Independent chairs for disciplinary, grievance and appeal hearings.
External chairs who read the papers, run a fair hearing, weigh the evidence and give a reasoned written outcome. Used where the allegations are serious, the employee is senior, or no internal manager can be seen as impartial.
Employers usually think about independence at the investigation stage and forget about it at the hearing. That is a mistake, because the hearing is where the decision is made and where a tribunal will look hardest. If the manager chairing the hearing reports to the person who commissioned the investigation, worked alongside the complainant for a decade, or has already expressed a view about the employee, the outcome is vulnerable however good the investigation was.
An independent chair removes that vulnerability. The chair comes to the papers cold, has no relationship with anyone in the process, and produces a written outcome that sets out the findings, the reasoning and the sanction. Where the chair is a practitioner used to weighing contested evidence, the reasoning is written in a form that stands up when it is later read out in a tribunal.
Clerk&Counsel places independent chairs with employers across England and Wales, including schools and academy trusts, NHS bodies and healthcare providers, charities, professional practices, financial services firms and owner-managed businesses. Chairs are placed separately from investigators and separately from any counsel advising the organisation, so the roles never overlap.
Hearings we are asked to chair.
- Gross misconduct hearings where dismissal is a realistic outcome.
- Disciplinary hearings against directors, partners, trustees, clinicians and senior leaders.
- Grievance hearings where the complaint is against a member of the leadership team.
- Appeals against dismissal, including appeals following a redundancy or capability process.
- Grievance appeals where the first hearing is said to have been unfair.
- Capability and performance hearings involving professional or regulated staff.
- Whistleblowing detriment concerns raised alongside a disciplinary matter.
- Hearings involving trade union representation or collective interest.
How an independent chair runs the hearing.
Before the hearing the chair confirms in writing whether they are deciding or recommending, reads the investigation report and the evidence, and identifies any gaps that need to be filled before a fair hearing can take place. Where a key witness has not been interviewed or a document has not been obtained, it is better to adjourn and get it than to reach a decision that cannot be defended.
At the hearing the employee is given the allegations, the evidence and a proper opportunity to answer, accompanied where they have the right to be. The chair asks questions to test the evidence rather than to advance a case, and gives the employee the last word before any adjournment.
Afterwards the chair produces a written outcome that records each allegation, the evidence relevant to it, the finding and the reason for it, then addresses sanction separately, including mitigation, length of service, consistency with previous cases and whether a lesser sanction would meet the case. Appeal rights are set out at the end.
Acas, fairness and tribunal risk.
The Acas Code of Practice requires an employer to establish the facts, notify the employee of the allegations, hold a meeting, allow the employee to be accompanied, and allow an appeal. Unreasonable failure to follow the Code allows a tribunal to adjust compensation by up to 25 per cent.
Fairness under section 98(4) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 turns on whether the employer held a genuine belief in the misconduct on reasonable grounds after a reasonable investigation, and whether dismissal fell within the band of reasonable responses. A chair who is independent, who tests the evidence and who explains the reasoning in writing gives the employer strong evidence on every part of that test.
A fair appeal also matters in its own right. An appeal heard by someone genuinely independent can cure earlier defects, and the absence of a proper appeal is one of the most frequently criticised failures in unfair dismissal claims.
The rest of the process.
The chair does not investigate the allegations or advise the employer. Where further support is needed we can place:
- Independent investigators for grievance, bullying, harassment and disciplinary fact finding.
- Workplace mediators where the relationship can be repaired without a formal process.
- Employment counsel to advise the organisation separately on merits and settlement.
- Employment barristers to conduct any tribunal hearing that follows.
Specialist areas within this practice.
- Independent workplace investigations
External fact finding with written terms of reference.
- Grievance investigation services
External investigators for formal grievances.
- Bullying and harassment investigations
Investigators for harassment complaints.
- Workplace mediation
Repairing working relationships without a formal process.
- Employment barristers
Tribunal advocacy, advice and appeals.
Need an independent hearing chair?
Send the allegations in outline, the stage you are at and the date you need covered. A clerk will come back with chair options and a written fixed fee.
Common questions.
Can an external person chair a disciplinary hearing?
Yes. There is nothing in the Acas Code that requires the chair to be an employee, and using an external chair is common where the allegations are serious, where the natural internal chair is conflicted, or where the employee is senior enough that no internal manager is independent of them.
Does the chair make the decision?
Where instructed to do so, yes. The chair can be appointed either to make the decision and impose the outcome under delegated authority, or to make a recommendation for the employer to adopt. Which of the two applies is fixed in writing before the hearing.
Can the same person investigate and chair?
It is far better that they do not. The Acas Code expects the investigator and the decision maker to be different people wherever reasonably practicable, and a tribunal will note it where the same person did both. We place separate practitioners for each role.
Can an external chair hear an appeal?
Yes, and this is one of the most common instructions. An appeal heard by someone independent of the original decision can cure earlier procedural defects and is often the last realistic opportunity to resolve the matter before a claim is issued.
What does it cost?
A written fixed fee covering reading, the hearing and the reasoned written outcome, or an agreed day rate for longer hearings. The fee is quoted before instruction.
Are you a barristers' chambers?
No. Clerk&Counsel is a clerking agency and a trading style of Found First Digital Ltd. We place independent barristers regulated by the Bar Standards Board and non-barrister investigators, chairs and mediators, and the instruction runs directly between you and the practitioner.