Bullied at work and HR is doing nothing? What you can actually do
There is no law that simply bans bullying in Great Britain. Start with a dated note and a written grievance, and do not resign to make them listen.
You have reported the shouting. The supervisor is still doing it, and now you are worried about next week’s shifts. HR’s silence does not mean you have run out of options. Keep your evidence, put the complaint in writing and check the claim deadline. You do not have to resign to challenge harassment.
- No ban
- no standalone bullying law in Great Britain
- Day one
- no minimum service for Equality Act harassment protection
- 6 months
- most GB claim limits, relevant dates from 1 Oct 2026
- Max 25%
- Acas Code award adjustment in eligible claims
What to do this week
- Write it down tonight. Record dates, places, exact words, witnesses and the effect on you.
- Save evidence safely. Keep relevant messages, rotas, complaints and replies outside your work account where lawful. Do not take patient records, customer data or colleagues’ files.
- Get help with your health. Tell your GP what is happening. Medical records can support evidence of harm, but do not prove who caused it.
- Send a formal grievance. If your manager is the bully, send it above them or to HR. If there is nobody else, write to the owner. Ask for protection while they investigate.
- Get advice and check the deadline. Call Acas on 0300 123 1100 or speak to your union. Northern Ireland uses the Labour Relations Agency. Calling for advice is not early-conciliation notification.
- Do not resign to force a response. Get advice before risking your wages, especially if your visa depends on the job.
Join a union if you can. You do not need a permanent contract to ask about membership. UNISON and GMB organise in care and NHS support; Unite and GMB cover hospitality, logistics and food production; Usdaw covers retail; the IWGB organises delivery riders. Ask what help is available for an existing dispute before relying on legal representation. Citizens Advice and law centres are other places to seek help. How unions work.
There is no standalone bullying claim
Acas describes bullying as unwanted behaviour that makes someone feel intimidated, degraded, humiliated or offended. The label alone does not create a tribunal claim. You need to identify what the conduct breaches. We think that gap asks too much of someone already struggling to get through a shift.
| Route | What it needs | Service or remedy |
|---|---|---|
| Equality Act harassment | Conduct meeting the harassment test | No minimum service |
| Sexual harassment preventive duty | Failure to take reasonable preventive steps | Uplift in a successful sexual harassment claim; EHRC enforcement |
| Whistleblowing | Retaliation for a protected disclosure | No minimum service. Urgent advice if dismissed |
| Acas Code grievance | A formal complaint about work | No standalone claim. Up to 25% adjustment in eligible employee claims |
| Health and safety | Failure to protect health | Employer duty, not a bullying compensation scheme |
| Constructive unfair dismissal | Resignation because of a fundamental contractual breach, without accepting it | Employee status and usually 2 years’ service now |
| Protection from Harassment Act 1997 | A course of conduct amounting to harassment | No minimum service. Civil damages or injunction |
You can pursue the grievance while protecting a tribunal claim. The two processes run alongside each other.
If it is about who you are
Under section 26 of the Equality Act 2010, harassment is unwanted conduct related to age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. It must have the purpose or effect of violating your dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. For the effect test, the tribunal considers your perception, the circumstances and whether it was reasonable for the conduct to have that effect. Sexual harassment has a separate test for unwanted conduct of a sexual nature.
Marriage, civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity are not harassment characteristics under that section. Pregnancy treatment can still be pregnancy discrimination. Sexual comments about a pregnant worker can still be harassment related to sex.
A warehouse supervisor repeatedly mocking a worker’s nationality, or a manager ridiculing a cleaner’s disability, may meet that test. These are examples, not reported cases. You do not have to share the characteristic targeted, and a single incident can qualify. There is no minimum service requirement.
The employer can be liable for employee harassment in the course of employment under section 109. Its defence is taking all reasonable preventive steps. An agency carer can have protection against the home under section 41. Cutting shifts because of a discrimination or harassment complaint can be victimisation under section 27. An ordinary bullying complaint without that connection is not automatically protected. See our Equality Act guide and discrimination complaint guide.
Since 26 October 2024, employers must take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of employees. The Equality and Human Rights Commission can investigate. It will not run your claim. A tribunal can uplift a sexual harassment award by up to 25% for breach of the duty. That is not a freestanding claim, and it is not the Acas Code 25% below. Employer duties on sexual harassment has the detail.
Example: Leah and the regular customer
Leah works behind a bar. A regular makes unwanted sexual comments about her body. She tells the manager twice, but he keeps assigning her to serve the man. The preventive duty already requires reasonable steps against sexual harassment, including customer harassment. Leah should record the comments, her reports and the manager’s response. Under the third-party reform scheduled for 30 October 2026, failure to take all reasonable preventive steps can also support a claim against the employer. The same issue can arise for a housekeeper serving a guest or a carer supporting a resident.
