ACAS launches consultation on revised discipline and grievance code

Acas, the employment relations service, issues a revised code of practice on discipline and grievance for public consultation. The new code will ultimately aim to encourage businesses and individuals to resolve disputes internally, saving money and time.

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The code has been revised to take into account the changes being made to workplace dispute resolution by the Employment Bill, currently before Parliament, particularly the removal of the statutory dismissal and discipline procedures.

Minister for Employment Relations, Pat McFadden, said:
The new code is a key element in the Government's plans to streamline and simplify the dispute resolution system to the benefit of employers and employees.

ìIt will complement the removal of statutory measures by establishing flexible, principles-based guidance to help resolve disputes early.

Commenting on the launch of the draft code John Taylor, Acas Chief Executive said: ìThe revised Acas code on discipline and grievance is one of the first steps to simplify the dispute resolution process set out by the Michael Gibbons review.

The draft that we have issued for consultation today draws on Acasí wide experience of resolving workplace issues and will help employers and employees deal with disciplinary and grievance issues in a fair and effective way. The key is for business to act early to prevent any long-term consequences.î

The revised code is considerably shorter than the existing code and provides basic practical guidance to employers, employees and their representatives and sets out principles for handling disciplinary and grievance situations in the workplace.

The decision to shorten the code was influenced by the fact that many responses to the Government consultation on the review of dispute resolution undertaken by Michael Gibbons called for a shorter more principles based code.

Copies of the draft code can be obtained from the Acas website at www.acas.org.uk/dandgcode and the deadline for comment is 25 July 2008.