compliance • October 2, 2026 • 17 views • By Ungender Content Team

Black-and-white photograph of four people meeting around an office desk with a laptop and papers.

An organisation can buy a training programme when it needs help running an inquiry. It can appoint an external member and assume that policy maintenance, employee awareness and reporting support come with the appointment. The procurement question should therefore come before the provider search: what work needs doing, and who will remain responsible for it?

Use the distinctions below to write a scope of work, whether you are making a first appointment or reviewing an existing contract. The procurement suggestions are practitioner recommendations, not additional statutory requirements.

Start with the work, not the title

Treat “PoSH partner” as a description of an engagement, not a job specification. Ungender’s first-time PoSH partner hiring guide covers provider interviews and organisational fit.^[7] This article addresses the step before that interview: separating training, advice, inquiry support and committee membership into work you can commission and assess.

Write down the gap in an observable form. “Employees do not know where to report” calls for a different response from “our IC cannot explain how it assessed conflicting accounts.” “Our records are scattered” is different again.

Ask each proposed provider to identify its deliverable, the person doing the work, the information it needs and the decisions it will not make. A proposal that cannot answer those questions needs revision before you compare prices.

A trainer builds a defined capability

Section 19(c) of the PoSH Act distinguishes employee awareness programmes from orientation for Internal Committee members.^[5] Your training brief should preserve that distinction.

For employee awareness, ask for learning that helps people recognise inappropriate conduct, understand reporting routes and find the organisation’s policy. Specify audience, language, accessibility, shifts and how unanswered questions will be handled.

For IC preparation, commission practice in receiving complaints, identifying issues, questioning without prejudgment, evaluating material and explaining findings. Ask for a hypothetical exercise and feedback on members’ reasoning, rather than only a presentation and attendance certificate.

Define what completion means. A trainer might deliver sessions, learning materials and an assessment of remaining gaps. Do not assume the same fee includes attending a subsequent inquiry or reviewing its report. Put any follow-up support in writing.

An advisor helps answer a specified question

Use an advisory brief when the organisation needs help examining its policy, mapping responsibilities or identifying the procedure applicable to a particular situation.

Section 11 ties an inquiry involving an employee respondent to applicable service rules, with prescribed procedure where those rules do not exist.^[5] An advisor should therefore ask about the employment framework before supplying a standard process.

Specify who receives the advice. Advice to management about its obligations and procedural support to the IC have different purposes. In a live matter, ask how the provider will address prior involvement, competing instructions and access to confidential information.

A useful deliverable is a written recommendation stating its assumptions, unresolved questions and the decisions the recipient must take. “Available for advice” is too vague unless the contract also defines access, response times and exclusions.

An investigator cannot be purchased as a replacement IC

For a statutory PoSH inquiry, sections 11 and 13 assign the inquiry and findings to the Internal Committee or Local Committee, as applicable.^[5] Calling a consultant an “independent investigator” does not, by itself, make that person the statutory committee or transfer its responsibilities.^[5]

Before commissioning support, identify the competent forum. Section 6 provides for Local Committee jurisdiction where an IC is not constituted because an establishment has fewer than ten workers, or where the complaint is against the employer himself.^[5]

Where an IC is handling the matter, ask the provider to distinguish any proposed administrative, technical or procedural assistance from the committee’s assessment of evidence and findings. The permissible arrangement needs checking against the applicable procedure; a commercial scope cannot settle that legal question.

Reject a brief that starts with the conclusion management wants. Commission competent support for examining the complaint, not a report designed to validate a preferred outcome. Ungender’s article on the IC’s quasi-judicial role explains the distinction between committee findings and employer implementation.^[4]

An external member holds a committee appointment

The external member is not simply an on-call consultant. Section 4(2)(c) requires a member from an NGO or association committed to the cause of women, or a person familiar with issues relating to sexual harassment.^[5] This is committee membership, not sole authority over its conclusions.^[5]

Check the named person’s eligibility and availability. Clarify participation, fees, record access and how potential conflicts or an unexpected departure will be addressed. A provider’s brand should not substitute for knowing who has been appointed.

Do not assume the appointment includes organisation-wide training, policy revision or continuing advisory work. Ungender’s external member services are a relevant starting point for discussing an empanelment brief; obtain the specific inclusions and exclusions in the proposal.^[8]

A broader partner needs separate workstreams

Consider a combined engagement when you need several kinds of support over time. Keep the workstreams visible: employee learning, IC capability, policy advice, external membership and any separately authorised case support.

Hypothetical example: A company has an appointed IC but no practical inquiry training. It asks a vendor for an annual awareness session and “complete case handling.” A better brief separates employee awareness from IC preparation, identifies the appointed external member and defines what assistance may be requested if a complaint arrives. It also names the employer’s internal contact for arranging facilities and securing required information.

The change is more than contractual tidiness. Section 19 places support duties on the employer, including providing facilities and information for the committee.^[5] Hiring a provider should make those duties easier to fulfil, not leave everyone assuming someone else owns them.

Put these boundaries into the proposal

Before signing, ask for a short responsibility schedule covering:

Named people and capacity: who trains, who advises, who is appointed to the IC and who provides backup support without automatically replacing a member.
Deliverables and exclusions: what the fee covers, what triggers additional work and how additional costs are approved.
Case instructions: who may request support, how conflicts are checked and how the IC retains its own assessment.
Information access: which records each person needs, where they are stored and how access ends when the engagement ends.
Continuity: how appointments, pending work and authorised records will be handed over if personnel change.

Section 16 restricts disclosure of complaint and inquiry information to the public, press and media.^[5] The access and handover arrangements above are recommended operational safeguards, not a claim that the Act prescribes a particular software platform or retention period.

Compare proposals against the same responsibility schedule. A narrower engagement may be entirely suitable if it answers the actual need; a comprehensive label is no guarantee that necessary work is included.

The final test is practical: when a training question, policy issue or complaint arrives, can your team identify the responsible person, the agreed support and the decisions that remain with the employer or committee? If not, clarify the scope before buying it.

This article provides general information and practitioner recommendations. Check a particular appointment or inquiry against applicable law, service rules and facts.

Sources

Key takeaways

Define the work and deliverables before comparing provider titles or prices.
An external member is part of the IC; an outside investigator does not replace the statutory committee.
Document scope, conflicts, information access and continuity while retaining employer and committee responsibilities.