Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures

Disciplinary Policy 

A structured policy exists for disciplinary issues.  This is in place to protect the employee and ensure all employees are treated equally and fairly.  Due to (in most cases) the short term nature of staff contracts and for the safety of children, poor performance cannot be tolerated and whilst underperformance will be communicated and targets for improvement set, if poor performance continues then advancement to each stage of the disciplinary process will be swift.

1. Verbal Warning – In the case of minor offences the employee will be given a formal verbal warning.  A record of this warning will be kept for a period of 6 months at which time it will expire provided no new offence has been committed.  The employee’s immediate manager or supervisor may implement this stage of the procedure.
2. Written Warning – In the case of serious offences or repetition of earlier minor offences, the employee will be given a written warning.  This will remain on the employee’s record for a period of 12 months after which it will expire provided no new offence has been committed.  The employee’s immediate manager, not supervisor, may implement this stage of the procedure.
3. Dismissal – In the case of gross misconduct or gross negligence, or if all the previous stages have been exhausted the employee will normally be dismissed.  This stage may only be implemented by a manager from Head Office.
4. Suspension – Where the employee is accused of gross misconduct or gross negligence and the matter cannot be investigated immediately, the employee may be suspended without pay (normally no more than five working days) pending the investigation.
5. Appeals – If the employee is dissatisfied with the outcome of any stage of the procedure they may appeal either verbally or in writing within 3 working days of the date of the disciplinary decision to the next level manager.

Grievance Procedures

At all stages of this procedure, grievances can be raised either verbally or in writing.

• Stage 1 – Any grievance that you may have must in the first instance be raised with your Site Manager, either verbally or in writing.
• Stage 2 – Only if your Site Manager cannot resolve the matter should it be raised with the Regional Manager. Regional Manager should reply within 10 working days.
• Stage 3 – If the matter is still not resolved to your satisfaction you must request that the matter be raised with the Head of Operations. The Head of Operations should reply within 10 working days.
• Stage 4 – Any failure to reach agreement at stage 3 may be referred to the Chief Executive Officer. A further meeting may be arranged and the employee may have a representative present. This meeting must take place within 28 days and a response must be given to the employee within a further 28 days following the meeting. This decision will be final.

 After each stage the employee has 10 days to respond with a request to progress to the next level.