A Grievance Is Not an Attack — It Is a Warning Light
Sooner or later, every small employer gets one: an email or letter from an employee saying something at work is wrong. It might be about pay, hours, a colleague’s behaviour, or the way a manager spoke to them. Your first instinct may be to feel attacked. Resist it. A grievance is useful information — it tells you about a problem while you can still fix it, instead of after the employee has resigned and filed a tribunal claim.
Handled well, most grievances end with the employee staying and the problem solved. Handled badly — ignored, delayed, or decided by the person complained about — they turn into resignations, constructive dismissal claims and tribunal awards. In a team of five, you cannot afford either the disruption or the cost. This guide walks through the process step by step, with realistic timescales, template wording you can copy, and the law changes arriving in 2026–27 that make getting this right more important than ever.
What Counts as a Grievance?
The Acas Code of Practice defines grievances as “concerns, problems or complaints that employees raise with their employers”. In practice, they fall into a few common types:
Pay and conditions: unpaid overtime, a missed pay rise, holiday refused without reason.
Treatment by a manager or colleague: bullying, harassment, or a breakdown in a working relationship.
Changes at work: a rota change, a new duty, or a refused flexible working request.
Discrimination: treatment linked to a protected characteristic such as age, disability, race, religion or sex.
The process itself: a complaint about how a disciplinary was handled, or about a decision already made.
An employee can raise a grievance at any time, whether they have worked for you for two weeks or twenty years — there is no qualifying period. And a grievance is not the same as a disciplinary: discipline is you acting against an employee; a grievance is the employee asking you to put something right. The two sometimes overlap, and the Acas Code explains how to handle that below.
Try Informal First — But Do Not Force It
Many concerns are settled with a quiet conversation. The Acas Code encourages informal resolution, and in a small team it is usually the fastest route: listen, acknowledge the concern, agree what will change, and note it down. A short note in a file — date, who was present, what was agreed — is enough.
But informal only works if the employee is willing. If they have put the complaint in writing, said they want it dealt with formally, or the issue is serious — bullying, harassment, discrimination — do not try to talk them out of the formal route. Pressing an employee to “keep it informal” when they have asked for a formal process is itself a common procedural error, and tribunals notice it.
The Formal Grievance Procedure, Step by Step
The Acas Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures (2015) sets the standard tribunals judge you against. It is not legally binding in itself, but an unreasonable failure to follow it can increase a tribunal award by up to 25% — and reduce it by the same amount if the employee unreasonably fails to follow it. The Code’s grievance section is short: paragraphs 32 to 46. Here is what each stage means in practice for a small employer.
Step 1: Get it in writing
Ask the employee to put the grievance in writing if they have not already done so. An email is enough — it does not need to be a formal letter. The Acas Code says the employee should raise it with a manager who is not the subject of the grievance, and without unreasonable delay. The written grievance should say what happened, when, who was involved, and what outcome the employee wants. If the grievance is about you, the owner, there is no manager above you — see the section below on that problem.
Step 2: Acknowledge it promptly
Reply in writing within a few days, even if the full process will take longer. Acknowledging a grievance does not mean agreeing with it or conceding anything. It simply says you have received it, you are taking it seriously, and you will be in touch about next steps. Silence is the most damaging response: the employee assumes you do not care, and the delay itself can become part of a later claim.
Template wording you can adapt:
> “Thank you for raising this. I confirm I have received your email of [date]. I will look into the matter and arrange a meeting to discuss it with you. I will write to you by [date] with the meeting details.”
Step 3: Investigate before you meet
Before the hearing, gather the facts: read the relevant emails, rotas or pay records, and speak to any witnesses. Keep it proportionate — a complaint about one missed shift needs an hour, not a week. Do not prejudge the outcome, and do not discuss the grievance with the wider team. If the grievance involves allegations against another employee, that person will usually need to know the allegation and have a chance to respond, but share only what is necessary.