If there is an immediate threat to safety, call 999. Violence, stalking and harassment can require police help as well as a workplace complaint. See what employers must do about violence.
Compensation can include injury to feelings. For claims presented on or after 6 April 2026, the Vento guidance gives a lower band of £1,300 to £12,600, a middle band of £12,600 to £37,700 and an upper band of £37,700 to £62,900. Exceptional cases can exceed £62,900. The bands guide assessment of harm; they are not a price list for particular insults. Scottish claims remain subject to the original guidance’s Scottish qualification. These are not Northern Ireland award figures.
When HR does nothing
HR works for the employer. You can seek help outside it. There is no separate statutory duty attached to the job title “HR” to investigate every bullying complaint, but the employer’s contractual, equality and safety duties still matter.
An unreasonable failure to follow the Acas Code can increase or reduce compensation in eligible claims by up to 25%, under section 207A. An employer who ignores the grievance risks an increase. An employee who unreasonably fails to use the procedure risks a reduction. You must still have a claim the tribunal can hear.
How to raise the grievance
If an informal complaint has failed, or the conduct is too serious for one, use the formal grievance procedure. You do not have to confront the bully alone first.
- State the facts and what you need. Give dates, exact words, witnesses and the effect on your work or health. Ask for the conduct to stop, a written outcome and protection against retaliation. For example, ask not to work alone with the supervisor while the complaint is considered.
- Send it past the bully. Use their manager, HR, an area manager or the owner. Agency staff should write to both the agency and hirer. Keep a copy and evidence of delivery.
- Ask for a meeting and a companion. A colleague or union representative can support you. See the grievance guide and companion guide.
- Appeal an inadequate outcome. Explain what was missed or why the decision is wrong. Wherever possible, someone not previously involved should hear the appeal. If there is no response, chase in writing and keep that record.
- Notify Acas separately, in time. Early conciliation is required before most Great Britain tribunal claims. Do not wait for the grievance or appeal to finish. Northern Ireland uses the Labour Relations Agency.
Example: a cleaner’s grievance uplift
Amina is an employee working as a hospital cleaner. In this hypothetical example, a tribunal assesses harassment compensation at £6,400 and finds an unreasonable failure to follow the Code after the employer ignored her written grievance. If it awards the maximum uplift, £6,400 × 1.25 = £8,000, an extra £1,600. That is not automatic. If instead Amina unreasonably failed to use the procedure and the tribunal imposed the maximum reduction, £6,400 × 0.75 = £4,800.
The Code adjustment applies in the employee claims the law lists, including discrimination. A worker who is not an employee should still complain in writing. The complaint and response can be evidence even without an uplift. The sexual harassment preventive-duty uplift is separate and requires a successful sexual harassment claim.
What to keep
Keep records while details are fresh. A suspension or departure can cut off your work account.
| Keep | What it can show |
|---|---|
| A dated incident diary | What happened, exact words, witnesses and effect on you |
| Relevant messages and emails | The conduct and how managers responded |
| Your rotas and payslips | Changes to shifts or income after a complaint |
| Witness names | Who could confirm events. Do not pressure them |
| Medical records and fit notes | Evidence of health effects, not proof of the whole claim |
| The grievance, replies and appeal | What the employer knew and what it did |
Keep your contract too. Record facts separately from your conclusions. “The manager called me [exact words] in front of two colleagues” is more useful than “the manager is toxic”. If you need evidence held by the employer, ask your adviser how to obtain it lawfully.
Your health, and speaking up
Employers must protect employees’ health, including mental health, so far as reasonably practicable under section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The HSE’s stress management standards cover demands, control, support, relationships, role and change. Report the health risk in writing and ask what will change. If your condition meets the disability test, reasonable adjustments may also be required. See mental health discrimination.
HSE generally will not investigate individual stress cases or bullying complaints. Its policy allows consideration of wider organisational failings affecting several employees, after concerns have been raised with the employer. A union safety rep can help raise a shared risk. HSE does not award compensation. See HSE enforcement and claims for work stress.
Since 6 April 2026, sexual harassment is expressly listed as wrongdoing for qualifying disclosures under section 23 of the 2025 Act. You still need to disclose information, reasonably believe it is in the public interest and meet the rules about who receives it. A purely personal grievance is not automatically whistleblowing. Other bullying complaints may qualify through a legal breach or health and safety danger.
