New Acas Code Of Practice on Disciplinary And Grievances

The recently published Acas Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures (the Code), contained a few surprises, and will undoubtedly involve changes to most disciplinary and grievance policies. In this article, we provide an overview of the post April 09 regime, and action points arising from the new Code.

Background

The Code will replace the universally disliked Statutory Dispute Procedures (SDP's) which were criticised for being overly technical and prescriptive. In response to this, the first draft of the Code, published in May 2008 was rather vague and principle based. Following consultation, the Code has now been tightened up and the result appears to involve a compromise between flexibility and certainty. Whether this will lead to a reduction in cases brought purely to establish what an employer needs to do remains to be seen. For example, the introduction of the opportunity to call witnesses at disciplinary hearings will no doubt generate plenty