Can a union representative attend my disciplinary hearing?

Your job may be at risk. You do not have to face a disciplinary hearing alone, or accept a manager’s claim that “we don’t deal with unions”. You can ask for a union official or colleague to accompany you. But you need to ask.

Who you can bring

Section 10 of the Employment Relations Act 1999 gives workers this right in Great Britain, including Scotland. Northern Ireland has a separate law with similar rights but a different tribunal deadline, explained below.

You choose one companion. The law allows three types only:

Membership is not a legal condition, but a union is not obliged to supply a rep. Ask its branch whether it can help with a dispute that began before you joined. Joining now does not guarantee representation. Options include USDAW in retail and distribution, UNISON in care and NHS support, Unite or GMB across several sectors, and IWGB for some couriers. See our union guide.

Ask separately for disability-related reasonable adjustments. The Acas guide gives a support worker or advocate as an example, and advises considering an interpreter for language difficulties. The standard companion list is not the whole answer to those needs.

What your rep can actually do in the room

Your rep is not there simply to watch. Under section 10, they can put your case, sum it up, respond to views and confer with you. Ask for a break to speak privately before answering.

The employer need not let them answer questions addressed to you, speak against your wishes or stop others contributing. You can agree a wider role. A manager who says your companion must remain silent is wrong.

A colleague acting as your companion gets reasonable paid time off during working hours. Allowing preparation and discussion time is also good practice, says the Acas guide. A lay union rep supporting someone at another employer does not automatically get paid time off from their own job.

Ask clearly and keep the reply

A spoken request counts. No form or legal wording is needed. Writing leaves evidence. The Acas Code sets no fixed request deadline, but says to allow enough time to arrange attendance.

1. Request your companion. Message your manager, “Please allow [name], [union official or colleague], to accompany me at the hearing on [date]. Please confirm.” For an unexpected meeting, ask whether disciplinary action is possible and request a companion before it proceeds.
2. Check the invitation. It should explain the allegations, possible consequences and companion right. Ask for the evidence, policy and time to prepare.
3. Confirm attendance. Give your companion’s name and role. Check a lay union official’s written certification. If unavailable, propose a reasonable alternative date.
4. Prepare together. Send the invitation and your account of events. A warehouse picker accused of lateness might need clock-in records; a care assistant accused of missing a visit, the schedule and travel records. Agree what you dispute and the outcome you want.
5. Save the record. Keep your request and reply. Ask for hearing notes and the written outcome. Tell your union or adviser about any refusal.

If your rep cannot make the date

If your companion cannot attend, propose another time. The employer must postpone if it is reasonable and falls within five working days, counted from the first working day after the proposed hearing date. Saturdays, Sundays, Christmas Day, Good Friday and bank holidays do not count.

Five days is not permission to reject every longer delay. The Acas guide says a longer postponement may be fair if it causes no unreasonable delay, particularly when dismissal is possible. Explain why your companion matters and offer the earliest workable date.

Write, “My companion cannot attend on 5 October. Please move the hearing to 9 October at 10am, within five working days.” Do not simply miss it. If no date is agreed, seek advice and record your objection. See also our suspension guide.

Which meetings count, and which do not

The test is what the meeting could do, not what your manager calls it. Section 13 defines the hearings covered.

A supermarket manager’s “quick chat about yesterday’s till shortage” needs scrutiny if a warning is possible. Ask, “Could this meeting lead to disciplinary action?” If so, request your companion. An investigation should lead to a separate formal hearing before action is taken. Policy or disability adjustments may allow support at the investigation too. See fair disciplinary procedures and appealing the outcome.

Grievances and wider union support

A grievance about unpaid wages, unsafe working conditions or denied holiday pay can qualify. A rota complaint may qualify if it concerns your contract or another employer duty. The same companion, speaking and postponement rules apply, including at a qualifying grievance appeal.

A rep can help you write the grievance, identify witnesses and check pay records. If it overlaps with discipline, the Acas Code allows a pause or dealing with related issues together. A grievance does not automatically stop the disciplinary process.

