Guide · After the outcome
Appeal hearings, and how to write grounds that work
The appeal is the most misused stage in the whole procedure. It is treated as a formality by employers who have already decided, and as a second chance to be upset by employees who have every reason to be. Used properly it is neither. This guide explains what an appeal can and cannot fix, how to draft grounds, and the clock that keeps running while you use it.
At a glance
Five grounds, and how to phrase each one
The ACAS Code puts the appeal among the basic elements of a fair process: employers should allow an employee to appeal against any formal decision made. Appeals should be heard without unreasonable delay, ideally at an agreed time and place, and you should let your employer know the grounds in writing. The appeal should be dealt with impartially and, wherever possible, by a manager who has not previously been involved in the case, and you have the statutory right to be accompanied at the hearing.
What that framework does not tell you is how much depends on the document you write. An appeal manager receiving three paragraphs of understandable distress has nothing to act on and will produce an outcome that reflects that. An appeal manager receiving five numbered grounds, each identifying a specific finding, the evidence that contradicts it, and what should follow, has to engage with each one or leave a visible gap in the record.
Zhan Associates is a specialist workplace defence consultancy. We are not a firm of solicitors and we do not provide reserved legal activities or legal advice. We draft grounds of appeal, prepare the evidence for the appeal stage, and represent you at the hearing under Section 10 of the Employment Relations Act 1999.
Appeal Hearings
What an appeal can and cannot fix
The first question to ask, and almost nobody asks it, is whether the appeal is a rehearing or a review. A rehearing considers the whole case afresh, which means new evidence and new argument genuinely land. A review only asks whether the original decision was reasonably open on the material then available, which means the same new evidence may be treated as outside its scope. The policy usually says which. Ask in writing before you draft, because the answer changes what you should put in.
A properly conducted appeal can repair some procedural defects, and employers rely on that. A rehearing by an uninvolved manager, at which the previously undisclosed evidence is finally provided and you are given a real opportunity to respond, can go a long way to curing the earlier failure. What an appeal cannot do is repair itself. Where it is chaired by someone already involved, conducted as a paper exercise, or answered in two lines that engage with none of the grounds, it does not cure the original defect. It adds a second one.
| Rehearing | Review | |
|---|---|---|
| What is considered | The whole case, decided again on its merits. | Whether the original decision was reasonably open on the material available at the time. |
| New evidence | Admitted and weighed. | Often treated as outside scope unless it could not reasonably have been produced earlier. |
| Curing defects | Capable of curing a good deal, if the chair is genuinely uninvolved. | Cures much less, because the flawed process is being reviewed rather than replaced. |
| How to draft for it | Argue the case in full, as if for the first time. | Anchor every ground to what was before the original decision maker, and explain why new material was not available then. |
How Zhan Associates helps at appeal
The Appeal Defence Package is built for exactly this stage: appeal-specific procedural and fairness analysis, grounds drafted and structured, evidence reviewed for the appeal, representation at the hearing, and advice on where it goes next if the appeal does not succeed.
- Grounds drafted properly. Numbered, specific, each tied to a document or a paragraph of the Code, each with a stated remedy.
- Representation at the hearing. The statutory right to be accompanied applies at appeal, and we exercise it in full on your behalf.
- Parallel deadline management. The internal appeal and the tribunal clock run separately, and we manage both rather than one.
Appeal Hearings
The two clocks nobody reconciles
There are two entirely separate deadlines running after a dismissal, and confusing them is the most destructive single error in employment procedure. The first is your employer’s internal appeal deadline, set by their policy and commonly five working days. The second is the statutory time limit for a tribunal claim, which currently runs from the effective date of termination and is unaffected by anything happening internally.
An internal appeal does not pause the tribunal clock. Notifying ACAS of an Early Conciliation dispute does. People routinely wait for an appeal outcome that takes seven weeks to arrive, then discover the claim window has closed while they were being reasonable. From 1 October 2026 the tribunal limit for most claims extends from three months to six, which widens the margin for error but does not remove it, and the extension applies where the relevant date falls on or after that date.
- Day 0
Outcome letter received. Diarise the internal appeal deadline from the policy, and separately diarise the tribunal limit from the effective date of termination.
- Within the policy deadline
Lodge the appeal. If full grounds need longer, lodge a short notice in time stating that detailed grounds will follow by a specified date.
- Alongside
Consider notifying ACAS. This is what pauses the tribunal clock, and it does not commit you to a claim. See the Early Conciliation guide.
- Appeal hearing
Attend with a companion. Ask for the appeal outcome and reasoning in writing, addressing each ground raised.
- After the outcome
If it stands, the question becomes value and route. Work out the tribunal figure or a settlement range.
Sources: ACAS Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures, in force 11 March 2015, paragraphs 4, 26 to 29 and 41 to 45. Employment Relations Act 1999, section 10. Employment tribunal time limit change confirmed for 1 October 2026, ACAS guidance on the Employment Rights Act 2025, last updated 19 August 2026.
Common questions
Appeal questions people ask
Usually yes, and the reasons are not only about winning. An appeal must be dealt with impartially and, wherever possible, by a manager who has not previously been involved. It is also the point at which evidence you were never shown can surface, and a failure to appeal can be held against you at tribunal.
Your employer's policy sets the internal deadline and it is often short, commonly five working days from the outcome letter. Meet it. If you need longer to write full grounds, lodge a short notice of appeal in time and say that detailed grounds will follow.
The Code says you should set out the grounds in writing. Effective grounds are specific and structured: the finding you say is wrong, the evidence that contradicts it, the procedural failure and what it cost you, the new evidence and why it was not available before, and the inconsistency or disproportion in the sanction. A general assertion that the outcome was unfair gives the appeal manager nothing to work with.
Yes. The statutory right to be accompanied applies to appeal hearings, because they involve the confirmation of a warning or other disciplinary action. Workers also have that right at any grievance appeal hearing.
It can, occasionally, where the policy permits an increased sanction on appeal, and that is a real reason to read the policy first. Far more common is the appeal that goes nowhere because the grounds were thin. The risk is manageable; the wasted opportunity usually is not.
It depends on the policy, and the answer matters. A rehearing looks at the whole case again. A review only tests whether the original decision was reasonably open on the material available. Ask which you are getting, because it determines whether new evidence and new argument will actually be considered.
A properly conducted appeal can cure some procedural defects, which is why employers rely on them. It cannot cure everything, and an appeal run by someone already involved in the original decision, or conducted as a formality, tends to compound the original failure rather than repair it.
No, and this is the single most destructive misunderstanding in the whole system. An internal appeal does not pause the time limit for a tribunal claim. People routinely wait for an appeal outcome, then discover the deadline has passed. Notifying ACAS is what pauses the clock.
Put the refusal in writing and record it. The Code requires employers to allow an employee to appeal against any formal decision, and appeals should be heard without unreasonable delay. A refusal to hear an appeal at all is a significant procedural failure and a straightforward one to evidence.
You should be informed in writing of the results of the appeal hearing as soon as possible. A bare outcome with no engagement with the grounds you raised is weak, and it invites the question of whether the appeal was ever a genuine reconsideration. Ask for the reasoning.
Appealing a grievance outcome instead? The route is different: see raising a grievance.
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