Disciplinary advice and support for employers
Disciplinary advice for employers, and help with every stage of the procedure, from the first allegation to the appeal.
When something goes wrong at work, the pressure is to deal with it quickly and move on. Most disciplinary cases that reach a tribunal are not lost on the facts. They are lost on the procedure: an investigation that was too thin, a suspension nobody could justify, an invitation letter that left the employee no real chance to prepare, or a decision taken by someone who had already made up their mind.
Our disciplinary advice for employers starts with whether a formal procedure is the right response at all. We then run or support the investigation, prepare the paperwork and sit in the hearing with you. The decision stays yours. Our job is to make sure it is fair, consistent, properly evidenced and properly recorded, so it is one you can stand behind six months later. Talk to us before anything goes in writing, and in an emergency we can usually give advice the same day.
Rated five stars on Google Read our reviewsWhen employers come to us
- An allegation has just surfaced and you are not sure whether to suspend
- You need someone to investigate who has had no involvement so far
- A manager started a process and it has drifted or gone too far
- The employee has gone off sick, or raised a grievance, part way through
- A gross misconduct allegation and a possible dismissal
- Nobody senior enough, or uninvolved enough, to hear the appeal
- Conduct or performance issues nobody dealt with that now need addressing
- You have HR in house and want a second opinion before the decision
Whatever you are facing, our disciplinary advice for employers is built around your situation. We also work with in-house HR teams who need an independent person to chair a hearing, hear an appeal or carry out an independent investigation.
Why getting a disciplinary right matters
A disciplinary is the employer raising a concern about an employee's conduct or performance. A grievance is the other way round: an employee raising a concern with the employer.
The Acas Code of Practice covers both, and a tribunal takes the Code into account. Where an employer unreasonably fails to follow it, the tribunal can increase compensation by up to 25%. A tribunal looks at how a decision was reached as closely as at the decision itself, so a sound decision reached through a flawed disciplinary procedure can still be an unfair dismissal.
Under the Employment Rights Act 2025, the cost of getting it wrong is also rising.
Longer to bring a claim
For anything that happens from this date, employees have six months, not three, to bring most tribunal claims. Notes and evidence need keeping for longer.
Stronger duty on sexual harassment
Employers must take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, including by customers and contractors, so complaints about them need a route and a recorded response too.
Unfair dismissal after six months
Employees can claim unfair dismissal after six months' service rather than two years, with no cap on the compensatory award. The basic award stays capped, worked out on age, length of service and a week's pay of up to £751 from 6 April 2026.
A fair, well-documented disciplinary procedure is the best protection you have.
How our disciplinary consultants help
Our disciplinary advice and support covers as much or as little as you need. That might be one call before you act, managing a single case from start to finish, or being the HR team behind every case you handle. You have an assigned HR consultant who gets to know your business and your people, and the wider team also works on your account when needed.
Advice before anything formal starts
The first conversation is often the most useful, and sometimes the answer is that a disciplinary is not the right route. A clear conversation, a reset of expectations, training, a reasonable adjustment or mediation can resolve many concerns better than a formal process. Where a formal route is right, we help you record why.
Investigations
We advise your investigating manager or carry out the investigation ourselves as an independent investigator. We agree terms of reference, judge what is proportionate, interview witnesses, handle requests for anonymity and write a report that presents the evidence without deciding the outcome.
Suspension
Suspension is the decision employers most often regret, because it is not a neutral act and is hard to walk back. We help you judge whether the risk justifies it, whether a temporary change of duties would do the same job, how to word the letter and how to keep it short. Our guide to suspending an employee goes further.
Disciplinary hearings
We prepare the invitation and the evidence bundle, brief the manager hearing the case, and attend to advise, to chair or to take notes. We make sure you handle the right to be accompanied properly, any reasonable adjustments are in place, and the employee has a genuine chance to respond.
The decision, and who makes it
A tribunal will test whether the manager reached their own decision or HR reached it for them. So we explain the options, the risks and the range of sanctions a reasonable employer could choose, and make sure someone writes the reasoning down. The manager decides, and we keep that line clear throughout.