If you are the union rep facing discipline

You have the same companion right. Paragraph 30 of the Acas Code advises early discussion with an employed union official, depending on the circumstances and with your agreement. That is not a union veto. If your union activity is the real reason, consider the separate protections against punishment for union activity.

Agency, zero-hours and self-employed staff

The right covers employees and other workers. A zero-hours or casual contract does not by itself exclude you. The legal status of the relationship matters.

For agency workers, both the agency and the hirer count as employers for this right. If a warehouse supervisor calls you to a disciplinary hearing, send your companion request to the hirer and the agency. Either can be liable for its failure to comply.

Genuinely self-employed people serving clients or customers of their own business are excluded. A “self-employed” label does not settle status. A delivery rider may be a worker depending on the arrangement. Ask for a companion while seeking status advice. See employee, worker or self-employed and agency worker rights.

If the employer refuses or punishes you for asking

Ask for the refusal and reason in writing. If the hearing proceeds, record your request and objection. Raise it in your appeal or grievance, but seek tribunal advice too. An internal complaint does not stop the claim clock.

Compensation for refusal

Section 11 covers refusal or threatened refusal, denial of the companion’s statutory role and failure to postpone when required. Compensation is up to two weeks’ pay, calculated under statutory rules. In Great Britain, the weekly cap is £751 for failures or threats from 6 April 2026. The £1,502 ceiling is not a fixed payment.

Detriment and dismissal

Lost shifts, a rota cut or other disadvantage because you sought to use the right can support a detriment claim. Companions are protected too. For an employee dismissed principally for exercising or seeking to exercise the right, dismissal is automatically unfair with no qualifying service. Keep the before-and-after rotas and messages that connect the treatment to your request.

Unreasonable failure to follow the Acas Code can increase compensation in a relevant claim, such as unfair dismissal, by up to 25%. It is not an automatic penalty for every procedural mistake. Failing to tell you about accompaniment may matter even where no section 11 claim arises because you never asked. See unfair dismissal eligibility.

Contact your union’s legal service, Acas, Citizens Advice or a law centre promptly. Notify Acas for early conciliation before an ordinary Great Britain tribunal claim unless exempt. See how to bring a claim.

When it is your union disciplining you

Discipline by your employer is different from discipline by your union. A union’s rules may allow fines, suspension of benefits or expulsion, but members have protection against unjustifiable discipline under section 65 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. Protected conduct includes refusing to take part in or support industrial action, working during a strike and asserting that the union or its officials have broken its rules or the law.

False allegations made knowingly or in bad faith can fall outside protection, as can separate misconduct that would be disciplined regardless. A fine for protected conduct is unenforceable. Ask for the decision and appeal procedure. Great Britain tribunal complaints have a six-month period for union determinations from 1 October 2026; earlier determinations retain three months. Get advice on the exact deadline. In Northern Ireland, contact the Labour Relations Agency.

Northern Ireland and Scotland

England, Wales and Scotland share the companion rules and Great Britain claim deadlines above. Scotland does not have a separate companion-law test.

Northern Ireland uses Articles 12 to 15 of the Employment Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1999, with similar companion rights. Article 13 retains a three-month claim period, normally three months less one day from the failure or threat, subject to early conciliation. Claims go to an Industrial Tribunal. Contact the Labour Relations Agency, not Acas, for early conciliation. Do not use the Great Britain pay cap there. See our Northern Ireland guide.

What is changing next

The companion right already exists. You do not need to wait for the Employment Rights Act 2025 reforms. As at 1 October 2026, Acas lists these later changes as scheduled, not current rights:

1. 30 Oct 2026Union access and rep support

   Workplace access rules and facilities and time-off rights for some union representatives are scheduled to change.

2. 1 Jan 2027Unfair dismissal and union information

   The ordinary unfair dismissal qualifying period is due to fall from two years to six months. The compensatory cap is due to go. Employers are also due to gain a duty to tell workers of their right to join a union.