Step 4: Invite the employee to a grievance hearing
Send a written invitation giving reasonable notice — in practice, at least 48 hours, and longer if the matter is complex or the employee needs time to prepare. The letter should state the date, time and place, what will be discussed, and that the employee has the right to be accompanied by a colleague or trade union representative. That right is statutory, under section 10 of the Employment Relations Act 1999, and applies to grievance hearings about a duty the employer owes the worker. If the chosen companion cannot make the date, you must rearrange the meeting if they propose a reasonable alternative time within five working days.
Step 5: Hold the hearing
Let the employee explain the grievance in their own words and say how they think it should be settled. Listen properly, take notes, and adjourn if new information emerges that you need to check. The companion may address the hearing and confer with the employee, but may not answer questions on their behalf. Stay calm and neutral, even if you disagree — the hearing is for gathering information, not for delivering a verdict on the spot.
Step 6: Decide, and put it in writing
Tell the employee your decision in writing, without unreasonable delay, including any action you will take and how they can appeal. You do not have to uphold the grievance in full: the decision can uphold it, partly uphold it, or not uphold it. What matters is that the decision addresses what was actually raised, explains the reasoning, and sets out the practical steps that follow. A decision that ignores half the complaint will not survive an appeal.
Step 7: Offer the right of appeal
The right of appeal is not optional — it is a core requirement of the Acas Code, and failing to offer it is one of the most common procedural errors employers make. The appeal should be heard impartially, wherever possible by a manager who was not involved in the original decision. The employee can be accompanied again, and the appeal outcome must be confirmed in writing.
How Long Should It Take?
The Acas Code says grievances should be dealt with promptly, but sets no fixed number of days. In practice, most straightforward grievances can be concluded within two to four weeks of receipt. Use the table below as a realistic guide for a small business.
| Stage | Realistic timescale | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Acknowledge the grievance | Within 2–3 working days | Short written reply, next steps and a date |
| Investigate | 3–7 working days | Documents checked, witnesses spoken to, notes kept |
| Hearing invitation | At least 48 hours’ notice | Date, time, place, right to be accompanied stated |
| Hearing | Within 1–2 weeks of receipt | Employee heard fully, notes taken, adjourned if needed |
| Written decision | Within 5 working days of the hearing | Reasoning, action, and appeal route all set out |
| Appeal | Within 2 weeks of the appeal being raised | Heard by someone not involved before, outcome in writing |
If a grievance is complex — multiple witnesses, or a discrimination allegation — it may take longer. That is acceptable, provided you keep the employee informed. Write to them explaining the delay and giving a new date. Unexplained silence is what turns a slow process into an unfair one.
When the Grievance Is About You, the Owner
This is the hardest scenario in a micro-business, and the one most guides skip. If you are the only manager, there is nobody impartial in-house to hear the grievance or the appeal. Three options work:
Bring in an external investigator. An independent HR consultant can investigate and chair the hearing. Expect to pay roughly £500–£1,500 for a straightforward case, depending on complexity — far less than a tribunal claim.
Use a trusted adviser for the appeal. Even if you hear the grievance yourself, an external person can hear the appeal, which makes the process visibly fair.
Consider mediation. Acas offers workplace mediation, and an independent mediator can resolve relationship breakdowns that a formal process cannot.
Do not simply dismiss a grievance because it is about you, and do not hear the appeal yourself after deciding the original grievance. Both are textbook procedural failures.
Special Cases You Must Recognise
Discrimination or harassment allegations. Treat these with extra care: keep the process confidential, consider whether the alleged harasser should be separated from the complainant while you investigate, and take advice early. Discrimination compensation under the Equality Act 2010 is uncapped.
Whistleblowing. If the grievance is really a disclosure about wrongdoing — for example, health and safety failures or financial misconduct — it may be a protected disclosure, and dismissing or penalising the employee for it is automatically unfair. From 6 April 2026, disclosures about sexual harassment also qualify for whistleblowing protection.
A grievance during a disciplinary. The Acas Code says you can pause the disciplinary to deal with the grievance, or deal with both together if they are related. Do not ignore a grievance raised mid-disciplinary — an employee who raises one is often signalling that the disciplinary itself is the problem. Our disciplinary procedure guide sets out the disciplinary steps in full.