Workers can challenge detriment for a protected disclosure. Employees dismissed principally for making one can claim automatically unfair dismissal without minimum service or a compensatory cap. A rota cut after a complaint does not prove the link on its own. Seek urgent advice if dismissed. Our whistleblowing guide explains the tests.
A civil harassment claim
The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 offers another route, without needing a protected characteristic. It requires a course of conduct amounting to harassment, involving at least two incidents. Two unpleasant exchanges do not automatically meet the test. A civil court can award damages for anxiety and financial loss, or grant an injunction. This route can cover self-employed people too.
In England and Wales, the general limit for this claim is six years. A separate negligence claim for psychiatric injury usually has a three-year limit, measured from accrual or later knowledge. These are different claims. Section 11 of the Limitation Act expressly excludes section 3 harassment damages claims from that personal-injury time limit. In Scotland, the harassment remedy is under section 8; do not apply the English six-year figure. Get advice about limitation, court fees and costs before choosing the civil route.
Do not resign to make them listen
Under section 95(1)(c), resignation can count as dismissal where an employee leaves because of a fundamental contractual breach. Persistent bullying or a serious failure to deal with it can breach the implied duty of trust and confidence. You must resign in response to the breach without having accepted it. Ordinary disagreements or fair performance criticism will not, by themselves, establish the claim.
Timing is fact-sensitive. There is no universal safe waiting period, and continuing to work does not automatically mean you have accepted the breach. Get advice while you are still employed. If you do resign because of it, explain that reason clearly in the letter. You do not need to resign to bring a harassment claim.
Example: Jordan’s basic award
Suppose Jordan, a shop employee aged 32, wins an ordinary constructive unfair dismissal claim after eight complete years’ service, all after age 22. Gross pay is £480 a week, below the £751 week’s-pay cap effective from 6 April 2026. The basic award calculation is 8 × £480 = £3,840, before any applicable reductions.
Loss-based compensation is separate. For a 2026 dismissal, the ordinary compensatory cap is the lower of £123,543 or 52 weeks’ gross pay. Here, 52 × £480 = £24,960. That is a ceiling, not a promised payment. Removal of this cap is scheduled for dismissals from 1 January 2027. Compensation will still depend on the loss proved.
If you are offered a settlement, get advice before signing. The new restrictions on misuse of confidentiality clauses in harassment and discrimination cases are scheduled for 2027, not in force at our review date. That does not mean every confidentiality clause is enforceable now. See settlement agreements.
Zero-hours, agency, and a visa
Your contract’s label is not conclusive. A zero-hours carer may have harassment and whistleblowing protection without qualifying for unfair dismissal. A shift cut because of an Equality Act complaint can be victimisation. See zero-hours contracts and employment status.
| Status | Equality Act protection | Unfair dismissal | Whistleblowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employee | Yes | Yes, subject to qualifying rules | Yes, if disclosure tests met |
| Worker, not employee | Usually within the Act’s wider employment definition | No | Yes, if disclosure tests met |
| Agency worker | Potential claims against hirer and agency, depending on conduct and responsibility | Depends on employee status. Not automatically against the hirer | Special rules can cover agency arrangements |
| Self-employed | May apply where the contract requires personal work. Not every business-to-business arrangement | No, if genuinely self-employed | Only where statutory coverage applies |
Agency staff should report to both the agency and hirer. Ask each what it will do, rather than letting them send you back to the other. Agency workers’ rights explains the split. If your visa is tied to the employer, get immigration advice before resigning or agreeing to leave. A lost sponsor licence is a separate issue.
The clock
A grievance or appeal does not pause a tribunal deadline. Under SI 2026/954, most Great Britain limits increased to six months for relevant dates on or after 1 October 2026. For unfair dismissal, that date is the effective date of termination. For Equality Act claims, it is usually the act complained of, or the end of conduct extending over a period. Earlier relevant dates keep the old rule.
Example: a kitchen porter’s deadline
Suppose Sam was harassed in a single incident on 15 August 2026. Before any early-conciliation extension, three months less one day gives a deadline of 14 November 2026. For a single incident on 15 October 2026, six months less one day gives 14 April 2027. The October reform does not give the August incident an extra three months.
Notify Acas within the applicable limit. Early conciliation can run for up to 12 weeks for notifications from 1 December 2025. It pauses the clock, and the extension rules can give at least a month after the certificate where notification was in time. They do not give everyone a fresh six months. Have the revised filing date checked. Our deadline calculator can help, but it cannot decide whether separate incidents legally form continuing conduct.
Do not assume that a new incident revives every earlier one. Whether conduct extends over a period is a legal question, and different complaints can have different deadlines. Read tribunal time limits and how to bring a claim.
