Disciplinary hearing invitation letter template

19th September 2026

The invitation letter is the part of a disciplinary that employers get wrong most often, and it is the part a tribunal reads first. Everything that happens at the hearing is judged against what you told the employee before it. If the letter is vague about the allegation, silent about the evidence, or silent about the fact that dismissal is on the table, the process is already unfair no matter how well you run the meeting itself.

Here is a template you can copy, followed by what each part of it is doing and where the rules come from.

The template

What the letter has to contain

The source of the rules is the Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures. Paragraph 9 says that once you decide there is a disciplinary case to answer, the employee should be notified in writing, and that the notification should contain enough information about the alleged misconduct or poor performance and its possible consequences for them to prepare an answer. It also says the notification should give the time and venue and advise the employee of their right to be accompanied.

Acas sets the same list out plainly in its step by step guide to the hearing: the alleged misconduct or performance issue, any evidence from the investigation, anything else you plan to talk about, the date, time and location, the right to be accompanied, and the possible outcomes. Six things. Most of the invitation letters that cause trouble contain three of them.

The Code is not merely advisory. 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 it, and reduce one by up to 25 per cent where the employee has. From 1st January 2027 that uplift will sit on top of a compensatory award with no cap on it at all, which is covered in what changes on 1st January 2027.

The one line that decides whether you can dismiss

Acas publishes two invitation letter templates rather than one, and the split tells you what matters. There is a version for where the likely outcome is a warning, and a separate version for where dismissal or other serious action is possible.

This is the decision to make before you write anything. You have to state the possible consequences, and an employee who is told they face a written warning has prepared for a hearing about a written warning. If you reach that hearing and conclude that the conduct warrants dismissal, you are dismissing someone who was never told that was on the table, and the notification requirement in paragraph 9 has not been met.

So the question to answer honestly at the invitation stage is not what you think will happen. It is what could happen on the worst reading of the evidence you already hold. If dismissal is one of those outcomes, say so in the letter, even if you expect to issue a warning. Saying it does not commit you to it. Leaving it out does commit you, and it commits you to the lesser outcome.

How much notice to give

There is no statutory minimum, and there is no figure in the Code either. Paragraph 11 says the meeting should be held without unreasonable delay whilst allowing the employee reasonable time to prepare their case, and that is the whole of the test. Any template that promises you 48 hours or five working days is offering a convention rather than a rule.

What is reasonable moves with the case. An allegation described in two lines with no evidence attached needs less preparation than one running to forty pages of witness statements, and an employee who has to arrange a trade union companion needs longer than one who does not. The safer instinct is to give more time than you think is needed and to say in the letter that you will extend it on request, because a hearing delayed by three days costs you nothing and a hearing that was rushed is something you cannot repair afterwards.

Getting the accompaniment wording right

The right to be accompanied is statutory rather than a matter of policy. 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 other two can come from outside your business entirely, including where you do not recognise the union, and a letter that offers a colleague and stops there has understated the right.

Section 10 also carries the postponement rule that most templates omit. 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. Putting that in the invitation saves an argument later and costs you a sentence.

What is about to change

The 2015 Code still governs, but it is being replaced. Acas consulted on a new Code between 30th July 2026 and 23rd September 2026, and it would replace the existing one in full rather than amend it. A revised draft then goes to the Secretary of State and, if approved, is laid before Parliament, so nothing changes on the day the consultation closes.

One change is worth preparing for. Paragraph 32 of the draft Code would add an element no existing template carries: the written notification would have to set out the steps already taken to resolve the matter informally, or explain why none were taken. If that survives into the final version, every invitation letter in the country needs a new paragraph, and employers who went straight to a formal process without an informal conversation first will have to write down that they did.

Two other dates matter to the same letter. From 1st October 2026 the time limit for bringing most tribunal claims goes from three months to six, so the file you build during a disciplinary needs to stay usable for twice as long. From 1st January 2027 the qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal falls from two years to six months, which means the invitation letters you send to people in their first two years stop being low risk documents. Dismissing someone during probation goes through what that does to a probation period.

Four things that spoil an otherwise good letter

Describing the allegation in general terms. Unprofessional conduct, a poor attitude and a breakdown in trust are conclusions, not allegations. The employee has to know what they are said to have done and when, precisely enough to answer it. If you cannot write the allegation in two specific sentences, the investigation is not finished and the invitation is premature.

Promising evidence rather than enclosing it. Paragraph 9 expects the written notification to carry copies of any written evidence, including witness statements. Handing it over at the hearing defeats the purpose of giving notice, because the employee has had no time to read it.

Letting the investigator chair the hearing. Not a wording problem, but the letter is where it becomes visible, because it names the chair. Where you have the people to separate the two roles, separate them.

Forgetting that a resignation does not close it. If the employee resigns after receiving the letter, the process does not simply stop, and what to do when someone resigns mid disciplinary covers what to finish and what to pay.

If you would rather not start from a blank page

A template is a starting point, and the work is in the parts it leaves in square brackets: naming the allegation properly, deciding what the possible outcomes honestly are, and working out which evidence has to go in the envelope.

That is what Tarn.hr does. You describe the situation, it asks a handful of questions about the allegation, the investigation, the length of service and whether the employee has been told about the right to be accompanied, and it drafts the invitation letter with those answers already in it, alongside the outcome letters for every result the hearing could reach and a checklist for running the meeting. The first situation is free, and there is no card required to try it.

This is guidance rather than legal advice. Where a dismissal is likely, or where the allegation touches on a protected characteristic, whistleblowing or pregnancy, take advice from an employment solicitor before you send anything.

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.