In Short
Choose a relocation company that can coordinate your employees’ moves, explain its commercial model and give HR clear oversight. Ask who owns each case, how housing, immigration and schooling are sequenced, and what happens when plans change. Prioritise relevant expertise, transparent costs and support that fits your global mobility programme.
What should a relocation company handle for your business?
A relocation company helps employees and their families move for work. Its responsibilities depend on the agreed scope, which may include home finding, temporary accommodation, school search, immigration coordination and settling-in support.
For a growing UK business hiring internationally, the first step is to define the problem you need the provider to solve. A new hire arriving alone has different requirements from an executive moving with children or a team deploying overseas.
Global mobility is the broader management of employees working across borders. Global mobility services can support relocation, policy and coordination, but no proposal should leave you guessing which employment, tax or immigration responsibilities are included.
Questions to ask about scope
- Which services do you deliver directly, and which involve external specialists?
- Can you support our UK, Ireland and outbound international moves?
- How do you adapt support for families, executives and project teams?
- Can you help us build a mobility policy rather than manage moves individually?
- Which responsibilities remain with HR, payroll, legal advisers and the employee?
Ask for a written service map. It should connect each deliverable to an owner, a dependency and a decision point. This makes proposals easier to compare and helps prevent gaps between suppliers.
How will you judge expertise and employee support?
Look for evidence of how the provider manages moves, not simply a long list of destinations. Relevant expertise means understanding your type of assignment, identifying practical risks and knowing when specialist advice is needed.
Ask providers to walk through an anonymised example or a hypothetical move similar to yours. Listen for the order of decisions: immigration feasibility, arrival planning, temporary housing, home search and schooling where relevant. These activities overlap, but they should not proceed independently.
Test the support model
A named contact is useful only if their responsibilities and cover arrangements are clear. Ask:
- Will the employee have a dedicated consultant?
- Who covers absence or an urgent issue?
- How are partners, children and pets included in planning?
- What happens if a property falls through or a start date changes?
- How are concerns escalated to HR without sharing unnecessary personal information?
Discuss expectations before the move starts. Employees should understand what their package covers, what choices they need to make and which costs require approval.
Ask about continuity after arrival too. The employee may still need help understanding an area, completing housing arrangements or supporting a partner’s transition. Define when the service ends and how unresolved issues are handed over.
Who owns immigration, employment and cross-border compliance?
A relocation provider should explain its compliance role precisely. Coordinating a move is not the same as providing regulated immigration advice, determining tax treatment or taking responsibility for employment law obligations.
Before appointing anyone, establish who assesses requirements, who gives specialist advice and who authorises travel or work. Ask how the provider checks that advisers have the appropriate authorisation for the relevant jurisdiction.
For current UK immigration requirements, consult GOV.UK. For moves involving Ireland, check the relevant Irish government guidance. Requirements can change, so avoid relying on an old proposal or a previous employee’s experience.
Where does an employer of record fit?
An employer of record is a third-party organisation that formally employs a worker on another business’s behalf, subject to local law. It addresses an employment arrangement, not the whole relocation journey.
If you use one, ask how the relocation company will coordinate with it on documentation, start dates and responsibilities. Do not assume the arrangement resolves immigration, tax, social security or posting obligations.
What about an A1 certificate and posted workers?
An A1 certificate confirms which country’s social security legislation applies in certain cross-border working situations. Whether it is relevant depends on the countries, the worker’s circumstances and the applicable rules.
Posted workers are employees temporarily sent by their employer to work in another country in circumstances covered by applicable posting rules. Host-country notifications and employment conditions may need consideration.
Ask who will assess these issues and manage any necessary applications or notifications. For UK and Irish requirements, check current GOV.UK or Irish government guidance respectively, alongside destination-country rules and specialist advice.
What visibility and control will HR have?
HR needs enough information to make decisions without becoming the daily coordinator. Agree the reporting model before the first case begins, including milestone updates, approval requests and escalation routes.
