Acas draft code points everyday misconduct and performance concerns to informal talks first

A default of "usually informal" makes the first conversation the point where a case is sorted. Acas says concerns about misconduct and unsatisfactory performance are "usually" "best dealt with informally" ^[4]. Personnel Today adds the qualifier "at least initially" ^[4]. Where the line falls between a concern for informal handling and one that needs formal process is a judgement, and the manager or HR adviser in the room makes it first.

Personnel Today asks whether Acas is right to favour informal handling in a process where emotions may be running high and clarity is key, and gives the death of Chloe Moffat as one reason for asking ^[16]. In the meeting, when Moffat asked whether she was at risk of losing her job, a senior manager told her she "couldn't predict any outcome of any potential investigation" ^[8]. Assistant coroner Anna Crawford concluded: "HM Treasury materially contributed to Ms Moffat's death by not applying their written discipline policy and procedure in that they did not inform her that the likely penalty, if the allegations were proven, was a written warning and not dismissal." ^[9]

That finding concerns what the employee was told. In the part Personnel Today quotes, it does not say an informal first step is wrong. The final coroner's report has not been published, and Personnel Today says there is much about the case that is not known ^[10]. In our view the finding speaks to disclosure: what a manager must tell an employee about the likely outcome, whatever the meeting is called.

Both practitioners Personnel Today quotes accept the direction of travel. Lawrence Jell, who founded Your People Team and is its managing director, thinks Acas is probably right, in broad terms, to steer employers away from formalising every workplace problem ^[11]. He says early resolution can preserve working relationships, reduce cost and stop relatively modest disputes becoming entrenched ^[11]. His condition is on the record: "Acas says that you should try and prioritise informal first in this new normal. But it doesn't say you should do that to the detriment of formal if it's allegations that should be dealt with in a formal environment," he told Personnel Today ^[13].

David Liddle, founder of TCM Group, goes further. He argues that HR departments have become increasingly rigid and compliance-driven ^[14]. Liddle said: "Even the words 'discipline' and 'grievance' are throwbacks to an industrial era of work." ^[15]

The code published in draft in July 2026 is not final ^[1]. The source does not say when a final text will appear or whether the wording will change. That leaves this quarter's decision with employers: wait for the final text, or settle now what a manager must tell an employee before any conversation labelled informal. The second option needs nothing from Acas, because the inquest finding turned on a written policy HM Treasury already had ^[9]. If the final code keeps "usually", the first-conversation sort becomes routine. Jell's warning about unrecorded handling then applies to each case ^[12].