Role of Accompanied Person

I have advised an employee that his role is at risk from redundancy and that we are allowing him to be accompanied should they so wish, even though we're at first consultation stage and are not planning to confirm redundancy at this stage unless he wanted to leave voluntarily.

However he has requested that his line manager (who is not conducting the actual consultation) to accompany him. Are we able to say that it must be someone who isn't directly involved with the case or where there isn't a conflict of interest. Similarly can you please advise what the rights/role of the accompanied person is? Ie i am concerned that this person may be using the manager as their defense or to use information against the business, thus putting the manager in a very difficult position.

The line manager can refuse and if you need them as part of the process you should explain this to the employee and refuse the personhtey have nominated.

If the employee chooses to be accompanied, the employee can be accompanied at any disciplinary hearing by a fellow worker of their choice or a suitably qualified trade union official. The employee does not have to be a member of a trade union and a union does not have to be recognised by the company for there to be a trade union official present. It is increasingly recognised although there is no legal requirement to allow the employee to bring a spouse, friend or relative to accompany the individual to the meeting. Furthermore, you may also consider allowing them to bring a legal representative. However, if you do so, you should clearly set out the terms upon which you are allowing the legal representative to attend and the legal representative should sign a document that sets out these terms before the hearing commences.


The person accompanying the employee has the right to address the hearing to put the employee's case, as well as asking questions and conferring with the employee.

The hearing must be held within a reasonable time and the employee must take all reasonable steps to attend. If the employee or their representative is unable to attend, they can ask for an alternative date which must be within a reasonable time, ie. within five days of the original date.