Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

No disputing it’s time to prepare

by Personnel Today 18 May 2004
by Personnel Today 18 May 2004

By Elizabeth Adams, partner, Beachcroft Wansbroughs

Mark it in your diary, put it in on your PC and your palm-top, and stick
notes on your fridge: the new Statutory Dispute Resolution (SDR) procedures
come into effect on 1 October.

‘So what?’ you ask. Well, failure to comply with the new SDR procedures
means an employee’s compensation could be increased or decreased by up to 50
per cent. Plus any dismissal by an employer failing to comply will be
automatically deemed unfair.

Some organisations will already have disciplinary procedures in place, but
the standard dismissal and disciplinary procedure (DDP) and the standard
grievance procedure (GP) essentially provide for a written statement of the
grounds for the grievance/disciplinary action; a meeting between employer and
employee (following which the employee is informed of the outcome and their
right to appeal); and an appeal. But HR now has more to think about.

In all the scenarios outlined in the first column of the chart (right), the
employer has not complied with the relevant GP/DDP.

The consequences could be far-reaching. First, any dismissal would be
automatically unfair and second, any compensation awarded to the employee may
be increased by up to 50 per cent – ie, an award of £100,000 for unlawful
discrimination could rise to £150,000.

The moral of this tale is simple: SDR will make significant changes to the
way employment relations are conducted. Unfortunately, these changes are not
obvious, but may ultimately have very costly consequences.

In anticipation of the SDR procedures coming into effect, we suggest
employers take the following steps to ensure they are not caught out:

– Review all policies relating to dismissals (ie, not just disciplinary) and
to whom they apply in light of the DDP requirements

– Review your grievance procedure without delay

– Review all contracts of employment to ensure they provide the written
particulars required under section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996

– Review retention of employment records – the extension of time limits
means that documents should now be kept for longer in case of tribunal claims.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

– Provide appropriate training for managers dealing with these procedures on
the ground.

Additional reporting by Udara Ranasinghe, solicitor, Beachcroft
Wansbroughs

Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

previous post
Unifi set to merge with Amicus
next post
Single equality body sets off row over unifying law

You may also like

FCA to extend misconduct rules beyond banks

2 Jul 2025

‘Decisive action’ needed to boost workers’ pensions

2 Jul 2025

Business leaders’ drop in confidence impacts headcount

2 Jul 2025

Why we need to rethink soft skills in...

1 Jul 2025

Five misconceptions about hiring refugees

20 Jun 2025

Forward features list 2025 – submitting content to...

23 Nov 2024

Features list 2021 – submitting content to Personnel...

1 Sep 2020

Large firms have no plans to bring all...

26 Aug 2020

A typical work-from-home lunch: crisps

24 Aug 2020

Occupational health on the coronavirus frontline – ‘I...

21 Aug 2020

  • Empowering working parents and productivity during the summer holidays SPONSORED | Businesses play a...Read more
  • AI is here. Your workforce should be ready. SPONSORED | From content creation...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+