A grievance followed by resignation. If an employee resigns because you failed to deal with their grievance properly, they may claim constructive dismissal. This is why the written decision and the appeal matter: they are your evidence that you took the complaint seriously.
What a Badly Handled Grievance Can Cost
The financial stakes have risen sharply. Since 1 October 2026, employees generally have six months rather than three to bring most tribunal claims, giving them more time to act. And from 1 January 2027, the cap on the compensatory award for unfair dismissal is removed entirely — the lower of £123,543 or 52 weeks’ gross pay no longer applies. Add up to 25% for an unreasonable failure to follow the Acas Code, and an uncapped discrimination award on top, and a grievance you ignored in November can become a five-figure claim in the new year. Our fair dismissal guide explains the 2027 changes in detail.
There is also the cost that never reaches a tribunal: the employee who stays but stops trying, the colleague who watches how you handled it, and the reputation damage when a small team talks. A fair process is cheaper than any of these.
Common Mistakes That Lead to Tribunal Claims
Ignoring it or delaying without explanation. A grievance left unanswered for weeks is the single most common failing.
Letting the person complained about decide it. The manager who is the subject of the grievance cannot investigate or decide it.
No paper trail. Verbal discussions never written down do not exist at a tribunal. Keep dated notes of every stage.
Skipping the appeal. No appeal, or an appeal heard by the same person who decided the grievance, is a classic procedural failing.
Punishing the employee for complaining. Any detriment — a worse rota, a lost opportunity — after a grievance is raised can itself be a claim.
Deciding before the hearing. If the outcome is written before the employee has been heard, the whole process is a sham.
Put a Grievance Procedure in Writing Before You Need One
The best time to write a grievance procedure is before anyone raises a grievance. Put it in the employment contract or the staff handbook, and make sure every employee knows where to find it. A one-page procedure is enough for a small business: who to raise it with, that it should be in writing, the stages, the right to be accompanied, and the right of appeal. When a grievance arrives, you follow your own procedure instead of improvising under pressure. If a flexible working requests guide is also in your handbook, the two policies should sit together — many grievances start as a refused request.
A Practical Checklist for the Next Grievance
Acknowledge it in writing within a few days, with a date for the next step.
Ask for it in writing, addressed to a manager who is not the subject of the complaint.
Investigate proportionately, keep dated notes, and share only what is necessary.
Invite the employee to a hearing with at least 48 hours’ notice and the right to be accompanied.
Listen fully, adjourn if new facts emerge, and decide only after the hearing.
Give the decision in writing, with reasons, actions and the appeal route.
Hear any appeal impartially, ideally through someone not involved before.
If the grievance is about you, bring in an external investigator or mediator.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does an employee need a minimum length of service to raise a grievance?
No. An employee can raise a formal grievance at any time, whatever their length of service. There is no qualifying period, unlike an ordinary unfair dismissal claim.
Can I refuse a grievance because it was raised verbally?
No — if the employee raises a concern verbally, ask them to put it in writing. If they refuse, treat the verbal complaint as the grievance anyway and record it yourself. Refusing to deal with a grievance because it was not in the right format is a procedural error.
What if the employee refuses to attend the hearing?
Write to them, explain why the hearing matters, and offer a new date. If they still refuse, you may proceed on the evidence you have — but record every attempt you made to involve them, and give them the written decision and the right of appeal.
Do I have to follow the Acas Code exactly?
The Code is not a statute, and tribunals apply it as a benchmark of reasonable behaviour. In a very small business, the tribunal will consider your size and resources. But the core steps — written grievance, hearing, written decision, appeal — are expected of every employer, whatever the size.
The Bottom Line
A grievance is a problem arriving early, while it can still be fixed. Acknowledge it fast, follow the Acas Code steps, keep a paper trail, and always offer an appeal. From January 2027, with the compensation cap gone and six months to bring a claim, the cost of getting this wrong is higher than it has ever been. The employers who lose at tribunal are rarely the ones with the worst facts — they are the ones with no process at all.
Related reading
Disciplinary procedure for small businesses
How to dismiss an employee fairly in the UK
