5. Procedure
5.1 Informal resolution
5.1.1 Many issues can be resolved quickly and informally through a discussion between the Employee and their line manager, or any other individual concerned, in the course of everyday working relationships. Where the line manager is the subject of the issues raised, an Employee should discuss their concerns with a more senior manager, their local HR team or their HR Business Partnering Team.
5.1.2 Where the nature of the concern only involves the Employee themselves, they can raise the matter informally with their immediate line manager in the first instance. The line manager will discuss the Employee's concerns with them in confidence, make discreet investigations as appropriate, and attempt to address their concerns fairly and promptly.
5.1.3 Where the nature of the concern affects the Employee’s personal dealings or relationships with other employees, the Employee can choose either an informal direct approach, in which the individual addresses the issue themselves, or an informal approach with support, where the process is facilitated through the support of others.
5.2 Direct informal resolution process
5.2.1 If the Employee feels able to approach the other party directly, they should:
- do so at the earliest opportunity
- approach the other party in person or in writing
- provide specific examples of the unwanted behaviour
- explain why this has made them feel uncomfortable
- explain what their desired outcome is, or what possible solutions might be.
In many cases this may resolve the issue without the need for further action and it may be possible to agree a constructive way of working in the future.
5.2.2 Support is available to help the Employee prepare what they want to say, from the person responsible for HR in their area, their HR Business Partnering Team, Dignity at Work Contacts or their trade union representatives.
5.3 Informal resolution process with support
5.3.1 An Employee can also ask for support to achieve an informal resolution from their line manager, a more senior manager or the person responsible for HR in their area. The Dignity at Work Policy (2023 ed.) details further support options for issues involving bullying, harassment, discrimination, sexual misconduct and other inappropriate behaviour.
5.3.2 The person approached by the Employee under 5.3.1 may request to meet separately with both parties to discuss the situation. They will establish the circumstances, identify the impact on the Employee, any steps already taken to address the issue, and (if applicable) the response of the other party.
5.3.3 They will then seek to agree a course of action with the Employee. This could involve facilitating a meeting between both parties. The spirit of such a meeting should focus on understanding the reason why the issue has been raised and how it can be resolved, exploring how it might be avoided in the future.
5.4 Mediation and Facilitated Discussions
5.4.1 Mediation is a well-established, confidential process for resolving issues and improving working relationships between individuals. It is voluntary and can be used at any time, including during or after an informal or a formal process. The mediation process normally takes around a day, including a preliminary meeting with each party. Further information about this option is available from the University Mediation Service. The University Mediation Service is also able to offer a shorter facilitated discussion between the two parties involving an impartial facilitator. Provided both parties wish to participate, a request for mediation or a facilitated discussion can be made to the University Mediation Service.
5.5 Formal resolution
5.5.1 If it is not possible to resolve an issue informally, or if the matter is serious, the Employee should raise a formal grievance without unreasonable delay with their Head of Institution2. This should:
- be submitted in writing
- set out the nature of the grievance including any relevant facts, dates and names of individuals involved
- focus on particular events or actions
- avoid using insulting or abusive language
- refer to any attempts at informal resolution
- include any desired outcome.
5.5.2 The Head of Institution or a suitably experienced manager (as delegated by the Head of Institution) will be responsible for hearing the grievance and will be referred to throughout the procedure as “the Responsible Person”. The Responsible Person should have no conflict of interest with the grievance. A suitably experienced manager is one that has had no prior involvement in the case and has the appropriate experience to be able to evaluate the issues under investigation. The Responsible Person will be supported throughout the procedure by a member of the HR Business Partnering Team who will provide procedural advice.
5.5.3 Where a Head of Institution is the subject of the grievance, the Employee should direct their complaint to the Chair of the Faculty Board or Chair of the relevant Council of the School, whichever is appropriate, who will act as the Responsible Person. If the grievance concerns a Head of a General Board or Council institution, it should be directed to the Academic Secretary or the Registrary, whichever is appropriate, who will act as the Responsible Person.
5.6 Formal Grievance Meeting
5.6.1 The Responsible Person will invite the Employee to a formal grievance meeting. The grievance meeting should be held without unreasonable delay and the Employee should make every effort to attend. The Employee may be accompanied by a colleague or trade union representative at this meeting.
5.6.2 The purpose of the meeting is to allow the Employee to explain their grievance in more detail and how they suggest it could be resolved. The meeting should be conciliatory rather than adversarial in nature and remain focused on the resolution of the Employee’s grievance. The Employee must provide any evidence in support of their grievance within a reasonable timeframe. Failure to do so may result in a decision being made on the evidence available.
