The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, a UK public body that advises employers and workers and conciliates in workplace disputes.
Acas's draft revised code, published in July 2026, says misconduct and performance concerns are usually best dealt with informally. That leaves the formal-or-informal call with whoever holds the first conversation.
Reality
Guidance in Personnel Today says employees increasingly draft grievances with generative AI and that legal jargon now appears in nearly all of them. HR teams have to trim those complaints while keeping each investigation thorough enough to count as reasonable.
Reality
Herbprime Co unfairly and wrongfully dismissed a dispensary worker of 14 years on the day her husband pushed a colleague, an employment tribunal found. The judge faulted the lack of investigation and set a 25% uplift on compensation for breaching the Acas code.
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Acas is consulting until 17 December on a code for the autumn 2027 rule that UK managers meet staff before refusing a flexible working request. Employers can still say no, but only after that meeting and on the basis of evidence.
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Britain's Employment Rights Act cuts the unfair-dismissal qualifying period from two years to six months on 1 January 2027. Writing in Personnel Today, Sarah Kerr argues that a thin probation file can leave a later redundancy score hard to explain.
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