Raising a Formal Grievance at Work

Thinking of Raising a Formal Grievance?

If you’ve already tried informal steps and still feel your concerns haven’t been taken seriously, you might want to consider raising a formal grievance.

First, check your workplace grievance policy. It should tell you:

1. Who to send your grievance to.
2. How long the process usually takes.

Knowing this in advance can help you feel more in control.

Writing Your Grievance Letter

You don’t need to write pages and pages. One to two sides of A4 are usually enough. Bullet points can help break things down clearly, both for you and the person reading it.

Here are some key points to include:

1. Your details (and theirs): Add your name and address, as well as your employer’s. Address it to the person named in your company’s policy (often a manager or someone in HR).
2. What the grievance is about: Be specific about what happened, and if your concern involves someone in particular, name them.
3. Why you’re raising it now. Briefly explain what’s led you to this point. Try to stick to facts, not assumptions.
4. How it’s affected you: This might be emotional, physical, or professional. Use clear language. You don’t have to go into every detail, just enough to explain the impact.
5. Any evidence you have. This could be emails, meeting notes, or screenshots. If you reference documents, say which part of your grievance they relate to. Don’t worry if you don’t have everything at this stage as you can add more later if needed.
6. What you’ve already tried: If you’ve raised this informally before, you can include this as a point. This shows you’ve taken reasonable steps already.
7. What outcome you’d like: Let them know what resolution you’re hoping for. This gives the organisation a clear direction to start from.
8. Sign and date it.

Citizens Advice has a helpful guide to get started with your letter on their website.

Finding the Right Tone

Be clear, respectful, and grounded. You don’t need formal language, aim for something measured and professional.

Rather than making sweeping statements about individuals, focus on their actions and the impact on you.

• Instead of: My manager doesn’t care.
• Try: “I haven’t experienced a duty of care which has left me feeling excluded.”

Avoid phrases like “no one”, “always” or “never” as they can be hard to evidence.

• Instead of: “No one ever listens to me in team meetings.”
• Try: “I feel my input isn’t acknowledged in team meetings.”

Before sending, it’s worth running a quick spell check or asking someone you trust to read over it for tone and clarity. Remember, as your industry charity, NABS can talk it over with you.

Getting Ready for the Hearing

If your grievance moves forward, you’ll usually be invited to a meeting, sometimes called a grievance hearing.

This is your chance to explain your concerns and say what a fair resolution would look like for you.

Where possible, this should take place within 5 working days – giving you time to find a ‘companion‘ if you’d like to bring one (more on this below) and to gather any further thoughts or evidence that support your case, such as emails or notes.

Acas and Citizens Advice provide useful detail about the grievance process and your rights.

Visit: Dealing with grievances at work – Acas [Opens in a new window]

Visit: Raising a formal grievance- Citizens Advice[Opens in a new window]

A fair grievance process:

Things you can expect your employer to do:

• Follow the company grievance policy and the ACAS Code of Practice on grievance procedures.
• Remain impartial and offer support throughout the process – including reasonable adjustments at the hearing, if you or anyone supporting you needs them.
• Use all information and evidence submitted by you and anyone involved in an investigation to inform their decision.
• Confidentially record the hearing notes, any evidence, the outcomes reached and measures implemented

The role of the companion

If your complaint relates to a legal or contractual duty (such as your employer’s duty to provide a safe working environment), you have a statutory right to be accompanied by a ‘companion’ at the grievance hearing – i.e. a colleague or trade union representative or official.

You’ll need to let your employer know who this is in advance, known as a ‘reasonable request’, so there is time to include them in the hearing and for the companion to prepare.

If you’re disabled, you may also request to bring someone for support, like a carer. If you want to bring anyone else, it’s worth checking your contract for any clauses on this, otherwise it will be down to company discretion.

In the hearing, your companion can (with your consent):

• Document what’s said.
• On your behalf, present your case and offer a perspective or clarification on anything raised in the discussion.
• Act as a sounding board to you.

They cannot answer questions for you or stop others from sharing their perspective.

The Hearing

An appointed person will be taking notes throughout the hearing. These should be sent to you after so you can confirm their accuracy.

The hearing is your chance to:

• Talk through your grievance and how you feel about what’s happened.
• Share your evidence and ask any questions you might have.
• Suggest witnesses who could support your case.

It’s also a chance for your employer to ask you questions, gather more detail, and understand how the issue might be resolved. They should listen, acknowledge how you feel and clarify the key points before the hearing ends.

After the hearing, they’ll take time to review everything and consider if more investigation is needed. If they gather new details, they’ll let you know if they need to meet with you again.

What Happens After the Hearing

Your employer will write to you (e.g. by letter or over email) once they’ve decided on an outcome. This should be done in good time and informed by:

• What came out of any investigations and the grievance hearing.
• How similar situations have been handled before.
• With all of this in mind, what feels fair in the current circumstances

What the Outcome Could Be

Every grievance is different. Depending on what’s been found, outcomes might include:

• Changes or actions being put in place because your grievance was upheld
• Mediation or guided conversations to help repair working relationships
• Adjustments to your role or working arrangements
• Training or support offered to individuals or teams
• A disciplinary process if someone else’s conduct is involved
• No further action if the grievance isn’t upheld

If the outcome is no further action, your employer should still meet with you to explain their decision and keep a confidential record of the process on file.

Your Right to Appeal

Not happy with the outcome? You have the right to appeal.

That means you can ask for the decision to be reviewed if you feel any issues have not been resolved or that the process wasn’t fair.

What You Can do Next

• Check your workplace grievance policy to see how appeals work and the timescales.
• Think about whether you’d like support. This can be from a colleague, union rep, or trusted advisor.
• If things still feel unresolved after the appeal and you’d like to explore your options, you can call the NABS Advice Line or get impartial advice from Acas or Citizens Advice.