Contents
This disciplinary procedure applies to all employees and is designed to help and encourage all to achieve and maintain standards of conduct. The aim of the procedure is to ensure consistent and fair treatment for all.
This procedure is not contractual, but is intended as a statement of current Group policy and its commitment to operate a fair procedure in relation to all its employees, taking into account the current Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures and associated guidance. The Group therefore reserves the right to amend this procedure as necessary to meet any changing requirements or where it is appropriate in any particular case.
This procedure deals with misconduct (including gross misconduct). Poor performance is covered by the performance improvement procedure detailed below. It is recognised that in some circumstances, (for example, involving negligence) an incident could amount to both misconduct and poor performance. The Group will, in its absolute discretion, determine which policy should apply in any given case.
Informal procedure
In general, minor cases of misconduct will initially be brought to your attention by informal advice, coaching and counselling rather than through the disciplinary procedure. Such advice, is not part of the formal disciplinary procedure.
Formal procedure – principles
When a disciplinary matter arises, the relevant manager will first establish the facts promptly before recollections fade and, where appropriate, obtain statements from any available witnesses. Having established the relevant facts, the manager will decide whether to drop the matter, to arrange informal coaching or counselling or to arrange for the matter to be dealt with under this disciplinary procedure. Where practicable, different people will carry out the investigation and disciplinary hearing.
Depending on the seriousness of the matter we may decide to start the procedure at any stage. If it is considered necessary to hold a disciplinary hearing you will be advised in writing of the nature of the complaint against you and you will be given the opportunity to state your case at a meeting with the relevant manager before any decision is made.
We will provide you with written notice of the date, time and place of the disciplinary hearing. You will be provided, where appropriate, with written copies of any evidence, which may include witness statements, in advance of a disciplinary hearing. You will be informed of your right to be accompanied to any disciplinary hearings by a fellow employee or a representative of your trade union (if applicable). You must make every effort to attend any hearing arranged under this procedure. If you fail to attend without good reason, this may be treated as misconduct in itself. If you fail to attend without good reason or are persistently unable to do so (for example for health reasons), we may have to take a decision based on the available evidence.
No employee will be dismissed for a first disciplinary offence/breach of discipline except in the case of gross misconduct when the penalty will normally be dismissal without notice and without payment in lieu of notice. Before imposing any disciplinary penalty, all relevant factors will be considered including the extent to which standards have been breached, the employee’s general record, position and length of service and any special circumstances which might make it appropriate to adjust the severity of the penalty.
Each step and action in this procedure will be taken without unreasonable delay. Discussions and details of any disciplinary proceedings will be kept confidential as far as reasonably possible.
Written records of any disciplinary proceedings will be kept and maintained in accordance with data protection legislation.
Right to be accompanied
You are entitled to be accompanied to a disciplinary hearing by a fellow employee or by a trade union representative if applicable to your circumstances. You must tell us who your chosen companion is in good time before the hearing. The chosen companion may address the disciplinary hearing and may confer with you during the hearing but is not permitted to answer questions on your behalf.
If your choice of companion is not available to attend at the time proposed for the disciplinary hearing in question, then you may propose an alternative time for the hearing to take place. The proposed alternative time must be reasonable and must be within five working days of the initial date of the hearing.
Employees chosen to accompany a fellow employee to a disciplinary hearing will be permitted to take reasonable paid time off during working hours to attend that hearing.
The Company’s usual policy is that recording of any meeting is not permitted unless there is a good reason for the employee doing so (e.g., their companion is unable physically to take notes; they have been unable, for a good reason, to find an appropriate companion to take notes for them).
Unauthorised recording of any such meeting is considered gross misconduct. If an employee records any such meeting without consent (covertly or otherwise) this could result in further disciplinary action.
Procedure
When the Group decides to invoke the formal disciplinary procedure, the following procedure will be adopted.
Stage 1: Oral warning
If your conduct does not meet acceptable standards, you will normally be given a formal oral warning. You will be advised of the reason for the warning and that it is the first stage of the disciplinary procedure. You will also be advised of your right of appeal.