Appeals and independent chairs
Smaller businesses often have nobody senior who was not already involved. Our consultants can hear the appeal as a neutral third party, which keeps the process credible and gives you a real chance to correct a mistake before it becomes a claim.
Note taking
We provide trained note takers for investigation meetings, hearings and appeals. Accurate notes taken at the time carry far more weight than anyone's memory, and claims can now be brought up to six months after the event.
When it needs to become something else
Some cases are better resolved another way. We advise on protected conversations, and where a settlement agreement is the better route, we draft it and negotiate the terms for you. The employee then takes independent legal advice from their own solicitor before signing.
The disciplinary procedure for employers, and where it goes wrong
Every case is different, and the right disciplinary procedure depends on the allegation, your own policy and the size of your business. This is the outline, with the points where employers most often come unstuck. The Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures is the standard a tribunal will measure it against. If something has just happened, a conversation is a better next step than a checklist.
Decide whether it needs to be formal
Ask whether the concern genuinely needs a formal process, or whether an informal conversation would resolve it. Serious allegations, and anything that could lead to dismissal, usually do need one.
Where it goes wrong: every concern becomes a disciplinary because the policy has a procedure in it, and the employee hears about a problem for the first time in a formal letter.
Investigate
Establish the facts before anyone forms a view. Set terms of reference, gather the documents, interview the people who actually saw or heard something, and put the allegation to the employee so they can answer it.
Where it goes wrong: the same manager investigates, hears and decides. Witness statements record conclusions rather than evidence, or the investigation keeps widening until it becomes a review of someone's whole employment.
Invite the employee to a hearing
Write to the employee with the allegation and the evidence, give reasonable notice, confirm the right to be accompanied and state the possible outcomes.
Where it goes wrong: the invitation is too vague to prepare for, the employee only sees the evidence on the day, or the letter does not say dismissal is possible when it is.
Hold the disciplinary hearing
Go through the evidence, listen to the response, consider any mitigation, and adjourn before deciding.
Where it goes wrong: the manager works through a script rather than listening, refuses to adjourn when new information appears, or arrives with the outcome letter already drafted.
Decide and confirm in writing
Choose an outcome a reasonable employer could choose on these facts: no further action, informal management guidance, a written warning, a final written warning or dismissal. Confirm it in writing with the reasons and the right of appeal.
Where it goes wrong: the outcome is out of line with how a similar case was handled before, or nobody records why the sanction was within the range of reasonable responses. The reasoning is what gets tested.
Hear the appeal
Offer an appeal, hear it promptly, and have it heard by someone more senior who was not involved in the original decision.
Where it goes wrong: nobody offers an appeal, the same manager hears it, or everyone treats it as a formality. An appeal is the cheapest chance to put a mistake right before it becomes a claim.
The judgement calls in a disciplinary
Anyone can follow a procedure from a template, but judgement takes experience, and judgement is where these cases are won and lost. These are the situations that most often bring employers to us for disciplinary advice part way through.
The employee goes off sick
It happens often, and it is not usually a reason to abandon the process. A reasonable employer gets medical advice and considers adjustments, written submissions, a companion attending on the employee's behalf, or a short wait. Our article on sick leave and grievances during a disciplinary covers both situations.
A grievance arrives part way through
There is no rule that the disciplinary must stop. Sometimes you hear the two together, sometimes the grievance comes first, and sometimes they run side by side. It turns on whether the grievance goes to the fairness of the disciplinary itself.
Consistency with last time
If a similar case two years ago ended in a final written warning, dismissing this time needs a reason that does not depend on who the individual is. Employers are often unaware of the precedent they set until it appears in evidence.
Gross misconduct
Gross misconduct means dismissal without notice may be available. It does not mean dismissal is automatic. You still need a fair process, and you still have to weigh mitigation, length of service and the employee's record.
Disability and reasonable adjustments
The duty to make reasonable adjustments applies to the process itself, not only to the job. That covers the venue, the format of documents, extra time, breaks and who can attend.
