Can I have a supporter or representative when reporting harassment

Whether you can bring someone with you, and who that person can be, depends on the type of process you are involved in and whose rules apply. The answer is quite different for a workplace situation, a university or college process, and other complaint or investigation settings. Below I explain the main scenarios so you can identify which applies to you.

The workplace statutory right to be accompanied

If you are an employee or worker and the harassment complaint is being dealt with through your employer’s grievance or disciplinary procedure, there is a specific legal right to be accompanied under section 10 of the Employment Relations Act 1999.

This statutory right applies to formal grievance hearings (which is where a complaint of harassment you have raised would normally be considered) and to disciplinary hearings that could result in a formal warning or other disciplinary action. When the right applies, you can choose to be accompanied by one of the following: a fellow worker (a colleague), a trade union representative who is certified or trained to act as a companion, or a full-time trade union official. Your chosen companion may address the hearing, put your case, sum up, respond on your behalf and confer with you during the meeting, but they cannot answer questions on your behalf.

Importantly, the strict statutory right does not cover investigation or fact-finding meetings. ACAS guidance states that in an investigation meeting there is no legal right to be accompanied, but that it is good practice for employers to allow it, and many employers’ own policies do permit a companion at that stage. So even where there is no legal right, you can and should ask, and the employer’s own policy may give you a contractual right.

A practical point: if an investigation meeting starts to look as though it will itself lead to disciplinary action, an employer who refuses accompaniment risks depriving you of your rights and acting unfairly. Where you are the person complaining, the meeting where your grievance is heard is a grievance hearing, so the statutory right normally applies there.

If you are attending as a student

If this concerns a university, college or other post-16 education provider rather than an employer, there is no statutory right to be accompanied. Instead, the provider’s own harassment, complaints or disciplinary regulations govern the position. Most universities’ procedures expressly allow a reporting student, or a student attending an investigation or disciplinary meeting, to bring a supporter. The permitted supporter is usually a fellow student, a students’ union adviser, or a member of staff, and providers often restrict whether the supporter may be a practising lawyer, particularly at the earlier stages.

You should read the specific policy that applies to your institution, because the identity of the permitted supporter, whether they can speak on your behalf, and how much notice you must give are all set by that policy. The Office for Students expects providers to have fair procedures, and providers increasingly allow support given the sensitivity of harassment and sexual misconduct cases.

Other settings

If the report is to the police, you are entitled to support. A vulnerable or intimidated witness may be entitled to special measures, and you can normally have a supporter present in appropriate circumstances. If you are a suspect being interviewed under caution, you are entitled to legal representation.

If the complaint is to a regulator, ombudsman or professional body, or is being handled under an internal complaints procedure of an organisation, check that body’s published procedure, as most allow you to bring a representative or supporter.

What the supporter or representative can usually do

The permitted role varies by process, but common features are that the supporter can be present for moral support, take notes, help you present your points, and confer with you privately. In many procedures the supporter is not permitted to answer questions that only you can answer about the facts, and they may not be allowed to act as an advocate who runs the whole case, especially at the investigation stage. Legal representation specifically is often restricted to the more serious or formal stages, so check whether a solicitor or barrister is permitted for the particular meeting.

Practical next steps

1. Identify which procedure applies to you, for example your employer’s grievance and disciplinary policy, or your university’s harassment and student conduct regulations, and read the section dealing with accompaniment or support.

2. Confirm in writing, before the meeting, that you intend to bring a named supporter or representative, and ask the organiser to confirm this is agreed and to note who they are and their role.

3. If the procedure does not give an automatic right but allows it as good practice, make a reasoned written request. A refusal to allow reasonable support in a sensitive harassment matter is something you can later point to if you challenge the fairness of the process.

4. Check whether the meeting is properly classified. If an employer calls something an investigation meeting but it will actually decide on a formal warning or grievance outcome, the statutory right to be accompanied is likely to apply, and you should say so.

5. Choose a supporter who can attend on the date, keep matters confidential, and stay within the permitted role, so that their presence is not objected to.

Points that affect the answer

The key missing facts are which setting this is (employment, education, police, regulator or internal complaints), whether you are the person reporting or the person being investigated, and whether the meeting is a fact-finding investigation or a formal grievance or disciplinary hearing. If you tell me the specific context and, ideally, the name of the policy or procedure being used, I can give you a more precise answer about exactly who you can bring and what they are allowed to do.