New ACAS Code of Practice

The Employment Act 2008 has received the royal assent and will come into force in April 2009. It replaces the statutory disciplinary procedure and the statutory grievance procedure with a new ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures. It is expected the new code will receive parliamentary approval early in the New Year. It will not apply to redundancy dismissals or non-renewal of an expired fixed-term contract. Any unreasonable failure by the employer to comply with the code could be penalised by an upward adjustment of the award by up to 25%.