Long, heavily written responses
Employers increasingly receive lengthy, legalistic documents in reply to a straightforward allegation, often written with AI. The length should not set the pace. What matters is finding the real points and answering them properly.
The small business problem
When there are three managers and one of them is involved, you cannot separate the investigator, decision maker and appeal chair in house. That is a reason to bring someone in, not a reason to skip a stage.
What is changing
Acas has consulted on the first full rewrite of its Code of Practice since 2009. The draft is expected to make informal resolution a clearer expectation and to tighten the approach to suspension. It is not yet in force and Acas has not set a date. We follow these changes for our clients, so you do not have to.
Disciplinary advice for employers across London, the South East and beyond
We are based in Guildford, Surrey, and give disciplinary advice and support to employers across London, the South East and beyond. Your consultant can sit beside you in a difficult hearing, or join by video, wherever you are in the UK.
Why employers choose our disciplinary advice
Someone in the room
Your assigned HR consultant is CIPD-qualified, matched to your industry, and can be with you in the hearing, on site or by video.
Same-day help
When an allegation has just surfaced, we can usually give employers disciplinary advice the same day.
Independent roles
Investigators, hearing chairs, appeal chairs and trained note takers, when you have nobody who can credibly do it in house.
Legal input when needed
We give employment law advice and work with employment solicitors, from independent specialists to national firms, when a case needs legal input.
Whether it’s managing our full HR function or providing ad-hoc advice, their guidance is always clear, practical and effective. … They take the time to truly understand your business, and their solutions feel tailored rather than “off-the-shelf.”
Common questions
Do I have to follow a formal disciplinary procedure?
You need a disciplinary procedure, and you need to follow it. Tribunals take the Acas Code of Practice into account, and an unreasonable failure to follow it can increase an award by up to 25%. Not every concern has to start formally, but once you treat something as a disciplinary matter, the process has to be fair, consistent and documented.
Can I suspend an employee while I investigate?
Sometimes, but it should not be the default. Suspension can itself damage trust and confidence. Consider whether there is a genuine risk to the investigation, the business, colleagues or the employee, whether a temporary change of duties would deal with it, and how long it needs to last. Take advice before you suspend, because deciding not to is far easier than undoing it.
Can the same person investigate and hear the case?
It is better if they do not. Separating the investigator, the person who hears the case and the person who hears any appeal is one of the clearest signs of a fair process. In a small business that is not always possible in house, which is where an external consultant can take on one of the roles.
What if the employee goes off sick or raises a grievance?
Both are common, and neither automatically stops the process. With sickness, get medical advice and consider adjustments, written submissions or a short delay. With a grievance, the question is whether it goes to the fairness of the disciplinary itself, which decides whether to pause, combine or run them separately.
Does gross misconduct mean I can dismiss straight away?
No. It means dismissal without notice may be available if the allegation is proved. You still need a fair investigation, a proper hearing and a look at mitigation and service. You also need a reason why dismissal, rather than a lesser sanction, was within the range a reasonable employer could choose.
Do I have to offer an appeal, and who should hear it?
Yes. Offer one in writing, with a deadline. It should be heard by someone more senior who was not involved in the original decision. If nobody fits, one of our consultants can hear it as a neutral third party.
How long should a disciplinary take?
Long enough to be fair and no longer. A straightforward case usually takes a few weeks from investigation to outcome. Rushing and letting a case drift for months are both risks, and drift is the more common one. Agree a timetable at the start and tell the employee what it is.
Do you only work with businesses in Surrey?
No. We are based in Guildford, Surrey, and work with businesses across London, the South East and beyond. Support can be on site or remote, whichever suits the case and your business.
Can you help with a single disciplinary?
Yes. Many employers come to us for disciplinary advice on one investigation or one hearing, paying as they go or agreeing a fixed price for the case. Clients on an HR support plan use their plan hours. If you are new to Bespoke HR, you can start with a free 30-minute call. Book free HR advice.
Facing a disciplinary?
Talk to us before anything goes in writing. If you are new to Bespoke HR and need disciplinary advice, the first call is free, and we can usually help the same day.