Suspension during an investigation at work letter template

A template letter from an employer to an employee explaining why they have been suspended and what happens next with the investigation. Free to use.

You can copy and paste the template text into an email or document.

This template is for suspension during an investigation at work, sometimes called 'suspension pending an investigation'.

It is not for suspension during pregnancy or medical suspension. 

Template

[RECORDED DELIVERY]

PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL

[Today’s date]

[Employee's name] 

[Employee's address]

RE: suspension during an investigation 

Dear [employee's name] 

I am writing to confirm your suspension from duty on your usual pay in your post of [post title] in the [department]. 

The purpose of the suspension is to enable us to investigate an allegation made against you. It is alleged that you have:

[List reasons for suspension – include enough detail for the employee to be very clear on the reasons for suspension.

  • reason for suspension
  • reason for suspension]

Before taking this action, I considered the following changes to your working arrangements: 

[List the changes you considered. For example:

  • a change of shifts
  • working in a different part of the organisation
  • working from home
  • working from a different office or site
  • stop handling stock if the investigation is about a large amount of stock going missing
  • working with different customers or away from customers if the investigation is into a serious complaint from a customer
  • removing access to the organisation's finance system if the investigation is into a large amount of missing money]

However, [due to the seriousness of the allegation / allegations / other reason if applicable] I decided that alternative duties instead of suspension were not appropriate in the circumstances.

Your suspension [starts / started] from [time, day, date of receipt of letter / time, day, date of verbal notification] and will continue for up to [X] weeks. During this time, we will review the situation and the suspension period may be extended or ended. 

Just to confirm: suspension on your usual pay is not disciplinary action. At this stage we are only investigating the allegation and no decision has been reached. 

During suspension, we might need to contact you for more information. This means you need to be available for contact during [normal working hours / the time we have agreed]. 

You must not return to your place of work during suspension without first getting approval from your line manager. Unless agreed with us, you must not discuss the investigation with anyone you work with or service user in any way including via email or social networks. Also, you must not use work equipment (including IT equipment) provided for your employment without permission.

We will now undertake an investigation into the allegations made against you. We will appoint an Investigating Officer and you will need to attend an investigation meeting – we will contact you again shortly with the arrangements for this. 

[Optional] You are entitled to be accompanied in that meeting by a colleague or a trade union representative, if you wish. Please contact us to discuss this. 

[Contact name] is your point of contact during this investigation and they will be available should you need to speak to anyone. Their contact details are: [telephone number]. 

If you have any queries about any of the above, or if you need any support, you should contact [contact name] or your trade union representative, if you are a member of one. You can also use any of the following [set out available support, for example an employee assistance programme (EAP)].

Yours sincerely,

[Your name]

[Your position]

[Optional – your signature, if it's a letter]

cc [Human resources – personal file]

     [Advice and support team]

Enclosed: [Suspension policy] [Investigation policy]

Download this template

If you need the template in a different format, email digital@acas.org.uk