How to appeal a dismissal, and why it does not pause the clock

Updated September 2026

Appeal if the dismissal letter gives you a route. Write it short and dated. Then start Acas anyway. An internal appeal is part of a fair process. It is not a stay of the unfair dismissal time limit.

Say the timing part first

HR will sometimes imply that you should wait for the appeal outcome before you “do anything official.” That is how people go out of time. The deadline runs from the effective date of termination, not from the appeal decision. Early conciliation is the pause. The appeal is the record.

If you have just been walked out, use the first-48-hours checklist and come back to this page for the wording.

What the Acas Code expects

The Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures expects a chance to appeal a dismissal, heard without unreasonable delay, by someone more senior where possible, with the right to be accompanied by a colleague or trade union representative. An unreasonable failure to follow the Code can move compensation by up to 25 percent, up or down.

Follow the deadline in the letter if it is workable. If they gave you two working days and you were in shock, send a holding appeal (“I appeal; grounds to follow by [date]”) and then the grounds. Do not miss their window and the tribunal window.

What to write

One page if you can. Address it to the person the letter names. Mark it “Appeal against dismissal.” Then three headings:

1. The decision I am appealing. Date of the letter, stated reason, EDT.
2. The grounds. Facts they got wrong, process they skipped, evidence they ignored, a comparator they treated differently. Number them. Attach the emails. Do not write a memoir.
3. The outcome I want. Reinstatement is rare and still worth stating if you mean it. A lesser sanction, a corrected reason, or a rewritten reference are more common. If money is the real ask, that may belong in a settlement conversation, not only in the appeal.

Send it in a way you can prove. Keep a copy. If the dismissal was really a redundancy, say so and point at the missing consultation or the stuffed pool; the redundancy clocks are separate.

The hearing

Ask for the companion in writing. Take your own notes. You can read from the grounds. You do not have to accept a new allegation sprung in the room. If they offer a settlement in the corridor, take it away. Do not sign there.

If they uphold it

Ask for the reasons in writing. That document is useful later. Then check the calculator again. If Acas is not already running, start it the same day. An upheld appeal is not a new dismissal for limitation purposes in the ordinary case; the original EDT still matters. Get that date checked if they “re-dated” anything in the outcome letter.

This is general information, not legal advice. The Acas Code is on acas.org.uk.