Independent investigation
Full investigating officer service under agreed terms of reference, from first interview to written report and attendance at hearing if required.
Consultancy service
Investigations thathold up under scrutiny.
Independent investigating officers, hearing chairs and ER casework support — for the matters where the process itself will be examined as closely as the outcome.
Why organisations bring us in
Three situations, repeatedly.
The respondent is senior. When the person under investigation is a headteacher, a director or a chief officer, internal investigation is difficult to run credibly. Whoever conducts it reports to, works alongside, or will be judged by the person they are investigating. An external investigator removes that problem entirely.
Impartiality would be challenged. In a small organisation, or a directorate where everybody knows everybody, an internal investigator can be procedurally perfect and still have their independence attacked at appeal or at tribunal. Sometimes the safest route is the one nobody can characterise as an inside job.
Capacity has run out. Investigations are enormously time-consuming, and they are usually assigned to a manager who already has a full role. The result is investigations that take five months, which is itself a procedural weakness. We take the file and run it to a timetable.
What an investigation from us looks like
Terms of reference agreed in writing before we start, so scope creep is visible if it happens. Structured interviews with the complainant, the respondent and witnesses, with notes offered for agreement. Documentary evidence gathered and indexed. A written report setting out the evidence, the findings of fact, and — where the terms of reference ask for it — a view on whether there is a case to answer. We do not decide the outcome; that remains with your decision-maker.
The report is written on the assumption that it will be read by a tribunal. That discipline tends to improve everything about it.
Services
Across the whole
ER lifecycle.
Hearing & appeal chairs
An independent chair for disciplinary, grievance or appeal hearings where no suitable internal decision-maker exists or seniority makes it awkward.
Grievance handling
Support for collective grievances, grievances against senior staff, and the long-running matters that have escalated beyond their original subject.
Whistleblowing & concerns
Handling of protected disclosures with the care that detriment provisions demand, including where the concern touches safeguarding or public money.
Mediation & resolution
Facilitated resolution for breakdowns in working relationships, which is often a better answer than a formal process nobody wins.
Case review
A second pair of eyes on a case that has stalled or gone wrong, with a written view on whether it can be continued or must be restarted.
FAQs
Investigation
questions.
It depends on the number of witnesses, their availability and the volume of documentary evidence. A straightforward single-allegation matter with three witnesses might take three to four weeks; a complex multi-allegation case with fifteen witnesses will take considerably longer.
We agree an indicative timetable at the terms of reference stage and tell you promptly if it is going to slip, because unexplained delay is itself a procedural risk.
Need an investigator who is genuinely independent?
Tell us the shape of the matter on a free call. We will tell you whether it needs an external investigator or whether your team can run it with support.
Prefer email? [email protected] · Or call 020 0000 0000