7. May 2026
How to fairly dismiss a Charity Employee: A Plain-English guide
Nobody goes into charity work hoping to sack someone. But if you lead a small or medium-sized charity, the day may come when you have no choice and how you handle it matters enormously.
This guide is written for charity CEOs, managers, and trustees who are facing a dismissal for the first time. It won't turn you into an employment lawyer. What it will do is give you a clear, honest walkthrough of the fair dismissal process in the UK, and flag the places where things most commonly go wrong in small, mission-driven organisations.
A note before we begin: This post covers general principles of fair dismissal in the UK charity sector. Every situation is different, and specific cases require professional HR or legal advice. This post is not a replacement for professional HR or legal advice. If you're dealing with a live situation right now, please don't rely on this post alone scroll to the bottom and get in touch.
Why Dismissal Feels Different in a Charity
In a corporate setting, dismissing an employee is still difficult. In a charity, it can feel almost impossible.
The person you're managing out might have been a long-standing volunteer before they became a paid employee. Your trustees may know them personally. Some might have recruited them. The team is small enough that everyone will know something is happening. And there's often a nagging voice that says: "We're a charity, we're supposed to do things differently."
All of that is real. But employment law that governs fair dismissals applies to charities exactly as it does to any other employer. Good intentions don't protect you from a tribunal. What protects you is following a fair process, even when it feels uncomfortable.
What Makes a Dismissal 'Fair' Under UK Employment Law?
For a dismissal to be legally fair, two things need to be true:
1. There must be a potentially fair reason for the dismissal.
UK employment law recognises five potentially fair reasons:
- Conduct (misconduct or gross misconduct)
- Capability (performance or ill health)
- Redundancy (Such as a role no longer existing)
- Statutory illegality (where continuing to employ the person would break the law, such as a lack of right to work in the UK)
- Some other substantial reason (SOSR); a catch-all for situations that don't fit neatly elsewhere
2. You must follow a fair procedure.
Even if your reason is solid, an unfair procedure can make the dismissal legally unfair. Employment tribunals look at both.
The "You're fired" instant dismissals akin to TV shows don't exist in UK employment law.
Employees with two or more years of continuous service have the right to claim unfair dismissal. But a poor process can also expose your charity to discrimination claims and those have no qualifying period. This two year service? Becomes 6 months service as of January 2027. So anyone that joins your charity on or before July 2026 will be able to raise this potential claim as of January 2027.
The Acas Code of Practice: Your Starting Point
Before you take any formal steps, you need to know about the Acas Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures. Employment tribunals are required to take it into account. If you ignore it, any compensation awarded against you could be increased by up to 25%.
The Code is free to download from the ACAS website and is written in reasonably plain English. It sets out the minimum standard of fair process written notifications, the right to be accompanied, appeals, and so on.
Think of it as your procedural floor, not your ceiling.
A Step-by-Step Guide to Fair Dismissal
The exact process depends on the reason for dismissal. Misconduct looks different from capability, which looks different from redundancy. But the broad framework is consistent.
Where possible, use a different manager at every stage. If your charity is to small, this can be tough to do. But it can demonstrate a fair; fresh eyes perspective.
Step 1: Investigate Before You Act
This is where many small charities go wrong. Something happens, a complaint, a performance issue, an incident and the instinct is to move quickly.
Don't.
Before any formal process begins, you need to carry out a reasonable investigation. That means gathering facts: speaking to witnesses, reviewing documentation, and forming a view on what actually happened and whether it warrants a formal process.
In a small charity, the investigator ideally should not be the same person who will chair the disciplinary hearing. If your charity is tiny and that's unavoidable, document why.
Step 2: Invite the Employee to a Formal Meeting
If the investigation suggests there's a case to answer, you need to invite the employee to a formal disciplinary or capability meeting in writing.
That letter must include:
- What the allegation or concern is
- The evidence you'll be relying on (or where to find it)
- The date, time, and location of the meeting
- Their right to be accompanied by a trade union representative or a colleague
Give them enough notice to prepare; typically five working days, though your policy may specify more.
Step 3: Hold the Hearing Fairly
At the hearing, present the case against them. Then and this is critical: give them a genuine opportunity to respond.
