Introduction
If you believe you are being bullied, harassed, victimised or discriminated against by a colleague (another member of council staff), you or your manager may initiate the formal procedure if you have explored the informal options and:
- they have been unsuccessful
- the behaviour is significant or persistent in nature
- you have decided that the informal procedure is unlikely to achieve a satisfactory outcome and you wish to progress straight to the formal stage.
Initiate the formal procedure
Follow these steps to initiate a formal procedure:
1Fill in the paper form
To begin the formal procedure, fill in the bullying and harassment form. This is appendix 12 of the standard policy or appendix 11 of the schools bullying and harassment policy and procedure documents.
What you’ll need to include:
The form will ask you for the:
- names of the employee(s) alleged to be demonstrating the behaviours
- nature of the behaviour, including examples
- date, time and location of any incidents
- name(s) of any witnesses.
We have produced some guidance in the bullying and harassment policy and procedure documents for:
- employees who would like to raise a complaint (appendix 1)
- managers to help them spot any signs of bullying and how to deal with any complaints (appendix 3).
2Return the form
Send your completed form to your line manager.
3Complaint is acknowledged
When your line manager receives your complaint, they will send you an acknowledgement in writing, or by email, within 7 calendar days.
The acknowledgement:
- will outline the process involved
- advise you of the likely timescales, where possible.
- may revisit the possibility of early resolution.
If an investigation is required, it will usually follow the procedure shown in appendix 5 of the bullying and harassment policy and procedure documents.
4After the investigation
Once the investigation has been completed, the following people will be notified of the outcome:
- the employee making the complaint
- the employee who has had a complaint made against them
- a line manager who isn't the investigating manager
- any witnesses who have been involved.
Your line manager, or the investigating manager, will also attempt to meet individually with each of the parties (except any witnesses) to provide feedback on the outcome. This will be supported by confirmation in writing.
Possible outcomes
There are 3 possible outcomes:
- not upheld
- upheld or upheld in part and justifies learning outcomes
- upheld or upheld in part and justifies referral to a formal disciplinary hearing.
5Referral to disciplinary hearing
If the outcome of the investigation is that a formal disciplinary hearing should be held for the employee who has had a complaint made against them, this will be dealt with under the disciplinary process. The process will be discussed with all relevant parties.
You can find out more about the disciplinary process in the documents below.
Download the policy and procedure
If you are using a mobile phone or tablet and do not have the Microsoft 365 app installed, the word version of these documents may not display correctly. We recommend that you download the PDF versions instead.
No further action will be taken under the bullying and harassment procedure.