Code of Practice

A code of conduct is internal, published by the organisation, containing specific rules and behaviours expected of employees, enforced through internal discipline.

Code of Practice is a document issued by a regulator or professional body setting out standards of good practice in a defined area, most commonly associated in UK employment law with ACAS statutory codes.

Acas codes of practice: the dominant UK employment example

ACAS issues five statutory Codes of Practice with statutory force under section 199 of TULRCA 1992:

• Code 1: Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures (2015). The most-cited ACAS Code. Sets out principles for handling disciplinary and grievance situations: formal investigations, accompanied hearings, appeals, and timely communication. The benchmark for procedurally fair dismissal.
• Code 2: Disclosure of Information to Trade Unions for Collective Bargaining. Addresses what information employers should disclose to trade unions during collective bargaining.
• Code 3: Time Off for Trade Union Duties and Activities. Addresses statutory entitlements to paid and unpaid time off for trade union representatives. Subject to updates under the Employment Rights Bill.
• Code 4: Settlement Agreements. Addresses how settlement agreement discussions should be conducted, including the protected conversation framework.
• Code 5: Requests for Flexible Working (December 2023 / April 2024). Updated to reflect the 2024 statutory changes giving employees the right to request flexible working from day one of employment.

The 25% tribunal uplift: how acas codes affect compensation

Under section 207A of TULRCA 1992:

• Employer breach. Where a tribunal finds that an employer unreasonably failed to comply with the ACAS Code in a relevant matter, it can increase the compensation award by up to 25%.
• Employee breach. Where the employee unreasonably failed to comply (e.g., refusing to attend a properly-called disciplinary hearing), compensation can be reduced by up to 25%.
• Significant financial impact. On compensatory unfair dismissal awards (cap approximately £115,115 for the year to April 2026), a 25% uplift can reach approximately £28,000.
• Beyond compensation. Failure to follow ACAS Codes also weighs on tribunal findings of substantive fairness; a procedurally defective dismissal is more likely to be found unfair.

Practitioner approach: treat ACAS Codes as the floor of acceptable practice; document compliance step-by-step; preserve contemporaneous evidence of code adherence.

Code of practice vs code of conduct vs code of ethics: the three-way distinction

Practical implication: these three documents operate at different levels and complement each other. The code of ethics provides values. The code of conduct translates values into internal rules. External codes of practice constrain internal rules to align with regulatory and industry good practice. Mature compliance maintains all three layers consistently.

Industry and professional codes of practice beyond acas

• ICO (UK Information Commissioner’s Office). Codes of practice on data protection, age-appropriate design, and employment practices. Carry statutory force under the Data Protection Act 2018.
• HSE (UK Health and Safety Executive). Approved Codes of Practice (ACoPs) on workplace safety topics. Failure to follow can establish breach of duty.
• FCA (UK Financial Conduct Authority). Codes of conduct for financial services firms under the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR).
• CIPD Code of Professional Conduct. Standards for HR and L&D professionals covering professional competence and ethical standards.
• REC Code (Recruitment and Employment Confederation). Standards for UK recruitment agencies.
• ILO Conventions. Convention 98 on collective bargaining and ILO Core Labour Standards, referenced in multinational compliance frameworks.

Practitioner playbook: 7-step approach to codes of practice

1. Identify applicable codes. For each operating jurisdiction and sector, identify which codes of practice apply. Most organisations underestimate the relevant code set.

1. Map codes to internal policies. Each internal code of conduct provision should trace to the external codes of practice it supports. Gap analysis reveals where internal policy falls short.
2. Maintain currency. Codes are updated periodically. ACAS Code 5 on flexible working was updated in 2024. Track changes systematically.
3. Train managers in code-compliant practice. Line managers conduct most disciplinary and grievance processes. Training in ACAS Code procedures (investigation, hearing, accompaniment rights, appeal rights) is essential.
4. Document code adherence step-by-step. Tribunal evidence depends on contemporaneous records of process steps taken.
5. Use codes as policy template. A disciplinary policy structured around ACAS Code paragraphs is more defensible than one with novel structure.
6. Get advice when departing from codes. Departing from codes increases legal risk. Take advice before departing; document the reasoning if you do.

Common code of practice failures

• Treating ACAS Codes as optional. Failure does not trigger automatic illegality, but produces tribunal uplift up to 25% and weakens unfair dismissal defence.
• Outdated procedures. Disciplinary procedures unchanged since the 2009 ACAS Code; flexible working procedures unchanged from pre-2024 statutory regime.
• No accompaniment rights. Failure to allow employees to be accompanied at formal hearings is a frequent code violation.
• Compressed timelines. Rushing disciplinary processes; tribunals view compressed timelines as procedurally defective.
• No appeal process. Failure to offer appeal is a near-automatic finding of procedural unfairness.
• Confusion with internal codes. Treating internal codes of conduct as equivalent to external codes of practice; they operate at different levels and one does not substitute for the other.

See also Code of Conduct for internal company policy, Code of Ethics for the values document, Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) for ACAS conciliation context, and Bradford Factor for UK absence management.

Frequently asked questions