5.6.3 Following the formal grievance meeting, it will usually be necessary to conduct an investigation, which may be a brief fact-finding exercise or may involve the preparation of a formal report depending upon the nature of the matter raised. The Responsible Person may carry out the investigation themselves or appoint someone from within or outside the department, or someone external, to do so (the “Investigator”).
5.6.4 The Investigator will meet with the Employee again if necessary and any other individuals as they see appropriate (the “Interviewees”), including any individual against whom the complaint is made, referred to as “the Respondent”. The Respondent and any Interviewees will be entitled to submit any relevant documentary evidence to the person investigating within a reasonable timeframe.
5.6.5 The content of the Employee’s grievance should only be disclosed to the Respondent and other Interviewees, to the extent that is necessary for the Respondent to understand the allegations against them and to enable a reasonable and comprehensive investigation to take place. While parts of the written grievance may need to be shown to the Respondent or other Interviewees, it may be necessary to redact other parts, and the reasons for this will be explained if required (see 6.9).
5.6.6 The Investigator will be supported throughout the investigation by a member of the HR Business Partnering Team who will provide procedural advice.
5.6.7 Any investigation should be conducted without unreasonable delay. Where there are unavoidable delays, all parties should be kept informed of progress.
5.6.8 A note of any investigation meeting will normally be made by a separate notetaker, or the HR Representative attending the meeting. Interviewees should be aware that the meeting notes will form part of the Investigator’s findings and may be used in any subsequent formal procedures such as disciplinary procedures.
5.6.9 The Investigator will document their findings, detailing the facts established and attaching any relevant meeting notes and documentary evidence collected as part of their investigation. Where a separate investigator has been appointed, this should be submitted to the Responsible Person without unreasonable delay. The Responsible Person will carefully consider all the evidence.
5.7 Decision
5.7.1 The Responsible Person will re-convene the formal grievance meeting with the Employee to discuss the findings made. In most cases, such findings will be in the form of a formal investigation report, unless it has been possible to determine the outcome with a brief fact-finding exercise. Any such report or findings will usually be sent to the Employee, together with any relevant evidence, in advance of the meeting. In some circumstances it may be necessary to redact some documents and/or meeting notes (see 6.9).
5.7.2 The Responsible Person may also meet with the Respondent separately, if they (the Responsible Person) think it is necessary or appropriate. A copy of any relevant parts of the findings and/or relevant evidence will be provided to the Respondent in advance of any such meeting.
5.7.3 At or after the formal grievance meeting (or re-convened meeting as appropriate), the Responsible Person will decide on the outcome of the grievance and what action will be taken to resolve the issue(s) (where appropriate).
5.7.4 The Responsible Person will provide written confirmation of their decision to the Employee (and any Respondent) without unreasonable delay and wherever possible within 10 working days of the grievance meeting (or re-convened meeting as appropriate). The letter should set out clearly the outcome and any action that is to be taken to resolve the grievance. The Employee will also be informed that they can appeal if they are not satisfied with the outcome.
5.7.5 Where the grievance is upheld, the Responsible Person may, in consultation with the relevant HR Business Partnering Team, instigate appropriate measures such as:
- the requirement to attend training
- disciplinary procedures (the investigation report may be used in the disciplinary process)
- steps to resolve the issues (whether or not the grievance is upheld), for instance a referral to the University Mediation Service to restore working relationships with the agreement of both parties.
5.7.6 Actions taken to resolve a grievance may have an impact on other individuals, including the Respondent. The Respondent should be informed separately of any aspect of the decision that affects them and the reasons for it. While confidentiality is of key importance in handling any grievance, in some circumstances there may be other individuals who may need to know the outcome, or certain aspects of the outcome that will impact on them. For example, a change to operating procedures or reporting lines. The Employee should be informed of who else will be told about the decision and the type of information they will be given, but they will not be entitled to information about any disciplinary process that may be commenced against the Respondent or other individual as a result of the grievance; this will be confidential to the Respondent or other individual as relevant. Further information can be found at How we use your personal information.
5.7.7 If the grievance highlights any issues concerning policies, procedures or conduct (even if not sufficiently serious to merit separate disciplinary procedures) they should be addressed as soon as possible. Any action taken should be monitored and reviewed, as appropriate, so that it deals effectively with the issues.
5.7.8 If the Responsible Person considers that the grievance is malicious or vexatious, they may instigate a disciplinary process in relation to the Employee. This will not be appropriate where a grievance is mistaken or otherwise ill-founded but is not malicious or vexatious.
