Investigations

Here are our top 10 tips for Investigations – the bedrock of any formal management action.

Investigations are the bedrock of any formal management action under your disciplinary, capability, performance and attendance management procedures. As well as to enable you to respond effectively to employee grievances or appeals against formal management actions.

A timely and robust investigation is essential to ensure that all facts and material evidence is gathered in good time while events are fresh in people’s minds. 

Investigations can be very time consuming, but it is essential that you give them the time and attention they deserve. If you don’t, then you may find management actions either overturned on appeal, or being scrutinised by the employment tribunal.

Formal training is not legally required, but it is essential that those appointed to undertake investigations have the skills and competence to do so effectively and thoroughly. They must also have the time to do the job well and without distractions.

There is no right to be accompanied during an investigator interview under the Law, this right only extends to formal disciplinary, grievance and appeal hearings under the Employee Relations Act 1999, with a few statutory exceptions such as flexible working meetings.

The investigating officer should be someone who is impartial and independent of the events being investigated, where possible. In smaller teams, it is not uncommon for the immediate line manager to assume this role, unless they are compromised by being an essential witness or otherwise involved.

There is no need to formally invite someone to an investigatory interview, however it may be appropriate to do so when calling people to a different office or when investigating remote workers.

Everyone has the right to reply to any accusations being labelled against them, so the investigator must have and present all the facts and evidence to the individual to enable them to respond appropriately.

Ensure you gather all the relevant evidence when conducting investigations, including evidence that may prove innocence. Remember you are impartial and are looking to establish facts, not prove a case for or against. 

The investigator must not draw conclusions, they are purely fact finding. Their report should simply present the facts, and associated evidence that supports or refutes those facts. The decision on whether to proceed to formal proceedings is for the chair of the disciplinary to capability procedure.

While there is no right to be accompanied, you should still make adjustments under the Equality Act 2010 to permit interpreters, translators, counsellors, social workers, advocates or mental health care workers where appropriate. This does not extend to the family and friends of the employee.

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