The grievance procedure: how to handle an employee grievance

A grievance procedure is the formal process an employer follows when an employee raises a complaint about their treatment at work: bullying, discrimination, unfair treatment, or a breakdown in a working relationship. This guide describes UK practice, built on the Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures, the standard employment tribunals in England, Wales, and Scotland take into account.

Acas puts the number of formal grievances UK employers handle at roughly 374,760 a year, at an average management cost of £951 each, or £356 million across the economy. Resolving the same concerns informally costs a fraction of that, which is why the Code starts there.

What a grievance procedure has to do

The Acas Code sets the minimum standard, and it is not law in itself. The consequence sits in section 207A of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992: a tribunal can increase an award by up to 25% where an employer unreasonably failed to follow the Code, and reduce it by up to 25% where the employee unreasonably failed to follow it. That 25% is the practical reason most UK employers write their procedure to match the Code rather than improvise around it.

Step 1: try informal resolution first

Most employees raise and settle problems informally, in a direct conversation with a manager. Employees have no statutory right to bring a companion to that conversation, though many employers allow it as good practice.

Informal resolution does not suit every case. Acas names sexual harassment and whistleblowing as examples that should go straight to the formal route. Whistleblowing in particular sits outside the grievance process in important ways, since it concerns wrongdoing that affects others rather than how one employee has been treated: see our full guide to whistleblowing for where that line falls. If you are working out which route a specific issue calls for, our guide to formal vs informal grievances covers the distinction in depth.

Step 2: raising a formal grievance

When informal resolution has not worked, is not appropriate, or the employee does not want to try it, they raise a formal grievance in writing. The written grievance should describe the issue clearly enough for the employer to investigate it, and include any evidence the employee already holds, such as a contract or a payslip. What the issue actually is varies more than people expect: see our overview of the types of grievances in the workplace for the categories that come up most often.

Step 3: investigating the grievance

The employer investigates to establish the facts. How much investigation a case needs depends on its complexity: a straightforward dispute between two people needs less digging than a pattern of alleged harassment across a team. The employer should keep a written record of what happens at each stage, because that record is what demonstrates a fair process if the case goes further.

Where two or more employees raise related grievances, each one still gets an individual meeting where the other employees involved are not present, even if parts of the investigation are shared.

Step 4: the grievance meeting

The employer arranges a formal meeting without unreasonable delay, the standard the Acas Code sets at every stage. The employee has a statutory right under section 10 of the Employment Relations Act 1999 to be accompanied by a colleague, a certified workplace trade union representative, or an official employed by a trade union.

Our guide to the grievance meeting and appeal covers this stage in full: what the companion can and cannot do, what a defensible outcome letter contains, and how to run the appeal.

Step 5: deciding the outcome

After the meeting, the employer decides what action to take and puts the decision in writing, again without unreasonable delay. A good outcome explains the reasoning behind the decision rather than only the decision, sets out any action the employer plans to take, and tells the employee how to appeal.

Step 6: the appeal

The employee can appeal if they think the outcome is wrong, or that the process itself was unfair. Where possible, a manager who was not involved in the original decision hears the appeal. The employer reviews the case, carries out further investigation if it is needed, and gives a final written outcome as soon as it can.

Where mediation fits

Mediation is available at any point in this process, not only at the start. An independent, impartial mediator from inside or outside the organization works with both sides to find a resolution they both agree to. Both sides have to agree to mediation for it to go ahead, and an external mediator usually costs money, so it works best where the goal is to repair a working relationship rather than to establish who was right.

Running every grievance the same way

The steps above are the same for every grievance. Consistency is where most organizations struggle. One manager investigates thoroughly and documents every decision. Another handles the same type of case over email, with no written record. Both followed a grievance procedure on paper, and only one of them can prove it.

With SpeakUp Report, your HR team runs every grievance through one workflow: the same intake questions, the same stages, the same audit trail, whichever manager picks up the case and whichever office it came from. See how it works on the HR grievance software page. A consistent procedure is also one piece of a larger picture: our guide on building a speak-up culture covers what makes employees trust the process enough to use it in the first place.

Frequently asked questions

What are the steps in a grievance procedure?‍

Try informal resolution first where appropriate, then raise the grievance formally in writing, investigate, hold a grievance meeting, decide and communicate the outcome in writing, and offer the right to appeal. Mediation can be used at any stage.

Does an employer have to follow the Acas Code?

The Code is not law, and failing to follow it is not an offense in itself. But an employment tribunal takes it into account, and can increase an award by up to 25% where an employer unreasonably failed to follow it. In practice that makes it the working standard for UK employers.

How long should a grievance take to resolve?

The Acas Code sets no fixed number of days. It requires employers to act without unreasonable delay at each stage: arranging the meeting, delivering the outcome, and handling any appeal. What counts as reasonable depends on the complexity of the case and the size of the organization, and delay itself can count against an employer at tribunal.

Who should hear a grievance appeal?

Where possible, someone who was not involved in the original decision. A fresh decision-maker is part of what makes an appeal meaningful rather than a formality, and it is one of the first things a tribunal looks at when an employee argues the process was closed from the start.