Can audio recordings be used as evidence in a tribunal hearing or should notes be taken when carrying out a workplace investigation?

The use of an audio recording device should generally only be employed if your policy specifically allows for this, or with the agreement of the interviewee. However, we would generally advise that recording a meeting may be intimidating to the interviewee and can, as result, make them less willing to speak openly. It may also be unnecessarily time-consuming as the recording will usually need to be transcribed.

As such we would generally recommend that notes should be taken, preferably by a note-taker rather than expecting the investigator to take notes themselves as this will allow them to focus exactly on what the interviewee says and what further questions are required. The notes do not