5.8 The Appeal Procedure
5.8.1 Should the Employee who raised the grievance wish to appeal the formal outcome of their grievance, they should appeal in writing within 10 working days, wherever possible, of the receipt of the outcome letter, to the Director of Human Resources. The Employee should set out the grounds of appeal and state whether the appeal is in respect of the whole or in respect of any specified part of any finding of fact or decision.
Assistant staff
5.8.2 Assistant staff have the choice between having their appeal heard by an Appeal Manager (as defined below) or by a USJB (University Staff Joint Board) Appeal Panel. The Employee should make their choice clear in their appeal letter.
USJB Appeal Panel
5.8.3 The USJB Appeal Panel consists of two management members and two trade union members, one of the management members will be the Chair. The management members will be members of the USJB. Panel members should not have any conflict of interest with the grievance. If the Employee is accompanied by a trade union representative, the union panel members will, wherever possible, not be from the same union. The membership of the panel is agreed by the Vice-Chancellor.
5.8.4 The Secretary to the USJB will appoint a Lead HR Business Partner to be the Secretary of the USJB Appeal Panel. The Secretary will provide procedural advice to the panel.
Unestablished academic and academic-related staff including contract research staff, and assistant staff who choose to have an Appeal Manager
5.8.5 The Director of Human Resources will, without unreasonable delay appoint someone to hear the appeal, who shall be a manager of equivalent or greater seniority than the Responsible Person, and who is impartial and has had no prior involvement in the case (the “Appeal Manager”). An HR representative will be appointed to provide procedural advice to the Appeal Manager.
All staff
5.8.6 During the appeal proceedings, the Employee will not be entitled, except with the agreement of the Appeal Manager or USJB Appeal Panel Chair, to rely on any grounds of appeal not specified in their written appeal.
5.8.7 Where the appeal directly affects a fellow employee, that person should be advised of it, the likely timescale for considering it and its eventual outcome. If new information is required from them in relation to the grounds of appeal in order to decide the outcome, they will be provided with the necessary information and an opportunity to respond on those points. As with the initial decision, the Employee should be told if anyone else will be informed about the appeal decision and the type of information they will be given.
5.8.8 An appeal hearing should be arranged without unreasonable delay.
5.8.9 An HR Representative may attend to take notes of the appeal hearing.
5.8.10 The Employee may make representations in person and/or in writing at the appeal hearing. Copies of the investigation summary, outcome letter and any supporting documentation should be supplied to all parties in good time ahead of the hearing. The Appeal Manager or USJB Appeal Panel will receive a full set of documents relied upon in the Responsible Person’s decision.
5.8.11 Unless the Employee has indicated they do not wish to make representations in person, they must make every effort to attend the hearing. If they fail to attend without good reason, or are persistently unable to do so, the Appeal Manager or USJB Appeal Panel may proceed on the evidence available in the Employee’s absence. The Employee may be accompanied by a colleague or trade union representative at this meeting.
5.8.12 Others involved in the investigation (e.g. the Responsible Person, the Investigator or the Interviewees), may be asked to attend the appeal hearing by the Appeal Manager or USJB Appeal Panel, if there are any questions that the Appeal Manager or USJB Appeal Panel wishes to ask them.
5.8.13 The Appeal Manager or USJB Appeal Panel Chair may set time-limits for each stage of the proceedings, including the hearing itself, so that any appeal will be heard and determined as expeditiously as is reasonably practicable. The appeal hearing may be adjourned to gather further information, provided that any adjournment will not lead to unreasonable delay.
5.8.14 Following the appeal hearing, the Appeal Manager or USJB Appeal Panel will consider the facts of the case and may uphold or dismiss the appeal, in whole or in part.
5.8.15 The Appeal Manager or USJB Appeal Panel Chair will notify the Employee of their decision in writing, setting out reasons for the decision. This should occur without unreasonable delay and wherever possible within 10 working days of the appeal hearing. A copy of the letter will be sent to the Director of Human Resources. The Respondent should be advised of any parts of the decision relevant to them.
5.8.16 The Appeal Manager or USJB Appeal Panel may decide to vary the above procedure as they deem appropriate, provided the appeal is dealt with fairly and impartially and without unreasonable delay.
5.8.17 There is no further right to appeal.
----------
(2) The term Head of Institution used throughout this policy and procedure refers to Heads of Departments and of other academic institutions, Chairs of Faculty Boards not divided into Departments, and the administrative Heads of Institutions.