Disciplinary appeal invitation letter template

25th September 2026

The appeal is the part of a disciplinary that employers treat as a formality and tribunals treat as a second chance to get it right. A sound appeal can repair a flawed hearing. A badly run one turns a defensible decision into an indefensible process, and it does so after you thought the matter was closed.

Here is the letter inviting someone to their appeal, followed by the rules it has to satisfy.

The template

Somebody who was not involved has to hear it

This is the requirement employers most often cannot meet and most often ignore. The Acas Code of Practice says at paragraph 27 that the appeal should be dealt with impartially and, where possible, by a manager who has not previously been involved in the case.

Note the phrase “where possible”. In a business of eight people it may genuinely not be, and the Code accepts that. What it does not accept is the same person hearing their own decision again without a word of explanation. If you have nobody else, say so in the letter, say why, and describe how you will approach it afresh. An appeal heard by the original decision maker with an honest explanation is defensible. The same thing dressed up as independent is not.

Where you do have a choice, the more senior person should hear the appeal, and the person who ran the original hearing should not be in the room.

Ask for the grounds, then answer them

Paragraph 26 of the Code expects the employee to set out their grounds of appeal in writing. That is not a hoop for them to jump through, it is what makes the hearing possible: an appeal against nothing in particular cannot be answered.

Repeating the grounds back to them in the invitation, as the template does, is worth the two minutes. It shows you have read them, it lets them correct you before the hearing rather than during it, and if this reaches a tribunal it demonstrates that the appeal engaged with what they actually said rather than with what you assumed they meant.

The grounds usually fall into a small number of shapes: the finding was wrong on the facts, the sanction was too severe, the process was unfair, or there is new evidence. Say in the letter how you will deal with new evidence, because an appeal that refuses to look at it is an appeal that has decided in advance.

The right to be accompanied applies here too

Paragraph 28 confirms that workers have a statutory right to be accompanied at an appeal hearing, and it is the same right as at the original hearing. It sits in section 10 of the Employment Relations Act 1999, and it allows three kinds of companion: another of your own workers, an official employed by a trade union, or a trade union official whom the union has certified in writing as trained or experienced in acting as a companion. Only the first has to work for you.

The same postponement rule applies as well. If the chosen companion cannot attend at the time you proposed, the employee can propose an alternative, and provided it is reasonable and falls within five working days beginning with the first working day after the day you proposed, you have to move the hearing. The invitation letter to the original hearing covers that in more detail.

What the outcome can be, and saying so in advance

An appeal is a review, not a rerun, but it can reach a different answer. Tell them in the invitation what the range of outcomes is, for the same reason you tell them before the original hearing: a person cannot prepare for a decision they have not been told is possible.

One point catches employers out. An appeal can usually uphold, reduce or overturn a sanction. It should not increase it. Nothing in the Code forbids that in terms, but an appeal that can make things worse is an appeal nobody would ever bring, and that is not a procedure a tribunal will look kindly on. If the appeal uncovers something more serious, the answer is a fresh disciplinary process about that thing, not a heavier sanction bolted onto the old one.

Paragraph 29 requires you to tell the employee the outcome of the appeal in writing, without unreasonable delay, and to say whether it is the final stage. Usually it is, and saying so closes the matter cleanly. The letter that does it needs the same care as the original decision did, and the outcome letter template sets out what has to be in it.

Why the appeal is worth running properly

Under section 207A of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, a tribunal can increase an award by up to 25 per cent where an employer has unreasonably failed to comply with the Code, and reduce one by up to 25 per cent where the employee has. Refusing an appeal, or going through the motions of one, is among the easiest failures to prove, because it leaves a paper trail of its own.

From 1st January 2027 that uplift sits on top of a compensatory award with no cap on it, and the qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal falls from two years to six months. What changes on 1st January 2027 sets out the rest. A badly run appeal has always been expensive. It is about to get more so.

If you would rather not start from a blank page

Tarn.hr takes you through the appeal in the same way it takes you through the hearing: it asks what the original decision was, what grounds they have raised, and who is available to hear it, then drafts the invitation with those answers in it, along with the outcome letters for each way the appeal could go. The first situation is free and there is no card required.

This is guidance rather than legal advice. Where the appeal is against a dismissal, or where the grounds touch on a protected characteristic, whistleblowing or pregnancy, take advice from an employment solicitor before you answer it.

Tarn.hr provides HR guidance based on UK employment law and Acas codes of practice. It does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. Employment law is complex and turns on the facts of each case. For any situation involving significant legal risk, potential tribunal claims, or matters of particular sensitivity, you should seek advice from a qualified employment solicitor. Tarn.hr is not responsible for any decisions made on the basis of its guidance.