- Sexual harassment preventive duty
In force. Reasonable steps required.
- Longer early conciliation
In force. Up to 12 weeks for new notifications.
- Sexual harassment disclosures
In force. Expressly listed wrongdoing; protection tests still apply.
- Six-month tribunal limits
In force for relevant dates from this day. Scottish tribunal contract claims change on 9 November 2026.
- Stronger harassment duties
Scheduled. All reasonable steps and third-party protection.
- Unfair dismissal changes
Scheduled for dismissals from this date. Six-month service and compensatory uncapping.
Scotland and Northern Ireland
Scotland shares the Equality Act, the Employment Rights Act 1996 and the Acas Code. The six-month tribunal change applies, except for tribunal breach-of-contract claims, whose change is scheduled for 9 November 2026. Civil harassment proceedings use the separate Scottish scheme under section 8. Ask a Scottish adviser about prescription and the appropriate court remedy.
Northern Ireland has separate discrimination legislation, not the Equality Act 2010. Ordinary unfair dismissal usually needs one year’s service. The usual tribunal limit for unfair dismissal or discrimination remains three months less one day, subject to early-conciliation rules. Contact the Labour Relations Agency, not Acas. The LRA Code and compensation-adjustment rules are separate. The GB sexual harassment preventive duty and the reforms described here do not apply there. See Northern Ireland employment law.
Questions people ask
Is workplace bullying illegal in the UK?
Great Britain has no standalone ban. The conduct can still be unlawful harassment, breach a contract or engage safety duties. Northern Ireland has separate legislation.
HR is doing nothing. What now?
Raise a written grievance, ask for protection and appeal an inadequate outcome. Get independent advice. Notify Acas separately before any tribunal deadline, without waiting for the grievance to finish.
Who hears a complaint about your manager?
Their manager, HR, an area manager or the owner. Agency staff should write to both agency and hirer. If the bully is the only boss, keep a written complaint and seek outside advice.
Should you resign?
Not to make them listen. Constructive unfair dismissal requires a fundamental breach and usually two years’ employee service at our review date. Harassment claims do not require resignation. Get advice first.
Do zero-hours and agency staff have rights?
Yes. Equality Act and whistleblowing protection extend beyond employees, subject to their tests. Agency claims depend on the conduct and responsibility. Unfair dismissal depends on employee status and qualifying rules.
What is the deadline?
Usually six months less one day for GB tribunal claims with relevant dates from 1 October 2026. Earlier dates and Northern Ireland usually retain three months less one day. Early conciliation can extend time; grievances cannot. Civil claims have different limits.
Sources
- Bullying at work, Acas
- Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures, Acas
- Acas helpline, Acas
- Equality Act 2010, section 26: harassment, legislation.gov.uk
- Equality Act 2010, section 27: victimisation, legislation.gov.uk
- Equality Act 2010, section 109: employer liability, legislation.gov.uk
- Equality Act 2010, section 41: contract workers, legislation.gov.uk
- Sexual harassment protections in force from 26 October 2024, GOV.UK
- Worker Protection Act statement, EHRC
- Employment Rights Act 2025, sections 20 to 24: harassment and discrimination, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 2025, section 25: unfair dismissal, legislation.gov.uk
- SI 2026/559: unfair dismissal commencement, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act timeline, updated 25 September 2026, GOV.UK
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 43B: qualifying disclosures, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 95: dismissal, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 128: interim relief and seven-day limit, legislation.gov.uk
- TULRCA 1992, section 207A: Code adjustments, legislation.gov.uk
- Employment Rights Increase of Limits Order 2026, legislation.gov.uk
- SI 2026/954: tribunal time limits and transitional rules, legislation.gov.uk
- SI 2025/1153 explanatory memorandum: early conciliation, legislation.gov.uk
- Protection from Harassment Act 1997, section 3: civil remedy in England and Wales, legislation.gov.uk
- Protection from Harassment Act 1997, section 8: Scotland, legislation.gov.uk
- Limitation Act 1980, section 2: tort limitation, legislation.gov.uk
- Limitation Act 1980, section 11: personal injury and the harassment exception, legislation.gov.uk
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 2, legislation.gov.uk
- Stress management standards, HSE
- Investigating work-related stress concerns, HSE
- Vento bands, Ninth Addendum, 30 March 2026, Employment Tribunal Presidents
- Early conciliation in Northern Ireland, nidirect
- Employment Rights Northern Ireland Order 1996, legislation.gov.uk
- Survey of women members, July 2025, Unite
- Payment of employment tribunal awards, 2013, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills