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Introduction to this document

Letter following poor performance appeal meeting

After the poor performance appeal meeting, you will need to formally notify the employee in writing of the outcome. The decision on an appeal is normally final unless your capability procedure specifically contains a right of further appeal to a higher level of management.

Notification of the outcome

Use our Notice of Poor Performance Appeal Meeting to arrange an appeal meeting in circumstances where an employee has appealed under your capability procedure, whether that is an appeal against a performance warning or an appeal against a dismissal decision. Once you’ve held the appeal meeting, which should follow both the Acas Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures and the terms of your capability procedure, you will then need to take a decision on the employee’s appeal and formally advise them in writing of the outcome. This is where our Letter following Poor Performance Appeal Meeting comes in.

Reject or uphold

After hearing the employee’s submissions on appeal, there are two possible outcomes. The first is that you decide to reject the appeal. This means your original decision to issue a performance warning to, or to dismiss, the employee stands and that is the end of the matter. This is likely to apply in the majority of cases. The other potential outcome is that you uphold the employee’s appeal, perhaps in the light of new evidence. In the case of a written performance warning, this would mean immediately removing that warning from the employee’s personnel file as if it had never been issued. If the employee had been dismissed, it means you will need to reinstate them into employment as if they had never been dismissed. In this scenario, the chances are that the employee has already been out of your employment for a couple of weeks without pay. You would therefore normally be expected to pay the employee back pay to cover the period between the dismissal and their reinstatement. Use our letter to notify the employee of the outcome of their appeal and to spell out that the appeal is final. Then, place a copy on the employee’s personnel file. Finally, where the original performance management sanction was imposed in relation to two or more poor performance issues and the employee’s grounds for appeal covers them all, ensure that your letter clearly deals with the appeal outcome on everything - don’t leave any important matters out.