Grievance Meeting Invitation Letter template

2. What to check before sending

• Read the grievance again and check it is only a grievance — complaints alleging discrimination or harassment, or disclosing wrongdoing that affects others, may also engage your bullying and harassment or whistleblowing procedures.
• Choose a chair who is not the subject of the grievance and, where your size allows, has had no prior involvement in the issue.
• Check your own grievance policy for any deadlines you have set yourselves — this letter must match your policy, and a missed self-imposed deadline is the easiest criticism to hand an employee.
• Book a private room, or set up a video call, where the conversation cannot be overheard.
• Give real notice: enough time for the employee to prepare and to arrange a companion, while still meeting without unreasonable delay.

3. The letter template

[On {{org.name}} letterhead]

Private and confidential

[Date]

[Employee name], [job title]

[Delivery route — by hand / by email / by post to [address]]

Dear [employee name],

Invitation to a grievance meeting

Thank you for your letter of [date] raising a formal grievance about [neutral summary of the subject — e.g. 'your workload' or 'the conduct of a colleague']. I am writing to confirm that {{org.name}} has received your grievance and will deal with it under our grievance procedure, which follows the ACAS Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures.

You are invited to a grievance meeting on [date] at [time] in [room/location, or video call details]. The meeting will be chaired by [name, job title], and [name, job title — e.g. an HR representative] will also attend to take notes. Please allow up to [length, e.g. one hour].

The purpose of the meeting is to give you a full opportunity to explain your grievance, how it has affected you, and the outcome you are seeking. We may ask questions to make sure we understand it properly. No decision will be taken at the meeting itself — if anything needs investigating we will adjourn, and the outcome will be confirmed to you in writing afterwards.

You have the right to be accompanied at the meeting by a colleague or a trade union representative. If you would like to be accompanied, please tell [name/role] who your companion will be before the meeting. If your chosen companion is not available at the time above, let us know and we will rearrange the meeting for a reasonable alternative time in line with the ACAS Code.

Please bring any documents or other evidence you would like us to consider, and let us know in advance if there are witnesses you would like us to speak to. If it would help, you can send [name/role] any supporting material by [date] so it can be read before the meeting.

If you need any adjustments to these arrangements — for example because of a disability, or help understanding this letter — please tell [name/role] and we will arrange them.

A copy of our grievance procedure is [enclosed / available at [location]]. If you have any questions before the meeting, please contact [name/role] on [contact details].

Yours sincerely,

[Name]

[Job title], {{org.name}}

4. The right to be accompanied

The right to be accompanied at a grievance meeting is statutory, set out in the Employment Relations Act 1999 and explained in the ACAS Code. The companion can be a colleague, a trade union representative, or an official employed by a trade union — and a union representative who is not an employed official must be certified by their union as competent to accompany a worker.

The companion may put and sum up the employee's case, respond on behalf of the employee to views expressed at the meeting, and confer with the employee — but they cannot answer questions on the employee's behalf. If the chosen companion cannot attend, the employee may propose a reasonable alternative time within the short statutory window set out in the ACAS Code, and the meeting should be rearranged.

Strictly, the statutory right applies where the grievance concerns a duty the employer owes the worker — but arguing that point is rarely worth it. Allowing a companion at every formal grievance meeting is straightforward good practice, and this letter offers it as standard.

5. Delivery and record-keeping

• Send the letter by a route you can evidence — email with delivery confirmation, or a printed copy handed over or posted — and file a note of how and when it was sent.
• Keep a copy in the confidential grievance file in [system/location], together with the original grievance and, later, the meeting notes and outcome letter — separate from day-to-day personnel records.
• If the meeting is rearranged — companion availability, sickness, anything else — confirm the new arrangements in a short follow-up letter or email rather than by word of mouth.
• Retain grievance records in line with your data retention policy.