That means listening. It means considering any explanation they offer. It means not going in with your mind already made up.
This is harder in a small charity where you may have already discussed the situation extensively with the chair of trustees or a colleague. Be careful. If a tribunal concludes the outcome was predetermined, the dismissal will almost certainly be found unfair.
Take thorough notes. Ideally have a second person in the room to take minutes.
Step 4: Adjourn to Consider Your Decision
Don't give your decision at the end of the hearing. Adjourn, consider what you heard, and make your decision separately.
If dismissal is appropriate, confirm it in writing. The letter must:
- State the reason for dismissal
- Confirm the notice period (or payment in lieu of notice)
- Explain the right of appeal and the timescales
For gross misconduct, you may be able to dismiss without notice but only if the investigation and hearing process has been properly followed.
Step 5: Offer the Right of Appeal
Every dismissed employee has the right to appeal the decision. Your letter must tell them how to do it, and who to appeal to.
In a small charity, finding someone sufficiently independent to hear an appeal can be genuinely difficult. This is a legitimate governance challenge. One option is to involve a trustee who has had no involvement in the process, or in some cases to bring in an external HR professional to chair the appeal.
Special Considerations for Charities
When the Person Being Dismissed Knows Your Trustees
This happens more than people admit. The employee being dismissed may have a personal relationship with one or more trustees. They may have been recruited by a trustee. They may be friends outside work.
This creates two risks: the risk of the process being influenced by those relationships, and the risk of confidentiality being compromised.
Be clear with your board about the boundaries. Trustees who have a conflict of interest should step back from any involvement in the process. Document this.
When the Employee Has Also Volunteered
In small animal welfare charities and similar organisations, it's not unusual for employees to also be volunteers in some capacity, or to have come up through volunteering. This can create a sense of loyalty in both directions that makes the process feel even more fraught.
The employment relationship and the volunteering relationship are separate. Dismissing an employee doesn't automatically end a volunteering arrangement, and vice versa. Get advice on how to manage both, particularly if the volunteer role involves access to vulnerable people or animals.
When There Is No HR Function
If you don't have an in-house HR professional and most small charities don't you're likely managing this alone, or with limited trustee support.
This is where the risk of process failure is highest. It's also where getting even a few hours of specialist HR advice can save you from a much larger headache down the line.
The Most Common Mistakes Charity Employers Make
These come up repeatedly in employment tribunal cases involving small employers:
- Not investigating properly before starting a formal process. Acting on instinct rather than evidence.
- Failing to share evidence in advance. Ambushing the employee with documents they've never seen at the hearing.
- Holding the hearing too soon. Not giving the employee enough time to prepare or seek advice.
- Going in with a predetermined outcome. The hearing should be a genuine process, not a formality.
- No right of appeal, or no one to hear it. Skipping this step or making it meaningless significantly increases legal risk.
- Letting it drag on. Equally, failing to address a live situation promptly can be just as damaging to the team and to the individual.
What About Redundancy?
Redundancy is a separate process and deserves its own post but it's worth flagging here. If you're considering dismissal because a role no longer exists or the funding has dried up, this is redundancy, not misconduct or capability.
Conflating them is one of the most common mistakes charity employers make. Using a disciplinary process to manage a situation that is actually a redundancy creates significant legal risk. Get advice early.
A Final Word on Doing It With Dignity
Even when dismissal is the right outcome, how you do it matters for the person leaving, for the team that stays, and for your charity's reputation.
That means being clear and honest about the reason. It means not dragging out the process unnecessarily. It means treating the person as a human being throughout, not just as a problem to be resolved.
In a small, mission-driven organisation, your values don't stop at the door of the HR office. How you treat people on the way out says as much about your culture as how you treat them on the way in.
Need Support With a Dismissal in Your Charity?
If you're dealing with a dismissal or can see one coming don't wait until the situation deteriorates. Getting the right advice early is almost always cheaper, faster, and less stressful than trying to fix a process that's gone wrong.
Verdant Purpose HR works with small and medium charities across the UK. We provide practical, plain-English HR support tailored to the charity sector including disciplinary and dismissal processes, trustee guidance, and ongoing HR consultancy.