Stage 2: Written warning
If you are found to have committed a further act of misconduct you will normally be given a written warning. This written warning will give details of the misconduct and, where appropriate, the standard of conduct expected of you. It will also warn that further disciplinary action in accordance with stage 3 of this procedure will be considered if there is any further misconduct and will advise you of your right of appeal.
Stage 3: Final written warning
If your conduct fails to improve, if you are found to have committed a further act of misconduct, or if the misconduct is sufficiently serious to warrant only one written warning, but not serious enough to justify dismissal, you will normally be given a final written warning.
This final written warning will give details of the misconduct and, where appropriate, the standard of conduct expected of you. It will also warn that further disciplinary action in accordance with stage 4 of this procedure will be considered if there is any further misconduct, and will advise you of your right of appeal.
Warnings
For stages 1 to 3: A copy of any warning will be kept on your personnel file but will be disregarded for disciplinary purposes after 12 months (or any longer period specified) provided that we are satisfied with your conduct.
Stage 4: Dismissal
If further misconduct of any kind occurs, or if you have committed an act of gross misconduct, you will normally be dismissed. As soon as is reasonably practicable, you will be provided with written reasons for your dismissal and informed in writing of the date on which your employment will terminate and of your right of appeal.
Gross misconduct
The following list provides examples of offences which will normally be regarded as acts of gross misconduct. This list is not intended to be exhaustive:
theft, deliberate falsification of records or claims against the Group or other acts of dishonesty;
If we believe that you may have committed an act of gross misconduct, you may be suspended from work on full pay, normally for no more than five working days, whilst the alleged offence is investigated. During the period of suspension, you may be refused access to any company premises or contact with fellow employees without our prior consent and subject to such conditions as we may impose. Such suspension will only be imposed after careful consideration and will be reviewed to ensure that it is not unnecessarily prolonged. You should note that suspension in these circumstances is not considered to be disciplinary action.
If on completion of the investigation, we are satisfied that you have been guilty of gross misconduct, the result will normally be summary dismissal without notice and without payment in lieu of notice. As soon as is reasonably practicable, you will be provided with written reasons for your dismissal and informed in writing of the date on which your employment terminated and of your right of appeal.
Appeals
All employees have the right to appeal against any disciplinary decision .Any appeal should be put in writing, stating the reason for the appeal, and submitted to the assigned senior manager within five working days of receipt of the warning or notice of termination of employment.
Where possible, we will arrange for the appeal to be heard by a more senior employee or HR who has had no previous involvement in the disciplinary process. We will make all reasonable efforts to hear the appeal within 14 working days of the appeal being lodged. If this is not possible we will tell you why and tell you when you can expect your appeal to be heard.
At the appeal hearing (which will, unless the employee agrees otherwise, take place face to face) any disciplinary penalty imposed will be reviewed, but it cannot be increased.
The decision of the person who hears your appeal is final: there is no further right of appeal.
Introduction
This performance improvement procedure applies to all employees who have completed their probationary period and is designed to help and encourage them to maintain job performance standards and to make improvements where necessary.
This procedure is not contractual and is intended as a statement of current policy. It sets out our commitment to ensuring that performance-related problems are dealt with fairly and consistently taking into account the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures and associated guidance. The Group reserves the right to review and amend this procedure as necessary to meet changing requirements or where it is appropriate in any particular case.
This procedure will be used in cases of poor performance. It covers situations where an employee fails to meet the necessary standards of performance required by the Group. This procedure does not apply to cases involving sickness absence, proposed redundancies or misconduct. It is recognised that in some circumstances (for example, involving negligence) an incident could amount to both misconduct and poor performance. We reserve the right to determine, in its absolute discretion, which policy should be applied in any particular circumstances. It will keep the nature of the complaint under review to ensure it is dealt with in the most appropriate way.
At all stages of the procedure, the impact of disability discrimination legislation and the requirement to make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees will be considered.
Informal procedure
Where performance issues arise, they will generally be dealt with informally between you and your Manager as part of day-to-day management and in the normal performance appraisal process. Where appropriate, a note of any such informal discussions may be placed on your personnel file but will be ignored for the purposes of any future poor performance hearings. The formal procedure should be used for more serious cases, or in any case where informal discussion has not resulted in a satisfactory improvement.
