Poor Performance Outcome Letter (Warning or No Action) checklist

Read the Letter to make sure it meets your needs. Remember that, if you have any questions, you can Ask a lawyer for advice.

The employer should sign the Letter before you send it. If the employer is a company or a partnership, a representative (ie signatory) of the company or partnership must sign.

You can sign your Letter by either:

• signing online using RocketSign, or

• signing in print, by downloading, printing, and signing and dating the document

You should enclose a copy of the employer’s Disciplinary policy or procedure or another relevant performance policy with the Letter.

A Poor Performance Outcome Letter is a formal notice which must be served (ie sent) properly.

You can usually serve a Poor Performance Outcome Letter in various ways, as long as you ensure your employee receives it. The safest way to send the Letter is usually to deliver it to the employee in person. Failing this, you may send your Letter by:

• courier or post

  • use a tracked delivery service and keep a copy of the proof of posting and delivery

  • check you have the employee’s latest address

• email

  • you can sign the Letter online and attach a copy of it to an email to the employee

  • request a ‘read receipt’ as proof of service

Always check an employee’s Employment contract before sending them a Poor Performance Outcome Letter. Employment contracts may specify that letters (or ‘notices’) regarding employment must be sent to the employee in a specific way (eg not via email). You must follow any such requirements to ensure that your Letter is valid.

A copy of your Poor Performance Outcome Letter will be stored automatically in your Rocket Lawyer account ‘Dashboard’. You should also download and securely store a copy of your Letter for your records.

You should also securely store:

•  any proof of service, for example: 

  • Royal Mail receipts or courier receipts

  • signed and dated statements from witnesses that watched you hand deliver the Letter

  • emails or messages from employees acknowledging that they’ve received the Letter

  • email ‘read receipts’

• copies of anything else (eg other documents) that were sent with the Letter

It’s also good to tell the employee in person before you deliver the Letter what disciplinary action you are taking. If this is not practical you must make sure that the employee receives and reads the Letter.