Resolving a complaint from one team member about another (UK, Acas guidance)
For team leaders, supervisors and line managers in Great Britain who receive a complaint from one team member about another's behaviour, and for HR coordinators who support them. Complete 'Setting expectations and resolving conflict' first: it covers working agreements and a basic mediating conversation. This course goes further into the complaint route: deciding whether to handle it informally or formally, holding the separate conversations, running a joint meeting, writing the record (including a decision to take no further action), and following up or moving to a formal grievance or mediation. It uses Acas guidance and the Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures (UK). Your organisation's policies and HR adviser come first, and Northern Ireland has its own arrangements. This is not legal advice and does not qualify you as a mediator or HR professional.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Length
- About 92 minutes
- Contents
- 5 lessons · final exam
- Status
- Published · updated 10 Oct 2026
Skills you'll practise
- Decide whether a complaint about a colleague should be handled informally or formally
- Plan separate conversations with the person who complained and the person complained about
- Run an informal joint meeting that ends in specific, measurable next steps
- Write an informal resolution record, including a decision to take no further action and its reasons
- Follow up an informal resolution and move to a formal grievance or mediation when it hasn't worked
Course outline
- 1.Deciding whether to handle a complaint about a colleague informally or formallyLesson · 16 min
- 2.Planning separate conversations with each personLesson · 18 min
- 3.Running an informal joint meeting that ends in specific next stepsLesson · 18 min
- 4.Writing an informal resolution record, including a no-further-action decisionLesson · 14 min
- 5.Following up and moving to a formal grievance or mediation when it hasn't workedLesson · 14 min
- 6.Resolving a complaint from one team member about another (UK, Acas guidance): knowledge checkKnowledge check · 14 questions
- 7.Resolving a complaint from one team member about another (UK, Acas guidance): practical exerciseKnowledge check · 1 question
- 8.Final exam10 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out
Sources it draws on
The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.
- Acas: Handling a bullying or discrimination complaint - approaching a complaint
- Acas: Handling a bullying or discrimination complaint - informal complaints
- Acas: Dealing with a problem raised by an employee
- Acas: Formal grievance procedure, step 1 - understanding the options
- Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures
- Acas: A new Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures (consultation, 30 July 2026)
- Acas: Mediation at work - what mediation is and how it can help
- Acas blog: The power of informal conflict resolution at work (30 June 2025)
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