Informal discussions may be used to:
In many cases informal discussions will help to resolve performance-related difficulties and no further action may be necessary.
Investigation
If concerns arise about your performance, an appropriate manager will investigate whether there may be grounds for taking formal action under this procedure. The investigation will depend on the circumstances but may involve reviewing your personnel file including any appraisal records, gathering any relevant documents, monitoring your work and, if appropriate, interviewing you and/or other individuals confidentially regarding your work.
If, following an investigation, the manager considers that there are grounds for taking formal action, you will be required to attend a poor performance hearing. Depending on the seriousness of the matter, we may decide to start the procedure at any stage.
Formal performance procedure principles
You will be notified in writing of the nature of the concerns over your performance, the reasons for those concerns, and the likely outcome if the hearing concludes that your performance has been unsatisfactory. You will be provided, where appropriate, with copies of any relevant information or evidence (which may include statements from witnesses) which will be used at the poor performance hearing.
You will be provided with written notice of the date, time and place of the poor performance hearing. At every stage of the procedure, you will be advised in writing about the issues concerning your performance and will be given the opportunity to state your case at a meeting with an appropriate manager before any decision is made.
You will have the right to be accompanied by a fellow employee or certified representative of a trade union (if applicable to your circumstances) during all formal stages of this procedure.
Employees will not normally be dismissed for performance-related reasons without previous warnings. However, in serious cases of gross negligence, or in any case involving an employee who has not yet completed their probationary period, dismissal without previous warnings may be appropriate.
You must make every effort to attend any hearing arranged under this procedure. Failure to attend without good reason may be treated as misconduct. If you fail to attend without good reason, or are persistently unable to do so, we may have to take a decision based on the available evidence.
Each step and action in this procedure will be taken without unreasonable delay. Details of any proceedings under this procedure will be kept confidential as far as reasonably possible.
Written records of any performance proceedings will be kept and maintained in accordance with data protection legislation.
Your right to be accompanied is as described above in the relevant paragraph.
Aims of a poor performance hearing
The aims of a poor performance hearing will depend on the circumstances of each particular case but may include:
Stage 1 – first written warning
If a Stage 1 poor performance hearing concludes that your performance is unsatisfactory, you will give you a first written warning, setting out:
The warning will normally remain active for six months from the end of the review period unless specified, after which time it will be disregarded for the purposes of the formal poor performance procedure. After the active period, the warning will remain permanently on your personnel file but will be disregarded in deciding the outcome of future poor performance proceedings.
Your performance will be monitored during the review period and you will be informed of the outcome:
We may progress to the next stage during review period.
Stage 2 – final written warning
If your performance does not improve within the review period set out in a first written warning, if there is further evidence of poor performance during the review period or while your first written warning is still active, or if the poor performance is sufficiently serious, you will be invited to a Stage 2 poor performance hearing. You will be invited to a hearing and you will have the right to be accompanied in the manner set out above.
If a Stage 2 poor performance hearing concludes that your performance is unsatisfactory, you will be given a final written warning, setting out:
A final written warning will normally remain active for twelve months from the end of the review period. After the active period, the warning will remain permanently on your personnel file but will be disregarded in deciding the outcome of future poor performance proceedings.
Your performance will be monitored during the review period and you will be informed of the outcome:
We may progress to the next stage during any review period.
Stage 3 – dismissal
A Stage 3 poor performance hearing may be held if:
You will be invited to a hearing and you will have the right to be accompanied as set out above. If the hearing concludes that your performance is unsatisfactory, your employment maybe terminated. We may consider extending or issuing a final written warning and setting a further review period (in exceptional cases where it is considered that a substantial improvement is likely within the review period).
Dismissal will normally be with full notice or payment in lieu of notice, unless your performance has been so negligent as to amount to gross misconduct, in which case you may be dismissed without notice or any pay in lieu.
All employees have the right to appeal against any formal decision made under this procedure; this procedure is set out in the Appeal paragraph above.
December 2022