Baroness Maggie Jones, Acas Chair
Baroness Maggie Jones is Chair of the Acas Council and a current member of the House of Lords.
Consultation on updates to the Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures is now open.
Healthy, constructive employment relations can be transformative for individuals and organisations alike. When employers and workers work together well the results are productivity, growth and wellbeing. When it goes wrong, the costs to all are high: formal disciplinary and grievance procedures cost UK employers an estimated £2.36 billion a year – and rising. Handling concerns early in a way that is fair, transparent and timely has big benefits for everyone, with costs of informal resolution 10 times lower than that of formal.
That is why we are consulting on a new draft Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures. This consultation starts a conversation about how we can disagree better at work. Concerns and disagreement are a natural part of working life, but we can shape whether it tends towards escalation or resolution.
Employers and workers each have rights and responsibilities. Our draft Code is clear that both need to raise and handle concerns in ways that are fair, transparent, and timely.
This conversation comes at a time of broad social, economic and demographic shifts in the workplace. There are significant changes in:
- how we think about where and when work happens
- how work it fits into our lives
- crucially, how we engage with one another as colleagues
This year new Acas research on the prevalence of individual conflict at work showed 44% of working-age adults in England, Scotland and Wales experienced conflict at work in the last 12 months.
Many concerns at work are low-level and do not need to be resolved through formal procedures. Trying to resolve matters informally first is usually the best approach and benefits everyone involved.
When concerns are not addressed in an appropriate way, they do not simply disappear. They can evolve into bigger issues that can be harder and more costly to resolve.
People disengage, problems fester, dismissals and resignations can result – all costing employers and workers financially and emotionally. Every statistic relates to a real person and real challenges, with impacts for their life, the success of their employer and the economy.
The UK is not alone – these figures are symptomatic of a wider global unease in workplace relations. But we could be the best in reducing these costs and resolving differences quickly, openly and amicably.
Our Code has a critical role in a wider reset to build good workplace relations at the heart of the economy. Alongside development of skills, improving knowledge and confidence in handling concerns and conflict effectively is vital.
If you are an employer, worker, representative, work in HR or employment law, or anyone with an interest in good working relations, we want to hear from you. We want to hear from organisations of all shapes and sizes, and workers with all lived experiences. We want to hear whether our Code is proportionate to all employers' needs and helps everyone make the very best endeavours to resolve differences.
The consultation is open until 11:59pm on 23 September 2026.