A relocation tracking platform can support visibility, but assess the workflow behind it. A dashboard is less useful if information is incomplete or nobody owns the next action.
Ask to see a sample case workflow
Check whether the provider can show:
- The current stage and next action for each move.
- Dependencies that could affect the employee’s arrival or start date.
- Decisions waiting for HR or employee approval.
- Agreed costs, proposed changes and supporting information.
- A clear route for reporting delays and resolving issues.
Relocation also involves sensitive personal documents and family information. Ask about secure document sharing, access controls, retention, international data transfers and the responsibilities of any subcontractors. Involve your data protection lead when reviewing arrangements.
Agree what success means internally. Useful measures might include milestone completion, budget adherence, employee feedback and the number of unresolved issues. Establish your own baseline rather than accepting unsupported promises of savings or productivity gains.
How should you compare fees, independence and proposals?
Compare proposals against the same brief. A lower headline price may exclude activities that another provider includes, leaving HR or the employee to fill the gaps.
Request a breakdown separating professional fees, third-party charges and optional services. Ask what triggers an additional charge, how changes are approved and what happens if a move is postponed or cancelled.
Commercial independence also matters. Ask whether the provider receives commissions, referral fees or other payments from landlords, schools or vendors, and how any commercial relationships affect recommendations.
Use a consistent selection process
- Define your move types. Identify destinations, employee needs and likely complexity.
- Set minimum requirements. Include service scope, compliance coordination, reporting and data protection.
- Issue one brief. Give shortlisted providers the same scenario and ask them to state assumptions and exclusions.
- Test a disruption. Ask each provider to explain its response to a delayed visa or unavailable property.
- Check delivery arrangements. Review the proposed team, cover model, escalation process and relevant references where available.
- Document the agreement. Confirm responsibilities, approvals, charges and review points before opening cases.
Choose the partner whose approach fits your operating model. The aim is dependable coordination and clear accountability, not the longest service list.
How does Cornerstone help HR build a global mobility programme?
Cornerstone is an independent relocation and global mobility partner founded in 2011. Based in London, it serves the UK, Ireland and international markets, acting as an extension of the HR team.
Cornerstone takes no commissions, kickbacks or referral fees from landlords, schools or vendors. It coordinates housing, visas and schooling together so they do not fall out of sequence. Assignees receive a dedicated consultant, while HR stays informed at key milestones. A relocation tracking platform supports oversight.
Services include global mobility policy consultancy, VIP and executive relocation, group moves, project deployments and outbound hub deployments. Practical support includes home finding, temporary housing, school search, visa and immigration support, spousal support, area familiarisation and pet relocation.
For a growing People team, this brings programme design and individual move coordination into the same conversation, with scope agreed around your business and employee needs.
Frequently asked questions
When should HR involve a relocation company?
Involve a provider before committing to arrival dates or housing arrangements. Early planning helps identify immigration dependencies, family requirements and budget decisions before they become urgent.
Is a relocation company the same as an employer of record?
No. A relocation company coordinates moving and settling-in services. An employer of record formally employs workers on another business’s behalf, subject to local law. The services may complement each other, but they serve different purposes.
Can one provider manage housing, visas and schools?
Yes, a provider can coordinate these workstreams within an agreed scope. Confirm who delivers each service, which specialists are involved and how decisions are sequenced. Coordination does not remove the need for appropriate professional advice.
Does every international move need an A1 certificate?
No. Relevance depends on the working arrangement, countries and applicable social security rules. Ask a qualified adviser to assess the case and check current GOV.UK, Irish government or other relevant official guidance.
What should HR prepare before requesting a proposal?
Prepare the destinations, move types, intended dates, family needs, existing policy and internal approval process. Explain where your team needs help and ask providers to identify missing information, assumptions and exclusions.
Ready to choose a relocation partner? Speak to Cornerstone about your upcoming moves and global mobility programme. Discuss the support your employees need, the oversight HR requires and a clear scope for working together.