How to raise a workplace grievance, and why it does not pause the clock

Updated September 2026

A grievance is the written record of what happened and what you want done. It is worth doing properly. It is not a pause button on an employment tribunal deadline. If you only remember one sentence from this page, remember that one.

Say this first

HR will often ask you to “raise it formally” and wait. Waiting is how filing windows die. Acas early conciliation is the step that actually stops the clock. You can send the grievance and start Acas on the same afternoon. For dismissals, start with the unfair dismissal time limit and the deadline calculator so you know how much room you have.

A grievance is still worth writing. The Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures is what tribunals look at. An unreasonable failure to follow it, by either side, can adjust compensation by up to 25 percent. That is not a reason to miss a deadline. It is a reason not to skip the paperwork.

What the Acas Code expects

1. You put the complaint in writing and say what you want.
2. The employer holds a meeting you can reasonably attend, without unreasonable delay.
3. You can be accompanied by a colleague or a trade union representative.
4. They decide in writing and tell you how to appeal.
5. If you appeal, they hear it at a more senior level where they can.

Your staff handbook may add steps. Follow those too if they are workable. If the handbook tells you to wait months, do not let that overwrite a statutory time limit.

A structure that works

Keep it short enough that someone will finish it. Date it. Address it to the person the handbook names, or to HR if it names nobody. Mark it “Formal grievance.” Then use four headings:

1. What happened. Dates, names, what was said or done. One incident per paragraph. Attach emails if you have them; do not paste a novel.
2. The effect. Pay lost, hours cut, sick days, a role you can no longer do. Facts, not adjectives.
3. The right you think is in play. Discrimination, unpaid wages, flexible working, dismissal, health and safety. You do not need the perfect legal label. You do need to say this is not a vague moan.
4. What you want. An apology is fine. Back-pay, a different manager, a withdrawn warning, or a written outcome by a date is better. Be specific.

Send it in a way you can prove: email, or a letter plus a scan of the recorded-delivery receipt. Keep a copy. If you are still employed, assume the document will be read by more people than the addressee.

If the issue is a flexible working request rather than a complaint about past treatment, use the flexible working letter instead. That is a statutory request with its own two-month decision clock, not a grievance.

The meeting and the appeal

Ask for the companion in writing before the meeting. Take your own notes. Do not sign a “full and final” settlement in the room. If they offer money to drop the complaint, that is a settlement discussion; get it in writing and take advice before you sign.

If the outcome ignores the facts you set out, appeal on those facts. An appeal is not a second novel. It is “you said X; the emails show Y.” Same rule as before: an appeal does not pause a tribunal clock.

When to contact Acas anyway

Contact Acas if any of these is true:

• you have been dismissed, or you are about to resign and treat it as constructive dismissal
• the last discriminatory act, unpaid deduction, or detriment is more than a few weeks behind you
• the employer has gone silent for longer than the handbook promised
• you are not sure which time-limit regime applies after 1 October 2026

Then put the dates into the calculator. The grievance can continue in parallel. It is allowed to be both a workplace process and a protected claim.

This is general information, not legal advice. The Acas Code is on acas.org.uk. For a live deadline, speak to Acas, a solicitor, or your union.